LCA2009 Conference Booklet Entry
From Wiki.a-wa-re.com
Batteries Not Included - Contemporary art meets linux.conf.au
Artists: Scot Cotterell, Nancy Mauro Flude, Mat Oakes, Room 11 (Aaron Roberts and James Wilson), Andy Vagg Curator: Kevin Leong
Should you be told what to think by pretentious, self-indulgent, know-all artists? Why are their opinions or feelings more important than yours? Why should you be interested in art that has no interest in you?
Just as open-source developers have reacted against the high-handedness and self-interest of commercial entities, some contemporary artists have reacted against the arrogant, exclusive and self-absorbed practices of the artist-tyrant.
The antidote to both is the same: participation. As developers have sought community ownership and contributions, artists have drawn on their audience for content or production techniques, or have produced work that requires audience interaction. Ultimately, the artists aim to develop a sympathetic relationship between their work and its audience by allowing interested parties to participate in its production.
Batteries Not Included brings together these similarly-aligned collectives by presenting, within the linux.conf.au conference premises, the works of six artists that involve audience participation – works that without the intelligence, interest, skills, idiosyncrasies, enthusiasm and life experience of their audience, would not be complete.
Batteries Not Included was assisted through Arts Tasmania by the Minister for Tourism, Art and the Environment.
Short Version (Not Used)
Batteries Not Included - Contemporary art meets linux.conf.au
Since the early 1990s, new contemporary visual art practices have emerged that produce work drawing on content provided by the audience or from communities that artists work in: instead of only creating images, objects or events, the artists initiate processes for capturing contributions from interested parties. In many ways, these processes reflect the mechanisms and attitudes of open-source software authorship.
By presenting the works of six artists within the linux.conf.au conference premises, Batteries Not Included brings together these two similarly-aligned groups – contemporary artists making work involving audience contributions and open-source developers. These are works that would not be complete without the intelligence, interests, skills, idiosyncrasies, enthusiasm and life experience of their audience.
Batteries Not Included was assisted through Arts Tasmania by the Minister for Tourism, Art and the Environment.
