Paul Berger, Pictures     
  • ____
  • 1965-1980
    • 35mm 1965-80
    • Diptychs 1973-76
    • Mathematics 1976-77
    • Cyloptic Sets 1976-78
    • CameraTextOrPicture 1979
  • 1980-1990
    • Seattle Subtext 1981-82
    • Print Out 1984-86
    • Portraits & Plans 1986-88
    • Cards 1989
  • 1990-2000
    • World Info 1992-94
    • Vid Blocks 1994-98
    • Card Plates 1998-99
  • 2000-now
    • Warp & Weft 2000-04
    • Macrofiche 2005-07
    • Second Life 2006-09
    • Panoramas 2008-10
  • TEXTS
    • Mathematics 1976-77
    • Seattle Subtext 1981-82
    • Print Out 1984-87
    • World Info 1992-93
    • Card Plates 1998-99
    • Warp & Weft 2000-04
    • Panoramas 2008-10
    • Essay About
    • Artforum Review 2003
    • Resume
  • Other
    • NEW Website!
    • Old Art
    • Diagrammatic
    • Contact

  WORLD INFO, 1992-94

Picture
In the realm of the material, a computer image is capable of nearly seamless collage.  Its lack of inherent "surface", its existence as first and foremost a "description" of a picture, makes this so.  At the same time, its ability to gather images from such an array of sources - photography, drawing, diagrammatic rendering, video, broadcast television - provides an opportunity to create highly charged composite images with multiple and even contradictory references to science, art, reportage, media.  It is significant that these sources are themselves inherently collage-like.

Specifically, I am interested in the general phenomenon of "modeling", especially in the quasi-scientific variety which is best represented in the nightly television weather report.  The convention of the satellite or geographic map that is presided over by a human guide, is a theater both epic and egomaniacal.  I am interested in the evolving look and ideology of computer "interface", that is, the graphic appearance of the computer screen that links the general user with the sometimes complex functionality of a computer program or network, demonstrating to us mere humans that something is, in fact, going on.  I am fascinated with linking the broad range of contemporary computer graphic interface conventions (icons, floating palettes, menu bars) with the older, pre-computer conventions of mechanical hand-drawing (graph-paper) and camera based imaging (photography and video).   I think of this as a way to visualize something of the conflict that exists between these competing informational vehicles and the way we think of them.  I use imagery of global weather and global mapping to link the two, as it represents the largest scale material referencing that we are generally familiar with.


© Copyright 2010 Paul Berger