Evanescent Realities: References and Notes

	References and Notes 1. A great number of works relate to this topic, such as Gilberto Freyre, Casa Grande & Senzala (Rio de Janeiro: Joseé Olympio, 1969); Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Raízes do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Joseé Olympio, 1956); Claude Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Trópicos (São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1955); Nelson Werneck Sodré, Síntese de História da Cultura Brasileira (Civilizaçao Brasileira, 1970); Carlos G. Mota, Ideologia da Cultura Brasileira (1933-1974) (São Paulo: Ática, 1978); and Roberto Damatta, O que faz o Brasil, Brasil? (São Paulo: Rocco, 1984). ----- 2. See, for example, Walter Zanini, ed., História Geral da Arte no Brasil (São Paulo: Instituto Walther Moreira Salles, 1983). ----- 3. See, for example, Boris Kossoy and Maria Luiza Tucci Carneiro, O Olhar Europeu: o Negro na Iconografia Brasileira do Século XIX (São Paulo: Edusp, 1994). ----- 4. For an account of these facts, see Boris Kossoy, Hercules Florence: 1833, A Descoberta Isolada da Fotografia no Brasil (São Paulo: Duas Cidades, 1980). ----- 5. In 1971, Waldemar Cordeiro (1925--1973) organized the exhibit "Arteônica---o uso criativo dos meios eletrônicos nas artes" (Electronic Art---The Creative Use of Electronic Media in the Arts) at the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado in São Paulo. His thoughts and works are documented and analyzed in the book Waldemar Cordeiro---A Aventura da Razão (São Paulo: Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, 1986). Editor's note: See also documentation published in Leonardo 30, No. 1, 1997. ---E. Kac, Section Editor. ----- 6. See article by Walter Zanini, "Historiadores Relutam em Aceitar as Novas Formas de Criação," O Estado de S. Paulo, Section 2, Year 9, No. 3192 (1995). Some events and festivals have recently contributed to the beginnings of a reversal of this picture by establishing a strong presence for video productions. Among them are VideoBrasil in São Paulo (organized by Fotoptica and later by Associaçatilde;o Cultural VideoBrasil), Forum BHZ in Belo Horizonte and Studio Internacional de Tecnologias da Imagem in São Paulo (organized jointly by Serviço Social do Comércio and Universidade Estadual Paulista [São Paulo State University]). Editor's note: See also Arlindo Machado, "Video Art: The Brazilian Adventure," in Leonardo 29, No. 3, 225--231 (1996) and on Leonardo On-Line. ---E. Kac, Section Editor. ----- 7. These topics have been the object of wide coverage and debate in the Brazilian press. The São Paulo newspaper Jornal da Tarde (21 July 1996) stated that out of the 150 million inhabitants of Brazil, only 300,000 were connected to the Internet. It also asserted that there are 13.1 million telephone lines and 4 million computers in the country. In Brazil, a telephone line must be bought (thereby becoming an asset). At the time of writing, a line cost approximately $4,000 dollars, in addition to the normal monthly bill for calls. Following are some average comparative prices, as of 1996: minimum monthly salary, $100; entry-level personal computer, $2,000; compact car, $10,000. For a more specific source providing regular coverage of telecommunications issues in Brazil, see Revista Nacional de Telecomunicações, Telepress Associação, São Paulo. ----- 8. I see photography as a system of elaboration of realities. I refer to realities in the plural because their realization involves the construction of a 2D fixed image using a band of the electromagnetic spectrum (usually, "visible light"), mediated by a technological apparatus, from an external reality (the first reality) at a given moment. This realization is dependent upon the intentions and cultural reference frame of the author (the photographer). The author's frame of reference is an internal reality, the partial dominion of his or her consciousness. The reception of the resulting work by the spectator corresponds to concepts coming from the reality contained in the image, which are also based on his or her cultural references. Consequently, every person can have different apprehensions and interpretations. This definition takes in both the fictional possibilities of the photograph and its validity as a historical source. It is a departure from the definition of photography as "a second reality" formulated by Boris Kossoy in the beginning of the 1970s and referred to in Boris Kossoy, Fotografia e História (São Paulo: Ática, 1989). ----- 9. Outdoor Mulher is a color photographic essay made up of audiovisual media (slide projection synchronized with a soundtrack) and a series of images on paper (blow-ups of 35-mm filmstrips). It was first shown at the Museu da Imagem e do Som de São Paulo (Museum of Sound and Image of São Paulo) in 1982. ----- 10. Refletir (Reflecting) is a color photographic essay on paper. It constituted my first one-person show, which was held at the São Paulo Museum of Art in 1980. ----- 11. Avenida Paulista is a long-term photographic project focusing on the cityscape. It documents transformations along one of the most important avenues in São Paulo---Paulista Avenue. This black-and-white essay started in 1983 and continues at the time of writing. It has been shown widely and is part of the collection of the Center for Creative Photography in the United States and the Coleção Pirelli of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo Museum of Art), among other collections. ----- 12. I have produced a series of reflections on the interrelations between photography and electronics that I have made public on different occasions and under different themes since 1986, presenting my thoughts in the contexts of expositions, conferences, articles, courses in cultural and educational institutions, symposiums and publications in Brazil and abroad. Editor's note: For additional information see bibliography published with this article. ---E. Kac, Section Editor. ----- 13. Here I am making an analogy to, and not a direct application of, the concept. In the glossary of the Brazilian edition of C.G. Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Aniela Jaffé explained: "Synchronicity is a term created by C.G. Jung that expresses a significant coincidence or a correspondence between a psychic event and a physical event or between dreams and analogous or identical ideas that occur in different places and that cannot be explained by causality." C.G. Jung, Memórias, Sonhos, Reflexões, Aniela Jaffé, ed. (Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1975) pp. 358--359. ----- 14. The joint efforts of Carlos Freitas, Klaus Koster, Richieri Pazetti and Eli Sumida were fundamental for the success of these works, whether they involved the development of software programs created specifically for the project or direct participation in production. Palette, established in São Paulo, was one of the first Brazilian computer-graphics companies geared towards business and advertising. ----- 15. Professor and artist Paulo Laurentiz (1953--1991) condensed his ideas and works in Paulo Laurentiz, A Holarquia do Pensamento Artístico (Campinas, Brazil: Editora da Unicamp, 1991). ----- 16. I completed my graduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1990. My studies there were sponsored by a grant from the Brazilian Department of Education through the program Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. ----- 17. One of the images in Scherzo is part of the Polaroid International Collection in Germany. Places/Placesx (1988-1990) are black-and-white photo essays in the form of artist's books done during my studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. ----- 18. This CD-ROM came out of the project "Arte Cidade," a large event organized and partially sponsored by the Secretaria de Estado da Cultura of São Paulo (São Paulo State Department of Art and Culture) in 1994 under the coordination of Nelson Brissac and Agnaldo Farias. ----- 19. See Carlos Fadon Vicente, "Tele-Presença-Ausência" Trilhas No. 6 (Campinas, Brazil, 1997). ----- 20. The concept of "distributed authorship" appears in Roy Ascott, "Art and Telematics," in Heidi Grundmann, ed., Art Telecommunication (Vancouver and Blix, Vienna: Western Front, 1984) p. 35. ----- 21. See Eduardo Kac, "Aspects of Aesthetics of Telecommunications," in John Grimes and Gray Lorig, eds., SIGGRAPH Visual Proceedings '92 (New York: ACM, 1992) pp. 47--57. ----- 22. The term "communication flux" refers to the design of information paths, the space-time configuration of participants and the intended mediation of telecommunications resources. ----- 23. Videotex is an interactive information service accessed by customers through telephone lines and usually displayed in lowÈresolution text and graphics. The system interface is a video monitor coupled with a keyboard. Videotex use reached a height in the 1980s through systems such as the well-known French Minitel. Editor's Note: For more information on videotex in the United States and Brazil, see John I. Tydeman, Teletext and Videotex in the United States (New York: McGraw Hill, 1982) and Verginio Zaniboni Netto, Videotexto no Brasil (São Paulo: Nobel, 1986). ----- 24. This work utilized the image of the typewriter to make an ironic comment on the situation Brazilians find themselves in vis à vis access to new telecommunications technology. The typewriter appeared again in my multimedia work Urbi et Arti (1994). ----- 25. See Carlos Fadon Vicente, "Still Life/Alive," Leonardo 24, No. 2, 234--235 (1991). The "Intercities" event was a joint effort of the now extinct Instituto de Pesquisa em Arte Tecnologia (São Paulo) and the DAX Group of Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Editor's note: See also Artur Matuck, "Telecommunications Art and Play: Intercities São Paulo/Pittsburgh," Leonardo 24, No. 2, 203--206 (1991). ---E. Kac, Section Editor. ----- 26. Telage is a contraction, suggested by Eduardo Kac, of the original title, Télécollage, which was conceived in 1989. ----- 27. For further discussion of the issue see Arlindo Machado, "Carlos Fadon Vicente: la Apropriación de la Tecnologia," Heterogenesis No. 16 (Lund, Sweden: Julho, 1996). ----- 28. See Carlos Fadon Vicente, "Interações," Item 3 (Rio de Janeiro) (February 1996) pp. 26--28. See also "Imagem/Interatividade e Imprevisibilidade," Nanico 14 (October 1996) pp. 11--13. ----- 29. Editor's note: The author is making reference to the Russian avant-garde movement Constructivism, which was based on methodical exploration of the properties of diverse materials and of pictorial elements such as color, line and surface. Constructivism also had strong ties with industry. Constructivism had a strong influence on Brazilian art chiefly in the 1950s and 1960s, resulting in distinct and multiple developments. However, the author has no direct connection to these local developments. Instead, in this passage of the text he makes direct reference to the original Russian movement. For more information on the rapport between Constructivism and Brazilian art, see Aracy Amaral, ed., Projeto Construtivo Brasileiro na Arte: 1950-1962 (São Paulo: Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro e Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 1977). ---E. Kac, Section Editor. Evanescent Realities
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