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Artists: Eug¶nia Balcells, Grupo 3TT, Esther Mera, Carles Pujol, Ant÷n Reixa, Jaime Vallaure and others.
Edited/published by MECAD (Media Center of Art and Design), Barcelona, 2000
Languages: English and Spanish
Interface: Mac, PC, 800 X 600 screen
Reviewed by Fred Andersson, Ulvsbygatan 29 (6), 654 64 Karlstad, Sweden. E-mail: konstfred@hotmail.com


This CD-ROM about the history of electronic art in Spain is produced by the MECAD center in Barcelona, and consequently (given the strong regionalism in this very heterogeneous country) the perspective is really Catalan and Basque rather than Spanish. As a matter of fact, Madrid has always been of less cultural significance than the rebellious provincial capitals in the north: Barcelona (since long recognized as the Petit Paris) and Bilbao (chosen for the Guggenheim museum). The historical perspective is ambitious indeed, going back into the 1950's with the design and abstract painting of the collective Equipo 57 (Juan Cuenca, Angel and JosÚ Duarte, Augustin Ibarrola and Juan Serrano) and the experimental films of the Andalusian JosÚ Val de Omar (1904-1982) with their atmosphere of Catholicism and madness (for example "Fire in Castille - Tactile Vision of the Frightful Wasteland" from 1958).

There are two navigation routes in the CD: Artists (83 names) and Media. The Media-route is divided into the following ten sub-categories: Experimental Film, Video, Holography, Copy Art, AudioVisual Installation, Interactive Installation, Mediaperformance/Metaperformance, Digital Photography, ComputerArt & Digital Animation, NetArt & Interactive Media. Most of these categories are rather problematical, overlapping and ad hoc, as with the concept Electronic Art in itself. They may, however, provoke interesting questions and discussions. Should we use the concept Electronic Art in a purely technological sense, or in a more historical sense of emerging ideas anticipating technologies not yet seen? The editors of the CD-ROM mentions, in the usual manner, the historical connection between modern electronic art and the Futurist movements of the early 20:th century. But this is not enough to explain the connection between electronic art and the paintings of Equipo 57.

On the other hand both the visual material and the texts are substantial and of a very high quality. The interface is nicely designed, multi-navigational and easy to use. It covers a bread range of topics and artistic developments. Every topic is accompanied by a generous bibliography. But I miss some more chronological surveys or timelines to get a clearer picture of developments and influences. I also miss a wider international context - the relation of Spanish art to international movements. As usual in the European periphery (Spain, Sweden, Poland.) the national trends are mostly recognizable as variants of international ones. And this is exactly what makes a comparative attitude interesting.

Compare Manuel Barbadillo's constructivist, computer-generated pictures with similar achievements in the sixties and seventies by Swedish and French artists like Beck & Jung, Vera Molnar and Torsten Ridell. Compare the Copy Art (photocopy techniques from the late sixties onwards) of Marisa Gonzalez with the conceptualism of Hanne Darboven and the collages of Barbara Kruger or the Czech artist Jiri Kolar. Compare the gay mediaperformances by Konic Thtr (Alain Baumann/Rosa Sanchez) and Marcel-li Antunez (Antunez Roca) with Stelarc's likewise robotic but much more grave and gray manifestations. The Grupo 3TT (JosÚ Rosales, Fernando and Viktor Garcâa) might be described as some kind of Spanish Bill Viola - note the emotional religious iconography of their videos.

Artistic creativity as an expression of or a protest against religious and political totalitarianism is actually one of the key features which makes Spanish art worth attention as a distinct cultural phenomenon. This feature is vividly documented in this CD-ROM. All in all, I think it is a fine technical and pedagogical achievement. I highly recommend it for institutional as well as private use.

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