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Edited by Peter Tomaz Dobrila and Aleksandra Kostic.
Publisher: Kibla, Maribor, Slovenia.
Association for Culture and Education, Slovenia, 1998.
Reviewed by Robert Pepperell. E-mail: pepperell@cwcom.net


This short collection of essays reviews and documents a number of art-works by the Brazilian-born artist Eduardo Kac (pronounced "katz" as the various authors remind us). Kac is often cited, along with Stelarc and Orlan, as an artist who transgresses the boundary between human and machine, organic and artificial. A number of his most widely publicised works deliberately provoke an immediate sense of apprehension which masks their underlying poetry as, for example, with the piece "Time Capsule" (Brazil 1997). In full view of public and media, Kac inserted a digital transponder tag, of the kind used to track animals, under his skin and registered himself with a databank in the United States. Having concisely introduced the contemporary techno-cultural context of Kac's work, the essay by Arlindo Mochado that describes this piece proceeds to expose the rich seams of personal history and public rhetoric that Kac orchestrates through his use of gallery spaces and communication technologies. The opening essay, by Kac himself, documents a piece of work that inspires the title of the volume: "Teleporting an Unknown State"(New Orleans 1996). Presented as a "biotelematic interactive installation" the aesthetic elegance of the work powerfully metabolises the continuity between the biological and the technological. A seed is planted in a dark room by Kac, and is illuminated only by the light from a video projector mounted overhead. This projector displays the light collected from volunteer participants around the world who digitally capture local light and convey it, via the internet, to the exhibition space. Thus, it is the combined effort of the participants and the global communication technologies that allows the seed to germinate and ultimately thrive, as those who contributed could witness on a live web-cam. On the day the exhibition ends, Kac gently uproots the 18-inch plant and replants it next to the gallery door.

This dual-language publication is well produced and, although short, has more than its share of ideas. It may become an essential digest, or point of reference, for those inspired by the convergence of technology, humans and art.

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