Women, Art & Technology

by Judy Malloy (Ed.)
The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2004
530 pp., illus. 59 b/w. Trade, $39.95
ISBN: 0-262-13424-1.

Reviewed by Stefaan Van Ryssen
Hogeschool Gent
Jan Delvinlaan 115, 9000 Gent, Belgium

stefaan.vanryssen@pandora.be

There are many reasons why a book with this title should not be published at all, the main one being that no one would think of writing or editing its mirror image 'Men, Art & Technology'. For some decades, women have been at the forefront of developments in art and technology, as they have been in diplomacy, politics, gardening, and medicine. Yes and no. The facts are there, the names as well, but perception is different and recognition appears to lag behind. Although art and technology and their common ground may be the playfield of women and men alike, women seem to be absent in the public eye, or at least in the public image at large. As is the case in many fields, women are underrepresented or misrepresented in the media and in public debate. No doubt it will take a few more generations before this situation is corrected, if ever. Meanwhile, books such as this one are necessary. Annoying as it may be for the reader who acknowledges and appreciates the contribution of women in the field, it is important that this contribution is documented, inventorised, published, and critically evaluated so as not to let memory fade and public opinion hide what is clearly visible for the knowledgeable.

The book originates from a Leonardo Journal project of the same name, trying to do exactly what it takes to put the work of women artists and creators of technology in the spotlights. It is a compendium of the work of women artists who have played a central role in the development of new media practice.

The book has a series foreword, a foreword properly, a preface, and an introduction, of which we shall say nothing more. In the essays of the first section, 'Overviews', five authors——women, obviously——developed the main threads that hold together four decades of artistic creation by women. From the very beginnings in the '60s and '70s up to the more recent works in the realm of telecommunications art and the web, the reader gets a well-informed overview of factual history and landmark works by groundbreaking artists and curators. It is not surprising to see how in so many new areas of development in art and technology, the first explorative steps have been taken by men and women alike, even though the names of the women may have faded faster than those of their contemporaries.

The second and largest section of the book has 26 contributions by women artists about their work, their goals, their obsessions, and their successes. In my opinion, this is undoubtedly the most important part of the book and the real rationale for its publication, because most of these previously published writings are hard to come by today. Moreover, most of these short pieces are delightfully written, giving evidence of the clarity of vision, the enthusiasm, the necessity and the 'drive' behind these artists' works. There are contributions from Steina and Dara Birnbaum, Donna Cox and Judith Barry, Nell Tenhaaf and Char Davies, Linda Austin, and Dawn Stoppiello, to name but a few. And the ones that I cannot list for the sake of brevity are just as interesting and necessary as these.

The third part has another five essays that shed light on the subject from a slightly different angle. Jaishree K. Odin does some cartwheels in a deconstructive reconstruction of Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl and this approach obligingly quenches the thirst for any postmodern jargon. Simone Osthoff and Martha Burkle Bonecchi wrote some very interesting pieces on the contributions from Brazil and the situation of women in developing countries. Carol Stakenas connects the politics of the web with the fight against HIV/AIDS, and finally, Zoe Sofia peeks into a future that may be post-historic, trans-human and extra-terrestrial but will have to acknowledge the existence of the many voices and many visions of women artists.

As I said before, this is a necessary book because it brings together so many important artists. Its weakness, however, lies in the essays of the last section. Though interesting in themselves, more space could have been given to the historical overviews of the first section, possibly integrating some of the ideas and facts from the final ones. Why, indeed, tell the Brazilian story separately from the main "herstory", and why give a separate section to activist artists unless, of course, the authors of the main overviews have for some reason or other overlooked those aspects. Anyway, this is an important book, just like the artists and their works it illustrates.