Leonardo

This CD-ROM (in English: Art Vision: A History of Electronic Art in Spain), on the subject of the history of electronic art in Spain, was 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 (long since recognized as the "petit Paris") and Bilbao (chosen for the Guggenheim museum). The historical perspective is ambitious indeed, ranging back to the 1950s with the design and abstract painting of the collective Equipo 57 (Juan Cuenca, Angel and José Duarte, Augustin Ibarrola and Juan Serrano) and the experimental films of the Andalusian José Val de Omar (1904-1982), with their atmospheres of Catholicism and madness (for example, Fire in Castille--Tactile Vision of the Frightful Wasteland from 1958).

The CD has two navigation routes: by Artists (83 names) and by Media. The media route is divided into various sub-categories: experimental film, video, holography, copy art, audiovisual installation, interactive installation, mediaperformance/metaperformance, digital photography, computer art and digital animation, net art and interactive media. Most of these categories are rather problematic, overlapping and ad hoc, as is the very concept of Electronic Art. They may, however, provoke interesting questions and discussions. For instance, should we use the concept of 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 mention the historical connection between modern electronic art and the Futurist movements of the early twentieth century, but this does not explain the connection between electronic art and the paintings of Equipo 57.

On the other hand, the visual material and texts are substantial and of a very high quality. The interface is nicely designed, multi-navigational and easy to use. It covers a broad range of topics and artistic developments, and each topic is accompanied by a generous bibliography. However, I would welcome more chronological surveys or timelines to get a clearer picture of developments and influences and something to provide a wider international context, i.e. the relation of Spanish art to international movements. As usual in nations on the European periphery (e.g. Spain, Sweden, Poland), 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 1960s and 1970s by Swedish and French artists such as Beck and Jung, Vera Molnar and Torsten Ridell; compare the copy art (photocopy techniques from the late 1960s 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 media performances by Konic Thtr (Alain Baumann/ Rosa Sanchez) and Marcelli Antunez (Antunez Roca) with Stelarc's likewise robotic but much more grave and gray manifestations. The work of Grupo 3TT (José Rosales, Fernando and Viktor García) might be described as a Spanish version of Bill Viola's work, in view of 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 that makes Spanish art worthy of attention as a distinct cultural phenomenon, and this is vividly documented in this CD-ROM. All in all, it is a fine technical and pedagogical achievement, and I would highly recommend it for institutional as well as private use.

Fred Andersson,
Ulvsbygatan 29 (6), 654 64 Karlstad, Sweden.
E-mail: <konstfred@hotmail.com>.