Back, Doug (1999). “Doug Back on Low and High". 100: The Issue Of Technology 2, 19-21 Publications, Ontario College of Art & Design. Doug Back on Low and High Low Tech (scavengers) People have always had he desi to evolve ous of their boos. We might as wel define the resus of this desi as technology. Marketing Daed on iter peoples fers of body odours yellow teeth, wasted time age, bad future planning, ete. Bryhn to do wath the ody, Almost al the creative enegy cf ths generation is engaged in creating artical desres or arificial reaities, well emovee trom the flesh and the orruptibie body, There area remarkable numberof exceptions inthis schoo. My hat sof to you Those that mare elecrene technology have decided to use sunvival, as declared in Darina terms. a8 the fear factor. High technology is carefully couche in terms of survival anc evolution: Evolve or Die, The fullest pressure of advertising 's thrust upon us to squeeza usin a cetainsirection- towards acquiring the latest hardware and software. These ate supposed to form protective bubbles around us. Only the best high tech gear wil keep you ftom sirking dow to the rm, to be caeied Into the fossil ayer, tobe tad Ubon by these that have “chosen” to steve, The only ‘equiement for those that are mghlyevlved the terpendture of aout $2000.00 (Ca) pe yar ~ a good deat if ou o your institution can afford. Tris wil keep You suing onthe sulece, onthe ead eoge of technol Ifyou miss 2 yee or two of uograces. your equipment wil pass descr this unrelenting pressure inl lose the abity to abso swe deste, won't help you survive. It wil Break fee ftom media produced hs. ‘Benace of nostalgia ~ the pining for a less technological, more “natural” wari. Materials Uke clay core fom craft and ert supoly stores, rOCeSEES by industry, expensively packaged, stink ‘wapped and labeled. Only aavertser tl you thay are rata, I they were natal, then you should beable to pick them ofthe proud for ee, Low tech materals ate ane ofthe few “naturaly securing” ait mates let. Low tech materials spontaneously appear in unlimited quantities al arcund us, The Tow tie of teciological evolution deposits rch beds of These tak materials on Tuesday nights through Wednesday ‘mornings, right on the street. A walk around a city block reveals a VCR hore, a microwave oven there, an old ‘computer, a television set. All centain 2 plethora ofthe raw materials forthe podurtion oat resistors, ‘capacitors, motors, lights. fans, pawer supplies, sheet metal If anything, this resembles 2 more natural time, when after 2 storm people would "comb" the beach te pather what had been left on the shore These ae the aaette, basic components forthe areat collage atisis of our time, those hat eut ana peste industrial processes, machine ogic and electric ‘memories into working models ofthe human condition, These ae the qualities we ar to! your generation 1s lacking, logic, memory and process, The hero of these pope, the guiding ight, the German atts, Hannan Hock, who addressed some of the important issues of cour time, cybernetics, eugenics ad genetic engineering in the 19805. All one must dois “lower” oneself ta become the other type of successul survive (the ane the ‘media carefully ignores), the hota feeder. I 1s a great relief to fll of the leading edge and immerse yoursel in the still under waters of tha oceae. Surfing is accelerating but the gear fs expensive, you have to stay out af the ‘media itself and rush across the surface ~ you fal i touches you. If you dop off the board you will be ‘allowed up ancl sink tothe bottom, your sharp predatory, 1370 teeth will mutate toa sucking, vacuum nice, you wil be repugnant to many. But what peace there i oie atthe bottom staring up at those thrashing, to retain equivium on the boing sur and grab up the Aiscarded bey ports thot sine alonly to te bottom, High Tech (thrashers) ‘There used to be just two separate cultures bred by the ‘western world. At the age of 13 cur youth are streamed into soparate “clubs,” those of at and those of science. ‘They have separate institutions, clathes, music, bars language, body mavements...ike | sad, separate cultures, This is a European ideal. What's felt of European colonialism, the spit atween the mind and ‘00. things and stuf, hangs an only in our educational Institutions. Qne of the reasons aur culture became such mess is that these two soltudes di't talk to each other. Atists did't mess with scence and engineering, scientists anc engineers wouldn't mess with art. Our technological bubble was formed by the culture of Science, and engineered for us with little artistic Influence. Ariss are largely relegated to producing ‘desires for ths suff through creative advertising, Ideas ‘are to be produced by one culture, things by the other, the body and the ming safely disengaged, That’s an old paradigm. A third element has formed itsolt to fill up the space between these two cultures. & hyoria bastard of the two solitudes, not yet safely contained within separate cultures or inst tutions. Technology isnot @ Science or an art, although tis touted as both. It is trampling about the world making tools for itself as it prepares to transtorm both the Diysical world and the world of ides. This isthe ‘opportunity for artists to create the very implements of transformation. To take control ofthe stuf that makes ‘our world work, Artists have to be involved as these new tools ae developed, at the highest possible evel of lectinlogy. artists ike Catherine Richards. Louise Wilson and Joe Daw's have wiggled their way into research laporatories and work with virtual reality, neuroscience {and genetic enginearing. This is the real high technology. ‘Boware the tem “high tech.” Personal computers are an idea that is 25 years old. They have change as much 2s cars have changed in that peried af time, Smal, faster, more convenient to use, with cooler accessories, bout essentially they haven't changed 2 all. Only advertisers tell you they have, that thay are high tech You are wallowing in convenience and a corporate idea of creativity. Micosoft, Apple, Macromedia and ‘Adobe subvert your ability to affect a nem, potentially transformative idea by making them easy to use. They ‘ate easier fo use bacause your ability to man pulate and lunderstand them has been restrictes and hidden. Your hand is directed to great extent, Say that our paintors decide to “gt with it” and adopt paint-oy numbers After all, everything you could possibly want to paint has ‘been fad out for you.-lendacapes, seascapes, rushing water, tlowers..the palette is provided. Why bother ‘mixing your own colours, rendering a tree, sitting cutside inthe cold painting @ sunset? There is no need to understand your materials on a deep level all that technical crap jst gets in the way of being creative. Please, take a look atthe stuf you use: ano says that computer information shuld be accessed through an 1850s typewriter (a keyboard) and 1940s television sat (the monitor)? Who says our machines should be silent inwsible servants? Why do we accept that aur machines shouid tell us about the world with unread able statistics? Who says easier is better? Who tells us wwe are brave Explorers or Navigators sailing on iferma tion, rather than creatures immersed within it? You live in the Americas, like it oF not everything you make aids a culture that 1s taking over the war Climb back into your bodies (sue they smel.they wi et wrinly) but we need them to understand the stutt the word is being made of Sincerely Yours, Doug Back, ACA