08/21/2015

Museum Plays Art and Technology Matchmaker

17:27 minutes

An avatar and digital dead bird, in downtown L.A.'s Pershing Square, viewed through a smart phone. Part of artist John Craig Freeman's public art project "EEG AR: Things We Have Lost." Photo by Annie Minoff
An avatar and digital dead bird, in downtown L.A.’s Pershing Square, viewed through a smart phone. Part of artist John Craig Freeman’s public art project “EEG AR: Things We Have Lost.” Photo by Annie Minoff

Los Angeles County Museum of Art launched its first Art & Technology program back in 1967, the idea of artists and technologists collaborating was radical—and the art world wasn’t quite ready. The program paired some of the biggest names in 20th-century art (among them, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Claes Oldenburg) with scientists and engineers from Southern California’s technology sector. The aim was to see what new kinds of art artists and technologists could create together. But despite some successful collaborations, the program was discontinued after only four years. Until now.

Last year, LACMA revived its Art & Technology program. SciArts Producer Annie Minoff shares the story of a collaboration between a public artist and an augmented reality entrepreneur. And historian Patrick McCray joins Ira to talk about the legacy of LACMA’s first Art & Technology program. (See LACMA’s exhibition about the Art & Technology program, on view through October 25.)

See John Craig Freeman’s augmented reality artwork “EEG AR Things We Have Lost for yourself! For information about finding and viewing avatars and lost objects around Los Angeles, click HERE.

This map notes the location of avatars and lost objects included in John Craig Freeman’s artwork “EEG AR Things We Have Lost.”

Segment Guests

Patrick McCray

Patrick McCray is a history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is co-editor of the forthcoming book Groovy Science.

John Craig Freeman

John Craig Freeman is a public artist and professor of new media art at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.

Brian Mullins

Brian Mullins is founder and CEO of DAQRI in Los Angeles, California.

Meet the Producer

About Annie Minoff

Annie Minoff is a producer for The Journal from Gimlet Media and the Wall Street Journal, and a former co-host and producer of Undiscovered. She also plays the banjo.