New Media Artists, Kit Galloway & Sherrie Rabinowitz
In today’s modern society, people can use the internet to connect and share information with others around the globe. However, before our advanced internet networking, we were limited, for the most part, by telephones as a means of communicating over long distances. Between the late 70’s and mid 80’s, new media artists, Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz began to break barriers in networking and digital human interaction. The “Satellite Arts Project” of 1977, was the first telematic installation created by the artistic duo. The work was created to connect dancers from around the world together in a virtual space to perform and collaborate while remaining in their home country, and viewing their partners through a TV screen. I believe this work laid a foundation for video conferencing when internet became more accessible to the common person, and for its time it was certainly ground breaking. I think this piece can be related to the website, Chatroulette,com because it allows people from around the world to exchange information with each other and connect through a global network. This work was made with a sponsorship from NASA and additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. NASA satalittes were used to transmit the video from one part of the globe to another.
Photos: http://www.ecafe.com/museum/cyberart92/Welcome_to_ECI.html
Justin Macri 