Writing and Unwriting (Media) Art History: Erkki Kurenniemi in 2048 (Leonardo)

Over the past forty years, Finnish artist and technology pioneer Erkki Kurenniemi (b. 1941) has been a composer of electronic music, experimental filmmaker, computer animator, roboticist, inventor, and futurologist. Kurenniemi is a hybrid -- a scientist-humanist-artist. Relatively unknown outside Nordic countries until his 2012 Documenta 13 exhibition, "In 2048," Kurenniemi may at last be achieving international recognition. This book offers an excavation, a critical mapping, and an elaboration of Kurenniemi's multiplicities. The contributors describe Kurenniemi's enthusiastic, and rather obsessive, recording of everyday life and how this archiving was part of his process; his exploratory artistic practice, with productive failure an inherent part of his method; his relationship to scientific and technological developments in media culture; and his work in electronic and digital music, including his development of automated composition systems and his "video-organ," DIMI-O. A "Visual Archive," a section of interviews with the artist, and a selection of his original writings (translated and published for the first time) further document Kurenniemi's achievements. But the book is not just about one artist in his time; it is about emerging media arts, interfaces, and archival fever in creative practices, read through the lens of Kurenniemi. Foreword by Erkki Huhtamo Archival Life. Oh, Human Fart (2004) ; Relative Life (2003) ; Audio Diary C4008-1 (1971) / Erkki Kurenniemi ; Fleshy Intensities / Susanna Paasonen -- Visual Archive -- Artistic Practice. Message Is Massage (1971) ; Computer Eats Art (1972-1982) ; Computer-integrated Art (ca. 1986) / Erkki Kurenniemi ; The Unbearable Non-artist Form L'homme Machine To Algorithmic Afterlife : Non-cartesian Cybernetics And Aesthetic Embodiment In Erkki Kurenniemi / Lars Bang Larsen ; Archiving The Databody : Human And Nonhuman Agency In The Documents Of Erkki Kirenniemi / Geoff Cox, Nicolas Malevé, And Michael Murtaugh -- Science/technology. The Origins Of Life, Intelligence, And Technology (1994) ; Supermegatechnologies : Some Thoughts On The Future (1999-2000) ; Graph Field Theory (1990) / Erkki Kurenniemi ; Interfaces Of Future Authenticity : Erkki Kurenniemi's Media Archives (from A Postcybernetic Perspective) / Morten Søndergaard ; E-kurenniemics : Becoming Archive In Electronic Devices / Wolfgang Ernst ; Capturing Life : Biopolitics, Social Media, And Romantic Irony / Eivind Røssaak -- Music. Tonal Theory (2003) ; Chords, Scales, And Divisor Lattices (2003) ; On Electronic Music Instruments (1971) / Erkki Kurenniemi ; Interaction Of Music And Technology : The Music And Musical Instruments Of Erkki Kurenniemi / Kai Lassfolk, Jari Suominen, And Mikko Ojanen ; On Sound And Artificial Neural Networks / Florian Hecker And Robin Mackay -- Interviews. Drifting Golf Balls In Monasteries : A Conversation With Erkki Kurenniemi (2001) / Mika Taanila ; Artificial Reality : An Interview Between Teppo Turkki And Erkki Kurenniemi (1987) / Teppo Turkki And Erkki Kurenniemi ; Robots Go To Work : Interview With Aura (1979) / Erkki Kurenniemi. Edited By Joasia Krysa And Jussi Parikka. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents 6 Series Forward 10 Acknowledgments 12 Foreword 14 Introduction: Writing and Unwriting (Media) Art History 18 I Archival Life 30 Foreword 30 1 “ Oh, Human Fart ” 34 2 Relative Life 40 3 Audio Diary C4008-1 48 4 Fleshy Intensities 58 II Visual Archive 70 III Artistic Practice 114 Foreword 114 5 Message Is Massage 120 6 Computer Eats Art 126 7 Computer-Integrated Art 136 8 The Unbearable Non-Artist from “ l ’ Homme machine ” to Algorithmic Afterlife: Non-Cartesian Cybernetics and Aesthetic Embodiment in Erkki Kurenniemi 142 9 Archiving the Databody: Human and Nonhuman Agency in the Documents of Erkki Kurenniemi 154 IV Science/Technology 172 Foreword 172 10 The Origins of Life, Intelligence, and Technology 178 11 Supermegatechnologies: Some Thoughts on the Future 188 12 Graph Field Theory 202 13 Interfaces of Future Authenticity: Erkki Kurenniemi ’ s Media Archives (From a Postcybernetic Perspective) 220 14 E-Kurenniemics: Becoming Archive in Electronic Devices 232 15 Capturing Life: Biopolitics, Social Media, and Romantic Irony 242 V Music 254 Foreword 254 16 Tonal Theory 260 17 Chords, Scales, and Divisor Lattices 262 18 On Electronic Music Instruments 284 19 Interaction of Music and Technology: The Music and Musical Instruments of Erkki Kurenniemi 290 20 On Sound and Artificial Neural Networks 308 VI Interviews 320 21 Drifting Golf Balls in Monasteries: A Conversation with Erkki Kurenniemi 322 22 Artificial Reality: An Interview between Teppo Turkki and Erkki Kurenniemi 336 23 Robots Go to Work: Interview with Aura 346 Contributors 352 Index 358 A critical mapping of the multiplicities of Finnish artist and technology pioneer Erkki Kurenniemi—composer of electronic music, experimental filmmaker, inventor, collector, futurologist. Over the past forty years, Finnish artist and technology pioneer Erkki Kurenniemi (b. 1941) has been a composer of electronic music, experimental filmmaker, computer animator, roboticist, inventor, and futurologist. Kurenniemi is a hybrid—a scientist-humanist-artist. Relatively unknown outside Nordic countries until his 2012 Documenta 13 exhibition, ”In 2048,” Kurenniemi may at last be achieving international recognition. This book offers an excavation, a critical mapping, and an elaboration of Kurenniemi's multiplicities. The contributors describe Kurenniemi's enthusiastic, and rather obsessive, recording of everyday life and how this archiving was part of his process; his exploratory artistic practice, with productive failure an inherent part of his method; his relationship to scientific and technological developments in media culture; and his work in electronic and digital music, including his development of automated composition systems and his “video-organ,” DIMI-O. A “Visual Archive,” a section of interviews with the artist, and a selection of his original writings (translated and published for the first time) further document Kurenniemi's achievements. But the book is not just about one artist in his time; it is about emerging media arts, interfaces, and archival fever in creative practices, read through the lens of Kurenniemi.