{"product_id":"northern-sparks-isbn-9780262045001","title":"Northern Sparks","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn “episode of light” in Canada sparked by Expo 67 when new art forms, innovative technologies, and novel institutional and policy frameworks emerged together.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnderstanding how experimental art catalyzes technological innovation is often prized yet typically reduced to the magic formula of “creativity.” In \u003ci\u003eNorthern Sparks\u003c\/i\u003e, Michael Century emphasizes the role of policy and institutions by showing how novel art forms and media technologies in Canada emerged during a period of political and social reinvention, starting in the 1960s with the energies unleashed by Expo 67. Debunking conventional wisdom, Century reclaims innovation from both its present-day devotees and detractors by revealing how experimental artists critically challenge as well as discover and extend the capacities of new technologies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCentury offers a series of detailed cross-media case studies that illustrate the cross-fertilization of art, technology, and policy. These cases span animation, music, sound art and acoustic ecology, cybernetic cinema, interactive installation art, virtual reality, telecommunications art, software applications, and the emergent metadiscipline of human-computer interaction. They include Norman McLaren’s “proto-computational” film animations; projects in which the computer itself became an agent, as in computer-aided musical composition and choreography; an ill-fated government foray into interactive networking, the videotext system Telidon; and the beginnings of virtual reality at the Banff Centre. Century shows how Canadian artists approached new media technologies as malleable creative materials, while Canada undertook a political reinvention alongside its centennial celebrations. \u003ci\u003eNorthern Sparks\u003c\/i\u003e offers a uniquely nuanced account of innovation in art and technology illuminated by critical policy analysis.Series Foreword xi\u003cbr\u003ePreface xiii\u003cbr\u003e1 An Episode of Light: Canada from 1967 to 1992 1\u003cbr\u003e2 Norman McLaren and Proto-Computationality 25\u003cbr\u003e3 \u003ci\u003eHunger\/La Faim\u003c\/i\u003e: When the American Computer Had an Eye, and the Canadian Computer a Hand 53\u003cbr\u003e4 Calculated Motions: Gesture and Expression at the Interface 75\u003cbr\u003e5 Tuning, Tundra, and Treasure: Canada's Expanded Musicality 103\u003cbr\u003e6 Two Faces of Cultural Networking 131\u003cbr\u003e7 Contesting a \"New Art Form\": Virtual Reality as Cultural Probe 159\u003cbr\u003e8 Apres le Deluge: Periodizing Canada's Episode of Light 183\u003cbr\u003eAppendix A: List of Interviews Conducted for This Book 195\u003cbr\u003eNotes 197\u003cbr\u003eWorks Cited 225\u003cbr\u003eIndex 251“Musician and cultural theorist Michael Century delivers a virtuoso orchestration that blends and personifies a polyphony of artistic and technical expressions, site-specific experiments, and institutional rhythms in a compelling history of Canada’s impressive three decades in the crucible of culture and technology.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Sara Diamond, President Emerita, Ontario College of Art \u0026amp; Design University (OCAD University)\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“At a time when technological solutionism (Silicon Valley style) and collapse seem to offer the only remaining narratives after postmodernism, Michael Century’s extremely well researched book on the origins and becoming of a (truly Canadian) ‘alternative technological ethos’ is both timely and necessary. \u003ci\u003eNorthern Sparks\u003c\/i\u003e is a must-read for those who wonder how artists can still participate in such a contested space.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Thierry Bardini, Professor, Université de Montréal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Century\u003c\/b\u003e, a musician and media arts historian, is Professor of Music and New Media at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He founded the Media Arts program at the Banff Centre for the Arts.\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302833082597,"sku":"NP9780262045001","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262045001.jpg?v=1767733884","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/northern-sparks-isbn-9780262045001","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}