6:30 for 7:00pm Wednesday 4 March 2009

London Knowledge Lab
23—29 Emerald St
London
WC1N 3QS
UK

Nearest tubes: Holborn, Russell Square or Chancery Lane.

"My talk focuses on the history of the first computer art show held at the Venice Biennale in 1970 and its political and social context. What consequences did this show bring about to the Biennale?

I propose to consider the 1970 Venice Biennale as a reflection of the global changes in the art world that happened in the late 1960s in response to technological developments. Two earlier events, namely the Tendencies 4 exhibition in Zagreb and the First Nuremberg Biennale, both held in 1969, foreshadow these changes. I will consider works presented by artists such as Herbert Franke, Frieder Nake, Georg Nees and the Computer Technique Group (CGT, Japan), to discuss to what extent the Biennale reflected different approaches to computer art in western and eastern countries. I will also analyse the way technology brought to the Biennale a new wave of creativity, but at the same time an element of destabilisation to the traditional asset of the Biennale institution."

Francesca Franco is an associate lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London, within the School of History of Art, Film & Visual Media (2007-present). She is currently completing her PhD in history of art on the relationship between art, technology and politics in the context of the Venice Biennale, 1966-1986, at Birkbeck College. She holds an MA in Digital Art History obtained from the same college. She has been sitting on the editorial board of Computers and the History of Art (CHArt) since 2005.