Golan Levin and Collaborators

• Peer-Reviewed Publications
• Essays and Statements
• Interviews and Dialogues
• Catalogues and Lists
• Project Reports
• Press Clippings
• Lectures
• Code
• Misc.

• 03 2015. Brown & Son (Catalogue Essay)
  
• 03 2015. For Us, By Us
  
• 05 2009. Audiovisual Software Art: A Partial History
  
• 07 2006. Hands Up! The 'Media Art Posture'
  
• 07 2006. Some thoughts on Maeda for Ars 2006
  
• 07 2006. Einige Gedanken zu John Maeda
  
• 02 2006. Notes on Visualization Without Computers
  
• 10 2005. Artist Statement, October 2005
  
• 09 2005. Three Questions for Generative Artists
  
• 07 2005. Net Vision Jury Statement, Prix Ars
  
• 07 2005. Net Vision Jury-Begründung, Prix Ars
  
• 12 2004. Computer Vision for Artists and Designers
  
• 08 2003. Essay for John Maeda's Creative Code
  
• 01 2003. Pedagogical Statement
  
• 11 2001. Essay for 4x4: Beyond Photoshop
  
• 10 2001. Statement for Graphic Design in the 21st C.
  
• 10 2001. Statement of the Jury, Berlin Transmediale
  
• 05 2000. Statement For Communication Arts
  
• 12 1999. MIT Thesis Proposal
  
• 12 1997. MIT Statement of Objectives
  

Statement for Graphic Design in the 21st Century (Taschen).

I was invited to contribute a brief vision statement to this compendium of current practice in the graphic arts. My statement was rendered in English, German, French and Italian.
Golan Levin, October 2001.

One-liner (sentence) on approach towards graphic design:
What is the depth and character of the feedback loop established between the system and its user?

Vision statement on the future of graphic design (50- 150 words):
In one dystopia, we project ourselves into the art supply store of the near future. The wind howls through the room, whose shelves are empty but for three small cartons: Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator. For today's digital designers — many of whom have eagerly adopted the narrow horizons dictated by this small handful of commercial products — this vision is, I claim, already a reality. And the unquestioned hegemony of these tools has launched an unprecedented proliferation of homogenous and disposable electronic designs. To state that computers can offer an unimaginably greater world of possible forms than these products is not techno-optimism; as computers are provably capable of simulating any other machine, it is mathematical fact. My own work is simply one person's attempt to reclaim computation as a personal medium of expression. In my practice, I focus the radical plasticity of the computational medium on an examination of non-verbal communications protocols.

In einer Dystopie projizieren wir uns selbst in den Künstlerbedarfsladen der nahen Zukunft. Der Wind heult durch diesen Raum, dessen Regale bis auf drei kleine Kartons mit Flash, Photoshop und Illustrator leer sind. Ich behaupte einfach mal, dass diese Vision für die heutigen Computer-designer — von denen viele voller Eifer die von dieser Handvoll handelsüblicher Produkte vorgeschriebenen engen Horizonte akzeptiert haben — bereits Realität ist. Die unangefochtene Hegemonie dieser Arbeitsmittel hat zur beispiellosen Vermehrung homogener elektronischer Wegwerfdesigns geführt. Zu sagen, Computer könnten eine unvorstellbar größere Menge möglicher Formen erzeugen als diese Programme, ist kein Techno-Optimismus, sondern — da Computer erwiesenermaßen in der Lage sind, jede andere Maschine zu simulieren —eine mathematische Tatsache. Meine eigene Arbeit ist einfach der Versuch eines Einzelnen, den Rechner als ›persönliches Ausdrucksmittel‹ zurückzugewinnen. Ich wende die extreme Plastizität des Computermediums auf die Untersuchung non-verbaler Kommunikationsprotokolle an.

Imaginons une contre-utopie où nous nous promenons dans un magasin de fournitures d'art du futur. Le vent hurle à travers la salle dont les rayonnages ne contiennent que trois petites boîtes: Flash, Photoshop et Illustrator. Pour les infographistes d'aujourd'hui, dont beaucoup ont adopté avec enthousiasme les horizons étroits dictés par cette vision est déjà une réalité. L'hégémonie incontestée de ces outils a déclenché une prolifération sans précedént de graphismes électroniques uniformes et jetables. Dire que les ordinateurs peuvent offrir un univers de formes possibles infiniment plus vaste que ces produits relève due techno optimisme. Les ordinateurs étant capables de simuler n'importe quelle autre machine, c'est un fait mathématique. Mon propre travail consiste simplement à tenter de renouer avec la computation comme ‹moyen personnel› d'expression. Dans la pratique, je concentre la plasticité radicale de l'ordinateur sur un examen des protocoles de communications non verbaux.

Immaginiamo di proiettarci, senza utopie, in un magazzino di prodotti per l'arte del futuro. Il vento soffia nella stanza e sugli scaffali vuoti ci sono solo tre piccole scatole: Flash, Photoshop e Illustrator. Per i designer del campo digitale, molti dei quali hanno adottato con impazienza gli stretti orizzonti imposti da questa esigua manciata di prodoti commerciali, questa visione è già una realtà. E l'egemonia indiscussa di questi strumenti ha dato vita ad una proliferazione senza precedenti di creazioni elettroniche omogenee usa e getta. Affermare che i computer possono offrire un mondo infinitamente più grande di forme possibili rispetto a questi prodotti non è tecno-ottimismo; è matematico, perchè i computer hanno dimostrato di essere in grado di simulare qualsiasi altra macchina. Il mio lavoro rappresenta semplicemente uno sforzo individuale affinchè il computer venga considerato come un "mezzo personale" di espressione. Nelle mie creazioni sfrutto la plasticità radicale del computer per esaminare protocolli di comunicazione non-verbale.