Project description

This study looks at 'cultural intermediaries' of new technologies. We are especially interested in two groups: artists working with (new) technologies and interaction designers. Members of both groups shape and transmit ways of using new technology. In other words, their influence goes beyond being cultural producers. They also translate or mediate new technologies to large audiences. In order to fully understand issues of adoption, we must have an adequate understanding of how these cultural intermediaries see themselves, how they generate ideas, and how they operate. We are mapping different generations, schools, agendas, forms of intervention and attitudes to technologies. We are also looking at the infrastructure behind this practices: venues, organisations and funding. Another area of interest is how media artists and interaction designers cooperate or distance themselves from each other. We are conducting the research in London, Helsinki and Amsterdam. The methods being used are interviews, ethnographic observation and visual research.