Fallout and Spinoffs: Commercializing the Art-Technology Movement

Abstract

A common theme found in the hybrid practices of the 1960s­era art & technology movement is practitioners’ engagement with industry and the marketplace. This talk explores facets of this interaction. My focus is the pursuit of intellectual property rights and commercial ventures – what E.A.T. co­founder Billy Klüver called “technical fallout” – by artists and engineers working together. In the 1960s, collaborating members of these communities sometimes sought legal protection for their productions, techniques, and methods. Examples to consider include Billy Klüver’s stated rationales for E.A.T, the framework Maurice Tuchman established for LACMA’s Art & Technology program, and the activities of Frank J. Malina who founded the journal Leonardo in 1968. These activities occurred simultaneous with Apollo­era NASA’s promotion of “spinoffs,” a new term at the time for unexpected products and companies catalyzed by technology development. These attitudes and activities set the stage for more extensive commercialization of the art­technology nexus after 1980.