Art & Language: Codes & Translation

This first Tilt West roundtable of 2020 takes place at the Vicki Myhren Gallery at the University of Denver amidst an exhibition of Net Art, a practice that locates art along the ligatures, the connective tissues, that bind and unite any two nodes on a network. Net Art engages the in-between space(s), both actual and conceptual, that exist within the vast, interconnected universe of trans-national telecommunications. Computer art, and Net Art in particular, relies on language for its existence and efficacy (upon a virtual stack of programming languages as its substrate—its canvas, if you will), but while the internet made Net Art de facto global, it did not make it polyglot. For many, participation requires translation.

Despite the worldwide scope of the internet and computing, computer languages privilege English, forcing non-native speakers to adapt to a regime of Anglo-centricity in order to participate—to be seen and heard. Artists raised in non-English speaking cultures translate themselves, often using International Art English, to make themselves legible to wider audiences, even as their work strikes chords appreciable to all humanity.

The most powerful and beautiful works of Net Art also engage the confluence of poetry and conceptual art. The former aestheticizes language itself; the latter employs language, often poetically, to generate, invoke, or provoke ideas as an art form.

This roundtable conversation considers the following questions, among others:

• Can we remain relevant without adding programming languages to the languages of form with/through which we express ourselves?
• How do those of us who express ourselves with/through programming languages remain visible/legible in the face of relentless technological change?
• Will copious and beautiful documentation of Net Art ever be enough when we hunger for the aura of works made manifest?
• Can we become anti-hegemonic? Are we destined to be mono-lingual, forcing others to come to us? Are we willing to learn other languages—hear other syllables—beyond the already familiar ones?