Acquisition
Processing History
Related Archival Materials
Arrangement note
Biographical/Historical note
Access
Preferred Citation
Scope and Content of Collection
Publication Rights
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Experiments in Art and Technology Los Angeles records
Creator:
Saarinen, Eric
Creator:
Experiments in Art and Technology Los Angeles (Organization)
Creator:
Experiments in Art and Technology (Organization)
Identifier/Call Number: 2003.M.12
Physical Description:
5.5 Linear Feet
(4 boxes and 2 flat-file folders)
Date (inclusive): 1969-1975
Abstract: Collection of materials documenting Experiments in Art and Technology Los Angeles, a non-profit organization fostering collaborations
between artists and scientists that generally operated independently of the original New York-based E.A.T. The collection
offers a survey of proposed and completed projects by the Los Angeles E.A.T. organization.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
Acquisition
Acquired in 2003.
Processing History
Annette Leddy processed and cataloged the collection.
Related Archival Materials
Experiments in Art and Technology records, 1966-1993, Accession no. 940003.
Arrangement note
Project documentation arranged in chronological order.
Biographical/Historical note
Experiments in Art and Technology was founded in New York in 1966 by Billy Kluver, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman and
Fred Waldhaer. Local groups had been organized throughout the world beginning in 1967, and in 1969 regional offices were established
in Los Angeles and Tokyo. E.A.T. Los Angeles operated independently of the parent organization, except in the collaborative
construction of the Spherical Mirror Dome, exhibited at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Preferred Citation
Experiments in Art and Technology Los Angeles Records, 1969-1975, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accesssion no.
2003.M.12.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2003m12
Scope and Content of Collection
In the 1960s, a range of new technologies and materials were developed in the United States, partly in response to the challenges
of space exploration. E.A.T. and like organizations formed as artists, architects, and social visionaries perceived the creative
possibilities of lasers, sound technologies, optical instruments, new plastics, and computers. The collection offers a survey
of the projects the Los Angeles E.A.T. organization proposed and completed in pursuit of its stated mission to foster collaborations
between artists and scientists, make new technologies available to artists, and educate children in the creative possibilities
of science.
The first project, the Spherical Mirror Dome installed at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan, was fabricated from extremely thin metalized
malanex fitted with sixty-four gores to form an almost perfect two-thirds sphere. When inflated to maximum pressure, the spherical
mirror was ninety feet high, causing a complex of virtual and inverted images to appear in mid-air and on the dome's surface.
The collection documents this project with photographs, brochures, correspondence and a 16mm film by Eric Saarinen.
Other documented endeavors include an art and technology conference at the University of Southern California, a mobile unit
program to allow school children to play with computers and audio-visual equipment, a film series about science, a computer
game in which participants designed a new community, a conference about innovations in architecture and urban planning, and
a service that matched artists with scientists of like interests.
Publication Rights
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Posters
Photographic prints
Art and technology
Photographs, Original
Motion pictures
Expo '70 (Osaka, Japan)