December 19th, 2020
Bell Telephone Labs
The modern world would be a pale shade of itself if not for the myriad foundational technologies developed at the Bell Telephone Labs. Its engineers invented the transistor and photovoltaic cell, charge-coupled devices, frickin’ lasers even Unix and the C++ programming language. Those same engineers also worked with some of the Cold War era’s most influential artists including Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Yvonne Rainer to create a wholly new style of artistic expression.
In his new book,
Making Art Work: How Cold War Engineers and Artists Forged a New Creative Culture, W. Patrick McCray follows the exploits of often-unsung technicians like rocket pioneer cum kinetic artist, Frank J. Malina and Bell Labs electrical engineer and Experiments in Art and Technology founder Billy Klüver, as they leveraged their technological prowess in the pursuit of creating compelling new works.