EXPERIMENTS IN ART AND TECHNOLOGY LOS ANGELES RECORDS, 1969-1975
Finding aid prepared by Annette Leddy
Descriptive Summary
Title: Experiments in Art and Technology Los Angeles records
Date (inclusive): 1969-1975
Number: 2003.M.12
Creator/Collector:
Experiments in Art and Technology Los Angeles (Organization)
Physical Description:
5.5 linear feet
(4 boxes and 2 flat-file folders)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
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.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language: Collection material is in
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.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Experiments in Art and Technology Los Angeles Records, 1969-1975, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accesssion no.
2003.M.12.
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.
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.
Arrangement note
Project documentation arranged in chronological order.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Corporate Bodies
Expo '70 (Osaka, Japan)
Subjects - Topics
Art and Technology
Genres and Forms of Material
Motion pictures
Photographic prints
Photographs, Original
Posters
Contributors
Experiments in Art and Technology (Organization)
Saarinen, Eric
Container List
Experiments in Art and Technology Los Angeles records
Box 1, Folder 1
E.A.T. New York report to the Ford Foundation,
1966-1969
Physical Description:
1.0 item
Scope and Content Note
Including a history of the organization's activities, with mention of local branches and regional offices, such as E.A.T.
Los Angeles.
Box 1, Folder 2
SDC school system crisis simulation,
1969
Physical Description:
1.0 item
Scope and Content Note
A Fact Book for a game by David Benor and Bruce Clary.
Box 1,3-4
Spherical mirror for Pepsi Cola pavilion at Expo '70, Osaka, Japan,
1969-1970
Physical Description:
3.0 boxes
Box 3
The great big mirror dome project,
1969
Physical Description:
1.0 film reel(s)
Scope and Content Note
16 mm film by Eric Saarinen, documenting the opening of the model for the mirror dome at the Marine Corps Air Station, Santa
Ana, California.
Box 4, Folder 1
Photographs,
1969
Physical Description:
3.0 color photographs
Box 1, Folder 3
Brochures,
1970
Physical Description:
3.0 items
Box 1, Folder 4
Letters, post exhibition,
1970
Physical Description:
10.0 letters
Box 1, Flatfile 1
E.A.T. in process,
1970
Physical Description:
7 folders, 1 flat file
Scope and Content Note
Material about the first Art and Technology conference, held at the University of Southern California.
Box 1, Folder 5
Assorted ephemera,
1970
Physical Description:
3.0 items
Scope and Content Note
Includes announcement, event program, and issue of
Survey containing conference review.
Flatfile 1
Conference poster,
1970
Physical Description:
1.0 item
Box 1, Folder 6
Art lecture series,
1970
Physical Description:
3.0 items
Box 1, Folder 7
Artist/scientist collaborations,
1970-1971
Physical Description:
7.0 items
Scope and Content Note
Information sheets and questionaires about a project to match artists with scientists in collaborative projects.
Box 1, Folder 8-10
Mobile unit,
1970-1971
Physical Description:
3.0 folders
Scope and Content Note
Notes and drafts, photocopies, and one bound copy of a proposal to create a mobile unit containing new computer technology
that would travel to schools and allow children to experiment with the equipment.
Box 1, Folder 11
Survey,
1970-1971
Physical Description:
5.0 items
Scope and Content Note
Issues 2, 4, 6, 7 (2 copies of # 7)
Flatfile 2
Poster for Art and Technology exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
1971
Physical Description:
1.0 item
Box 1, Folder 12
E.A.T. in review,
1971
Physical Description:
1.0 item
Scope and Content Note
Mimeographed information sheet about E.A.T. LA projects.
Box 1, Folder 13-14
Shelters for mankind,
1972
Physical Description:
2.0 folders
Scope and Content Note
Brochures, press releases, questionaires, correspondence, and clippings.
Box 2, Folder 1-2
Trade-off,
1972
Physical Description:
2.0 folders
Scope and Content Note
Proposal for a computer assisted preference gathering game in which participants design a new community with a population
of 100,000 in a 12 square-mile area. Includes proposal typescript, handwritten drafts, drawings, and print-out.
Box 2, Folder 3
Computer-assisted instruction/video media center,
1972
Physical Description:
2.0 items
Scope and Content Note
Progress report on a media center at Wilshire Crest Elementary School, Los Angeles.
Box 2, Folder 4
Images of science,
1975
Physical Description:
1.0 item
Scope and Content Note
a proposal to produce a film series on present-day American scientists and their work.
Box 2, Folder 6
Oodles,
undated
Physical Description:
1.0 item
Scope and Content Note
Illustrated report about a television program introducing children to the world of science.
