+DIGITAL OBJECTS: Terry Gips+

Terry Gips is currently Director of The Art Gallery and Assoc. Professor
of Art at the University of Maryland College Park. She has curated
numerous exhibitions including the 1995 DIGITAL VILLAGE and the 1997
TERRA FIRMA. In 1984, she began developing the digital imaging program
at the University of Maryland, has presented numerous papers related to
technology and art, and was Guest Editor of the Art Journal's 1990
issue, COMPUTERS AND ART: ISSUES OF CONTENT.

Gips is also an artist working in photography, mixed media, digital
media, and installation who has exhibited nationally and
internationally. Her works are in the collections of the National
Museum of American Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the
Picker Gallery at Colgate University, the State of Vermont, and
elsewhere. She is represented by the Troyer Fitzpatrick Lassman Gallery
in Washington, DC. She did her undergraduate work at Cornell University
and received a Master of Architecture from Yale University.

RHIZOME recently asked Terry Gips to contribute to DIGITAL OBJECTS, a
feature series that looks at the place of new media art in the gallery.
Interviews with gallerists and curators offer critical appraisals of new
media art by arts presenters on an international level.

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RHIZOME: How would you define "new media art?"

Terry Gips: New media is a changing term since what was new 5 years ago
may not seem new today. Video, for example, is "media" in my mind, but
not new. Digital imaging is not so new anymore, either, although some
ways in which it is being used are "new." Right now, the use of
interactivity, and web-based work seems very new and in extremely early
stages of development for an art medium. But there is tremendous
activity and change going on around us (as you know, obviously, since
you are conducting this interview). I am always most interested in the
ideas not the the media/medium.

R: Is there space in traditional galleries for new media work?

TG: Absolutely. Even galleries that must sell a product to survive can
explore ways in which new media can be "packaged" and sold as CD-ROM,
etc.

R: Who is making the work that is being considered "new media"?

TG: I don't understand this question. All kinds of people– just like
all kinds of people make art that is not considered new media.

R: What is the value of new media art projects to the arts community?

TG: I need an example. Projects using new media are only of value if
they introduce ideas and challenge the makers, users, viewers to examine
their conceptions and understandings of themselves and the world.

R: What, if anything, interests you about new media art and the
experiences it offers?

TG: I love communicating with lots of people over great distances. I
love the fluidity of digital media and the opportunities they offer to
think into the past and the future simultaneously.

R: What challenges or issues need to be addressed when presenting new
media projects in traditional art spaces?

TG: The amount of time required for viewers to appreciate, engage, and
experience the work of the artist(s). There are obvious technical
issues, too. Can the existing staff [supply] the needed technical
support? Audiences get very frustrated when the "art doesn't work."

R: Is your space presenting or planning to present any new media
projects?

TG: We did a major exhibition titled THE DIGITAL VILLAGE in
November-December 1995. In 1993, we included a video installation by
Gary Hill in an exhibition. The show we are opening next week, ON THE
MAP: FACULTY/MFA/UNDERGRADUATES at the University of Maryland College
Park, includes several "new media" pieces. See our web site at: