Joseph Nechvatal Papers
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Abstract
The collection consists of personal and professional materials Joseph Nechvatal created and gathered throughout his career as an artist and professor. The collection primarily consists of publications, ephemera, and photographic materials pertaining to Nechvatal's research and artistic work. The collection also contains a large portion of audio recordings, video recordings, and born-digital materials related to Nechvatal's art. To a lesser extent, collection materials include correspondence, artwork, sketchbooks, and financial documents. The materials date from 1970 to 2012.
Biographical Note
Joseph Nechvatal is a post-conceptual digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses. Nechavatal studied fine art at Southern Illinois University and earned his Ph.D. in the philosophy of art and new technology at The Centre for Advanced Inquiry in the Interactive Arts at the University of Wales, Newport, UK.
Since 1986 Nechvatal has worked with ubiquitous electronic visual information, computers and computer-robotics. His computer-robotic assisted paintings and computer software animations are shown regularly in galleries and museums throughout the world. From 1991-1993 he worked as artist-in-resident at the Louis Pasteur Atelier in Arbois, France and at the Saline Royale/Ledoux Foundation's computer lab. There he worked on The Computer Virus Project, which was an artistic experiment with computer viruses and computer animation. In 2002, he extended that artistic research into the field of viral artificial life through his collaboration with the programmer Stéphane Sikora.
From 1999 to 2013 Nechvatal taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He has also published several works including his book of essays Towards an Immersive Intelligence: Essays on the Work of Art in the Age of Computer Technology and Virtual Reality (1993-2006), Immersion Into Noise, Minóy, and Destroyer of Naivetés.
Arrangement
This collection has not been arranged by an archivist. The materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of personal and professional materials Nechvatal created and gathered throughout his career as an artist and professor. Nechvatal's papers contain a large amount of publications, ephemera, and clippings that Nechvatal wrote himself or was featured in. The collection also contains a large amount of photographic materials, audiovisual materials, and born-digital materials related to his artistic works. To a lesser extent, the collection consists of Nechvatal's personal correspondence, original drawings, receipts, invoices, and his sketchbooks with notes and sketches for his various artistic projects.
Collection materials include exhibition catalogs, journals, books, clippings, flyers, invitations, programs, posters, photographs, transparencies, negatives, slides, correspondence, sketchbooks, receipts, invoices, and artwork. Audiovisual and born-digital materials in the collection include audiocassette tapes, videocassette tapes, film reels, open reel audio, compact discs, DVDs, floppy disks, and zip disks. Materials in the collection date from 1970 to 2012. Some materials are in French.
Subjects
People
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Joseph Nechvatal Papers; MSS 338; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Joseph Nechvatal, 2012. The accession number associated with this gift is 2012.338. In November 2022 Nechvatal donated an accretion; the accession number associated with this gift is 2023.010.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact fales.library@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Born-digital materials have not been transferred and may not be available to researchers. Researchers may request access copies. To request that material be transferred, or if you are unsure if material has been transferred, please contact fales.library@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Materials were placed in archival folders and boxes. Original folder titles, when available, were retained. Where folders titles were missing, the archivist's interpretation is enclosed in square brackets. Sketchbooks were housed in custom archival boxes.
In February 2023, an accretion was rehoused in archival boxes and folders, and added to the end of the collection's existing inventory. One optical disc was identified, physically separated, and inventoried... New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content.
