Timothy Binkley studied mathematics at University of Colorado at Boulder, earning a B.A. and an M.A.. His PhD in philosophy, from University of Texas at Austin, explored Ludwig Wittgenstein's use of language. Binkley has lectured and taught at several colleges and universities in the United States, most notably at School of Visual Arts where he initiated the MFA Computer Art program, the first of its kind in the country. In 1992, he founded the New York Digital Salon, an international exhibition of computer art. He has exhibited his interactive art in the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia.
Philosophy
Binkley postulates that twentieth-century art is a strongly self-critical discipline, which creates ideas free of traditional piece-specifying conventions including aesthetic parameters and qualities. The artwork is a piece, and a piece isn't necessarily an aesthetic object—or an object at all. Binkley states that anything that can be thought about or referred to can be labeled an artwork by an artist. Binkley argues that the computer is neither a medium nor a tool, since both media and tools have inherent characteristics that can be explored through an artist's gestures or physical events for mark-making. Instead, the computer is a chameleon-like or even promiscuous assistant, whose services can be applied to any number of tasks and whose capabilities can be defined endlessly from application to application. Binkley refers to the computer as a non-specific technology and an incorporeal metamedium. Yet the computer contains phenomena not found in other media: namely, a conceptual space where symbolic content can be modified using mathematical abstractions. The notion of an “original” and its consequent value are considered irrelevant, obsolete, or inapplicable to computer art. Binkley's philosophy extends beyond art and aesthetics to culture itself, whose foundations he believes we are overhauling through our involvement with computers.
Books
Symmetry Studio: Computer-Aided Surface Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992. With John F. Simon Jr.. Includes surface design software on CD.
"Computer Art" and "Digital Media", Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. 1:412–414, 2:47–50.
, Leonardo, 28, Special Issue "The Third Annual New York Digital Salon" : 427–432.
"Creating Symmetric Patterns with Objects and Lists", Symmetry: Culture and Science, 6,.
, Future Visions: New Technologies of the Screen, London: British Film Institute Publications, : 90–122.
, Millennium Film Journal, 23/24 : 130–141.
"The Computer is Not a Medium", Philosophic Exchange. Reprinted in EDB & kunstfag, Rapport Nr. 48, NAVFs EDB-Senter for Humanistisk Forskning. Translated as "L'ordinateur n'est pas un médium", Esthétique des arts médiatiques, Sainte-Foy, Québec: Presses de l'Université du Québec, 1995.
"Computed Space", National Computer Graphics Association Conference Proceedings, : 643–652.
, Philosophy Looks at the Arts: Contemporary Readings in Aesthetics, 3rd Ed., edited by Joseph Margolis,. Originally published in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 35, : 265–277. A French translation appeared in Poétique 79 and has been collected in Esthétique et Poétique, edited by Gérard Genette,. Also anthologized in The Philosophy of the Visual Arts, edited by Philip Alperson, and A Question of Art, edited by Benjamin F. Ward,.
"Conceptual Art: Appearance and Reality", Art In Culture, 1, edited by A. Balis, L. Aagaard-Mogensen, R. Pinxten, F. Vandamme. Proceedings of the Ghent colloquium "Art in Culture."
"Deciding About Art", Culture and Art, edited by Lars Aagaard-Mogensen.
Exhibitions
Rest Rooms, interactive telecommunications installation with video-conferenced computers, exhibited at SIGGRAPH ’94 in Orlando, FL., Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, OH, Schloss Agathenberg in Germany, Schloß Arolsen in Germany.
Books of Change, interactive computer installation exhibited in "Tomorrow's Realities", SIGGRAPH 1994. Included in the "Multimedia Playground" at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Exhibited at the Hong Kong Arts Centre in Hong Kong, the Central Academy of Art and Design in Beijing, and Camera Obscura in Tel Aviv.
Watch Yourself, interactive computer installation. Included in "Tomorrow's Realities" exhibit at SIGGRAPH '91 in Las Vegas. Exhibited at the National Conference on Computing and Values, New Haven. Accepted for Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria. Exhibited at Videobrasil International Videofestival in São Paulo. Exhibited at Digital Jambalaya in New York City in conjunction with the international TRIP '92 event. Demonstration tape included on Computer Graphics Access '89-'92 videodisks ; Electronic Dictionary videodisks. Exhibited at Images du Futur in Montréal. Exhibited at Vidéoformes in France. Shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Included in "Art for the End of the Century: Art and Technology" at the Reading Public Museum. Exhibited at ciberfestival 96 in Lisbon, Portugal. Permanent installation at Tempozan Contemporary Museum in Osaka, Japan.
Personal life and family
Binkley is married to artist and author Sonya Shannon and has a daughter Shelley Binkley, M.D., from a previous marriage to Sue Binkley Tatem.
