A Journal of the CADRE Research Institute at San José State University
Mission
SWITCH is interested in fostering a critical viewpoint on issues and developments in the multiple crossovers between art and technology. Its main focus in on questioning and analyzing, as well as reporting and discussing these new art forms as they develop, in hopes of encouraging dialogue and possible collaboration with others who are working and considering similar issues.
SWITCH aims to critically evaluate developments in art and technology in order to contribute to the formation of alternative viewpoints with the intention of expanding the arena in which new art and technology emerge.
About
In 1995 SWITCH began what has become a valuable historic documentation of the evolving theoretical and critical discourse within new media.
Since then, many artists, technologists, theorists, and others have contributed to the journal; helping to shape the ways we think about and use technology. From the Fall 1995 virtual reality issue to the Fall 1998 electronic gender issue to the Spring 2022 Web 3.0 issue, SWITCH has been at the forefront of seismic cultural and theoretical shifts.
Within these issues you'll find interviews with Sadie Plant, Lev Manovich (1999) (1999) (2001), Kathy Rae Huffman (2000) (2022), and Manuel DeLanda (1998) (1999); essays from Christiane Paul, Sandy Stone (1999) (2005), Benjamin Weil, then New Media Arts Curator SFMoMA, and Alex Galloway (1998) (1999) (2005); collaborations with ZeroOne Biennial and Montalvo Artist Residency and the 2006 ISEA Conference; Bill Viola discussing his project with GroundZero, Mel Chin discussing his installations in the San José Library as a Creative Virus; and projects from CADRE faculty and alumni JODI, C5, and Joel Slayton who founded CADRE at San José State University in 1985.
Issue Archive
A note regarding the issues below, for archival purposes we have presented the electronic journal issues in their original format. The issues were designed and published before accessibility standards. As of Spring 2024, we have begun to archive these articles in accessible formats with the MLK Library through Scholarworks , which also includes search functions (many many thanks to Nick Szydlowski, the Scholarly Communications & Digital Scholarship Librarian at SJSU, for his heroic efforts on that front).
We would also like to note that the world has changed in the intervening 40 years or so since the first publication. We have not modified any of the tone or content, proceed with that in mind.
A final disclaimer, SWITCH has survived several server migrations and updates throughout the years, some of the internal links have been broken (and it probably goes without saying that many of the external links are long gone). In this index, we have provided links to the 'Home Pages' for each issue as well as direct links to the articles hemselves. It is our hope that some of the original 'non-hierarchical/rhizomatic/gnarly surfing' remains in-tact, but users may need to return to this page to navigate with directed intention.
Happy hunting, there are some gems in there.
Rhonda Holberton, Associate Professor, Digital Media Art