In this text, Mônica Tavares addresses the realms of art, techno-science, and communications from an interdisciplinary perspective. On the basis of research into the mechanisms by which electronic images are created, Tavares examines novel developments in artwork influenced by technological innovation. She asserts that changes pursuant to technology have affected even conventional artistic practices and the very nature of art. At stake, Tavares argues, is not only a change in media, but profound modifications in the very making of art, a shift that affects the limits and meaning of creativity. The artist thus moves beyond the sphere of the autographic as he opens up to the receptor who, as participant, takes on new operative functions. The work of art, then, is geared more to process than to outcome.

In conjunction with Julio Plaza (1938–2003), a Spanish artist who lived in Brazil, Mônica Tavares wrote the book Processos criativos com os meios eletrônicos: poéticas digitais (São Paulo: Hucitec, 1998), which brings together the results of long-term research into the relationships between art, technology, and communication. Plaza presented that work as his thesis at the Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo (ECA-USP); Tavares, after modifying the work with highly original contributions, included it in her doctoral thesis as well. Mônica Tavares is now a professor at the ECA-USP.

Other texts pertinent to this one include “Primeiros tempos da arte/tecnologia no Brasil” [doc. no. 1111029] and “[Incontáveis artistas…] = [Countless artists…]” [doc. no. 1110891], both by Walter Zanini. That second text discusses the exhibition Multimedia internacional (ECA-USP), which featured a number of creators working in new communication media. In his text presenting the show Poéticas Visuais, entitled “As novas possibilidades = The new possibilities” [doc. no. 1110585], Zanini makes frequent reference to Plaza’s book also entitled Poéticas Visuales (São Paulo: MAC-USP, 1977).