Waldeck/Sheridan: ATS Beginnings examines the roots of SAIC’s Art & Technology Studies department (ATS), featuring works by founders Steven Waldeck and Sonia Landy Sheridan. The first of its type in the United States, ATS got off the ground in 1969, when Waldeck introduced courses in Electronics & Kinetics; Sheridan, a pioneer in digital imaging, founded the Generative Systems degree program at SAIC in 1970. Since its inception, ATS has continually pioneered the use of emerging technologies in contemporary art, developing new models of artistic practice and integrating these models into the curriculum.
The exhibition includes several of Waldeck’s early works incorporating light, sound, and kinetics, as well as a restored, vintage Waldeck sound synthesizer, alongside black and white Xerox self-portraits by Sheridan.
