The Evolution of TECH ART
by Yuko Nii
Copyright Yuko Nii Foundation 2025
Man, The Prosthetic God!
Sigmund Freud's concept of "prosthetic God" in Civilization and Its Discontents refers to the idea that humanity, through its reliance on technology and civilization, has essentially become a god with artificial limbs. This "prosthesis" represents the extension and enhancement of human capabilities, but also the potential for dependence and limitations that come with it.
We are All Cyborgs
“When we put our fingertips to the computer keyboard we are interfacing flesh to machine. In this we become a cyborg, part man, part machine!” Adam Oranchak
To write about the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center’s mission and my vision in creating it, I have to go back to my past.
In 1876 the American missionary, Dr. Williams S. Clark founded the Sapporo Agricultural College, which was then the boy’s university (currently Hokkaido University) in Hokkaido, Japan. From a very early age, I was struck by his famous words, “Boys, Be Ambitious!”. Dr. Clark meant to encourage the students, “Boys, Have a Big Dream!” His words have always been a driving force in me, both encouraging and influential. This is especially so because I had seen the great misery and devastation in Japan during and after World War II, where I spent the first twenty years of my life. I saw how my people, my country struggled and survived one of the worst periods of human history. Japan is a nation of beautiful culture –well structured and respectful of tradition, but rigid in many ways.
As I was not too happy with studying English-American Literature at Aoyama Gakuin Univ. in Tokyo Japan (1961-63), I left Japan for USA in 1963
I dreamt a big dream. I dreamt of a big country. I felt a strong force tuggi ng at me. And in 1963, at the age of 20, I left my country for the United States, “the land of opportunity,” and a country of freedom and democracy. I wanted to go there and pursue my dream of being an artist.
When I decided to leave, my parents told me, “Yuko, you have a good life here, why do you choose a hard life in a foreign country?” But when they saw my strong determination, they finally concurred that a hard life at a young age enriches your future if you are willing to learn from it.
Needless to say, my new life in America, first as a foreign student and later as an artist, especially as a woman, was not easy. I never expected it to be. I encountered endless hardships, but in the process of learning and creating, there is always challenge and struggle. There is also joy and satisfaction, for to create is to encompass one’s collective life experiences that result in the discovery of one’s self. It is a pleasure to see one’s own growth in the process of learning and creating.
I chose to be a painter, but I was also deeply interested in other creative areas: dance, music, theater, literature, classics as well as contemporary works. I took advantage of what New York City had to offer this richly diverse cultural center of the world. My heart and mind belongs here! While I was earning a living teaching fine art and woodworking, I pursued painting, stage set and costume design, graphic design, performance art, and writing. As they say, “An artist may be poor in pocketbook but is rich in heart.” I was no exception.
During my period of struggle, I met many insightful, interesting and wonderful people, not only Americans, but also from abroad, who supported and helped me in many ways. Although most are gone, they were and continue to be my dearest friends and mentors. I could never thank them enough for what they offered me. I would occasionally present them with small gifts, but some would refuse the gifts saying, “Yuko, we happily did what we were able to do for you. We do not expect anything in return. Instead, we hope that you will do the same for others in the future, if possible.” These wise words moved me so much that I started thinking seriously about how to fulfill their wish and express my gratitude. And, at the same time I started to appreciate the unique American spirit of “Charity and Volunteerism.” There are numerous individuals, organizations, foundations and corporations in this country, donating their time, labor, goods and money to needy people. And I was a recipient of some of their American goodwill and generosity for which I was very thankful.
I was using my living room as my studio for several years after graduation from Pratt Institute Graduate School in Brooklyn, NY. But as the size of my paintings started to grow and the number of my artworks increased, I needed to find a larger studio to work on large projects during summer vacation away from teaching in the city. Since I couldn’t afford a studio space in the city, I started looking elsewhere. To my delight I found one in upstate New York, a good size brick building, having a storefront and 2 apartments on the 2nd floor. Right away I bought it. Since the condition of the building was very poor, I had to renovate it totally by myself (my own hands and labor) and sometimes with the help of my friends. The newly renovated space became my studio and summer residence to get away from the city ‘s hectic life and heat so that I could concentrate on my work in a spacious studio in the peaceful quiet country. I was happy as long as I could paint alone in my building, but once stepping outside, a totally different world awaited me. I didn’t feel comfortable in that town. So I sold my building and I looked for another property upstate, and found the living was unpleasant and I left there. I repeated several times to renovate rundown storefront buildings hoping to find a satisfying place to live and work during summer. The last one was a charming house sitting on the Peconic River in Riverhead, Long Island, NY. But no places satisfied me…So I decided to stay in Brooklyn.
Although I then had limited resources, I started contemplating ways to create an art foundation. Then it occurred to me that I could possibly fund my plans by doing what I had done on my properties upstate and un Long Island.. By renovating old buildings with my hands and labor, the sale prices of the renovated buildings were much higher than what I paid for them.
I looked forward to the day that these assets would enable me to establish a modest, but well-endowed foundation in Brooklyn where my art career began. You see, in 1968 I finished my Master’s Degree at Pratt institute in Brooklyn, New York. I consider Brooklyn my home.
In 1976 I quit teaching in order to pursue my art career more seriously. Because of my need for a year-round studio in the city, I started looking for an affordable property in Brooklyn. I found one in Williamsburg, Brooklyn through a New York Times ad. I purchased it right away without thinking twice. I didn’t know that Williamsburg was known as one of the heaviest drug dealing places, and therefore, one of the most dangerous places in New York City. No decent person wanted to buy the properties or move here. No wonder the property was icheap! After an extensive renovation, I started living and working in the top floor loft, while I started renting other floors to young artists. This was 1986.
Although a small number of artists moved into Williamsburg in the early 1980’s I didn’t not know any artists. I was too busy with painting. However, my artist tenants told me about what was going in the Williamsburg art scene. Soon I started recognizing that many more young artists were moving in to live and work, and some started to perform in run down vacant factory buildings or opened up small galleries. Williamsburg was beginning to flourish as an active international artists community with artists not only from the U.S.A. but also from abroad. But there were still only a few places for them to exhibit or perform. I started to realize more and more that there was a strong need for larger exhibition and performance spaces.
Walking around the neighborhood, I discovered an old vacant looking three-story mansion standing quietly and majestically on Broadway and Bedford Avenue. A bronze plaque on the front façade (soon stolen) said “New York City’s Landmark, 1966.” Ever since I became very curious about this mysterious building, and to see the inside became my obsession. The front doors were always closed, showing no sign of any activities in the building. But one day in early 1996, I saw a sign on one of the windows, “Building for Sale.” My heart jumped with delight. I called the telephone number on the sign, and made an appointment with the owner of the building. Finally I was able to enter it! Each floor had its own distinctively unique character, as attractive as the exterior. I fell in love with this New York City Landmark, a French Second Empire masterpiece dating back to 1867, a vision started to form in my mind immediately: the vision of a multifaceted art center.
I put aside my future plan of establishing a foundation so that I could pursue the establishment an art center first. Coincidentally, Terrance Lindall, an artist and old friend, expressed his desire to collaborate in the establishment of a non-profit arts center.
So, in September, 1996 the not-for- profit WAH Center (Williamsburg Art and Historical Center) was founded, based upon my Bridge Concept. That concept envisions a multifaceted, multicultural art center whose mission is to coalesce the diverse artistic community, and create a bridge between local, national and international artists, emerging and established artists, and artists of all disciplines. Thus through the international language of art we could come to understand each other and create a
more peaceful and integrated world. The WAH Center is a force for peace and understanding and its concept is incorporated in its acronym “WAH” which in Japanese means “peace” or “harmony” or “unity”. I wanted the WAH Center to be a place where art and people meet in peace and harmony, making unity through the universal language of art.
I also wanted to preserve the WAH Center’s building, a French Second Empire masterpiece built in 1867, the New York City landmarked Kings County Savings Bank that is also on the National Register of Historical Places, and I wanted to make it a functional part of the cultural community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, and beyond.
Although the Center is a huge undertaking, my wish to satisfy my obligation not only to my good American benefactors but also some other wonderful people from abroad.
As you see, Dr. William Clark’s words, “Boys, Be Ambitious,” has stayed with me well beyond my youth! And I firmly believe that the fulfillment of big dreams is still possible in America, “the land of opportunity.”
The 1st floor of the WAH Center is an ornate Empire style interior suitable for presenting classical European paintings and occasionally old traditional Japanese artworks along with the period artifacts. the 2nd floor, which used to be called “a ceremonial room,” is our fine art gallery for exhibiting contemporary artworks, and the 3rd floor, which used to be a ball room for high society people, is our performance theater to showcase dance, music and theater programs. Thus, the BRIDGE concept has been explored well throughout the entire building. Once it was a “rich people’s bank” so called, but 150 years later, it has changed to a culturally enriching art building.
In 2001, the WAH Center presented my “Friends & Mentors” show: A Special Exhibition in Celebration of the Fifth Anniversary of the WAH Center (October 9 through December 2,
2001)
“This exhibit honors those who have traveled a golden path in the arts with creative insights, energy, strong commitment and enduarance, and who can be looked upon as models of……the younger generations to pursue their own ideals.”’
The first five years had presented many challenges on the road to create a new major art institution, accommodating artistic demands within our limited resources. Having been an artists for the most of my life, changing my profession to run a multifaceted art center at my good old age at 55 years old wasn’t easy. Even during those difficult times, the wisdom I learned from my most respectful mentors and dearest friends never escaped me. The accumulated wisdom was a sustaining force behind me.
My mentors and friends included textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen, sculptor and stage set designer, the renowned Isamu Noguchi, plus my undergraduate school painting professor, Jerry Rudquist, the great ceramist, Toshiko Takaezu, and also painter and wood-cut printer, Ansei Uchima with assemblage artist Toshiko Uchima, painter as well as collage artist, and finally Esteban Vicente who now has his own museum in Spain.
I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to my greatest friends and mentors who have provid ed me comfort, and security as well as deep love and understanding throughout my life, and who taught me value, respect, and broadmindedness. So, I have tried diligently to apply what I have learned from my wise friends and mentors.
I am more than grateful for many kind volunteer artists who provided their time, energy, skills and talents to help us whatever needed to fulfill our programs. I also want to show my great appreciation for support and encouragement from three former New York State Governors, three former NY City Mayors, three former Brooklyn Borough Presidents and my undergraduate Macalester College President and my graduate school Pratt Institute President, without whose kind and generous support today’s WAH Center would have been imposs ible.
The New Era - High Tech Art
Looking at the art history, the 20th century saw a new era of visual artists who challenged previous art styles. Beauty gave way to abstraction, expression, and symbolism. This metamorphosis formed numerous distinct and important art movements which presented a new type of aesthetic, some of which overlapped or influenced others. The most influential visual art movements during the 20th century included Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, which art movements took place mainly in Paris. But having won the 2nd World War in1945, the USA gained the economic power and cultural acumen As history repeatedly tell us, “art follows money!”
After the war, some artists from Europe, Latin America, and Asia, and some from different states came to live and work in New York City, which was and still is the business capital of the USA. They poured forth their talents and passions to form a new art movements in America. Abstract Expressionism coalesced, followed by Color Field, Pop Art, Hard Edge, Conceptual Art, Minimalism, Postmodernism, and more. By the late1960’s the New York City was booming as the “artists’ mecca” of the world. The constantly changing art scene was like a revolving magic lantern with various distinctive art styles making their distinctly unique foot prints on world culture.
There was still a downside to this. Unless woman artists were married to known male artists, the door to the art world was tightly closed to them. Beside myself being a rather quiet small Japanese woman artist, my painting style never fit in to any current art
movements or styles, so there was no possibility for me to be accepted in the commercial art world. That particular world was blatantly considered to be a “Boy’ s Club.” Accepting this harsh reality, I nonetheless kept painting while teaching art and art history part time at a private high school in Manhattan, and another part time job of wood-working at yet another private school in Brooklyn. After 7 years of teaching, I decided to quit in order to concentrate on working only in various creative fields including print making, graphic design, clothing design, and even costume and stage-set design for dance and theater companies in the city, all while writing fiction and philosophical papers, writing for newspapers and magazines. Although the income was much less, the enjoyment from working and learning creatively was beyond any words to describe. The cherry on top of it all was being able to see what other highly creative people in glamorous New York City were offering in their expansive inclusive New York style. I reveled in museum and gallery visits, going to see dance, music and theater performances, and listening to jazz at several clubs. This became my regular life. New York City became my second home where my heart and mind belonged and belongs, and where my soul can rest peacefully.
American Industrial Revolution
From: U.S. History Primary source
Timeline: ihttps://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/unitedstates-history-primary -source-timeline/rise-of-industrialamerica-1876 -1900/overview/
In the decades following the Civil War, the United States emerged as an industrial giant. Old industries expanded and many new ones, including petroleum refining, steel manufacturing, and electrical power, emerged. Railroads expanded significantly, bringing even remote parts of the country into a national market economy.
Industrial growth transformed American society. It produced a new class of wealthy industrialists and a prosperous middle class. It also produced a vastly expanded blue collar working class. The labor force that made industrialization possible was made up of millions of newly arrived immigrants and even larger numbers of migrants from rural areas. American society became more diverse than ever before.
Not everyone shared in the economic prosperity of this period. Many workers were typically unemployed at least part of the year, and their wages were relatively low when
they did work. This situation led many workers to support and join labor unions. Meanwhile, farmers also faced hard times as technology and increasing production led to more competition and falling prices for farm products. Hard times on farms led many young people to move to the city in search of better job opportunities.
Americans who were born in the 1840s and 1850s would experience enormous changes in their lifetimes. Some of these changes resulted from a sweeping technological revolution. Their major source of light, for example, would change from candles, to kerosene lamps, and then to electric light bulbs. They would see their transportation evolve from walking and horse power to steam-powered locomotives, to electric trolley cars, to gasoline-powered automobiles. Born into a society in which the vast majority of people were involved in agriculture, they experienced an industrial revolution that radically changed the ways millions of people worked and where they lived. They would experience the migration of millions of people from rural America to the nation's rapidly growing cities.
The American Industrial Revolution spanned roughly from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, with a significant transformation occurring between 1790 and 1860. This period marked a shift from a predominantly agrarian economy to one dominated by industrial manufacturing and machine-based production. A second phase, known as the Second Industrial Revolution, occurred following the Civil War and saw rapid advancements in steel, electricity, and other industries.
During that American Industrial Revolution period 1850 ’s on Williamsburg, Brooklyn became a booming wealthy town with some of America’s greatest industries, Pfizer, Pratt Oil and others. The industrialist built their mansions there and also a great bank for their money that indeed looked like a millionaire’s mansion…the Kings County Savings Bank, now the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center.
But times presses on, things changed, and in the course of progressing events, the Williamsburg Bridge was built and the crowded slums of the East Side of Manhattan began to trickle into Williamsburg, soon to be a deluge, until it became a slum itself with all the wealthy people moving out. And there I was in 1986 in the midst of this rundown neighborhood with a will to create and follow my star.
Thanks to the Women’s Lib movements of the1970’s on I started seeing more women artists exhibiting their works in various exhibition places, especially in the 1980’s in such venues as libraries, college or university galleries, local community centers, building lobbies, and now some small DIY galleries However, for woman artists the entrance to the art world was still narrow. Realizing the difficulty with which women artists had to
navigate in the art world, I wanted my art center to welcome both, men and women artists. My mission for the WAH was clearly stated
Remarkably, today more women artists are participating in art shows than men.
The WAH Center was no exception to advancing the opportunities of women, having the first “Women Forward” show in March 2009, “Women Forward, Part 2” in 2019 followed with the “Women Forward Show, Part 3” in 2022.
Art styles and the mediums have evolved to Installation Art, which is more interactive. And “Multimedia Art” took root becoming a major idea.
The WAH Center has been showcasing various art styles, but mostly conventional art mediums such as painting and sculpture. However, occasionally some high-tech art works were shown, which enticed my curiosity and appetite, wishing to see more of this “new media” shown at the WAH Center. As they say, “the medium is the message.” I became passionately interested in this new art form: Tech Art, AI Art, Video Art, Interactive Art, etc.
Adam Oranchak was one of my tenants (graduated from Industrial Design and Computer Science at Pratt Institute) who was working on his wearable computer in my basement (1990-1996).
The very first interactive art piece was the work of John Klima (graduate from Pratt Institute) who submitted his work to the WAH Center’s Apocalypse show in 1999, which stuck out as an astounding new media art work.
A couple of Korean tech artists exhibited with us who were also graduate students from Pratt institute.
The first high tech woman artist, Natsuki Takauji, a Japanese sculptor, exhibited her interactive art sculpture, “Still Life” (created in 2015), in the “Material Witness” show in 2019, made of steel, aluminum, hydraulic oil, and pigment, 72” x 24” x 24.” It was a big black metal box in the form of a fountain pouring crude oil into a big square standing pool. It was an outstandingly impressive high-tech piece!
Another women high-tech artist was Russian artist Oxana Kovalchuk whose several pieces were in the “America the Beautiful:The Real and The Imagined” show in 2021.
In the Metal and Plastic show in Oct. 2023, among the many submissions, one artist ’s work struck out. This was Tairan Hao’s, a Chinese artist, whose 3-D piece was a strikingly shiny blue abstract sculpture, called “Greeting #1” a 3D printing PlA, with an electroplated surface. I was totally transfixed with this new high-tech art.
An American artist, Emma Anne Johnson, submitted her 3 high tech pieces to “Celebration for the Earth” show in April 2024. A “Cheese Machine”, “Egg Machine” and “Water.”
Another high tech artists’ work was that of a collaborative couple, Jonathan Glover and HuiYing Tsa, who submitted work to both the “Spring Celebration for the Earth” show “Joy To The World” Show. The work was entitled “Twins”, and the medium was mixed media with customized electronics. When viewers touch various buttons on the big shell-like sculpture sitting on the floor, beautiful exotic sounds were heard. Inside of each big shell was electronic mechanical equipment connected to the buttons on the outside of the shell surfaces. Touching the buttons on the shell was like playing a piano on the key board, making music. I was again mesmerized with this piece.
I felt this is the time for me to ask these outstanding tech artists to curate a high tech show for the WAH Center. Because I was struct with an exceptional piece by artist Tairan Hao, I asked him if he wanted to curate the ‘high-tech” show and he delightedly accepted the offer to curate the show. He brought his friend, Cassidy Chen, a Chinese artist, who could cocurate the show. In the end, the three of us, including myself, decided to curate the show, with the title by Tairan Hao, “BEYOND INTERFACE & PROMPT,” a multimedia art exhibition.
What technology has done for our human life for centuries has been to improve our lives, our having invented many things to allow us to be efficient and save time and labor so we can develop our human culture.
Mankind changed from walking to horse riding, to bicycling, motor bike and automobiles. Air Planes deliver humans and objects faster from one place to another on earth, and now rocket ships can bring us to outer space. Vacuum cleaners saves our time and human labor, no more cleaning or sweeping with a broom. Washing machines clean dirt from our clothes, no more human hand scrubbing. Communication systems such as telephone, radio, and television have made it easy to communicate with others, no more writing, sending by snail-mail or even reading…Transistor radios became small enough to carry anywhere. And with chips our cell phones can record, videotape, and compute wirelessly. The “age of miracles!”
Technology has become a part of our life helping to make life more pleasant and convenient without making us aware that our life style has changed, because we take for it all granted as a daily life necessity.
Technology has already been changing artists’ personal unique imagination and creativity ways to express the artists’ personal visions by moving “beyond” traditional mediums.
This show “Beyond Interface and Prompt” is with twenty-three artists in various media, which will delight our eyes and minds and points to how far and where the technology can take us. This new media art has been generating for more than30 years, but the the WAH Center has been slow to present an exclusively tech-art show to inspire and entertain us.
Come see and be delighted!!!! Wake up and smell the coffee see where life is taking you…”beyond” the horizon of our expanding universe where only tech and human ingenuity can take you.
Yuko Nii Founder & Artistic Director