Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.)

Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) was a non-profit organisation and collective founded in 1967 in New York to foster collaboration between artists and engineers and to explore the creative potential of new technologies. It was created by the Bell Labs engineers Billy Klüver and Fred Waldhauer together with the artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman. The organisation's idea grew out of the large-scale event 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering of 1966, in which ten artists, collaborating with engineers, produced pioneering performances using electronics, video, and sound. E.A.T. arranged personal contacts between artists and technical specialists, held competitions, and most ambitiously realised the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka—an interactive space with a fog sculpture and a mirrored dome. The organisation's work became foundational for media art and for the digital and interactive art of the following decades.