A Cybernetic Clarion Call to the Arts’ Community

Cybernetics was a subject that captured the attention of some of the sharpest minds in the USA and UK from the 1940s onwards. For me, in my previous role as an architect and designer, cybernetics played a key part in solving the ‘exceedingly complex’ problems associated with the way large companies occupy buildings. In the 1960s Roy Ascott predicted that the cybernetic approach would ‘ assist in the evolution of art, serving to increase its variety and vigour ’. This is an attribute exemplified by the behaviourist art of Gordon Pask whose ‘Colloquy of Mobiles’ took centre stage at Cybernetic Serendipity – an exhibition, held in 1968, which represented the heyday of cybernetics in the UK. But even today, in the arts’ world, a bright annulus of cybernetic light continues to shine, a phenomenon that I explain with reference to a piece of Visual Music called SHAPES. We’re on the brink of a cybernetic renaissance, which is why I’m issuing a clarion call for the arts’ community to turn towards the task of enhancing our chances of survival for the future.

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Terry Trickett: Role: Trickett Associates

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Publication date: July 2019

Publication date (Print): July 2019

Pages: 368-375

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[0001]Barbican, London, UK

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DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2019.69

SO-VID: e3b6c7a7-190d-46e8-84b3-fd4674badc7a

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of EVA London 2019

Conference acronym: EVA 2019

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Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 8 - 11 July 2019

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

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Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

R. Ascott 1992 Foreward: Extended Aesthetics Brian Eno Visual Music Chronicle Books, San Francisco California
R. Ascott 2003 Behaviourist Art and Cybernetic Vision Edward A. Shanken Telematic Embrace, Visionary Theories of Art, Technology and Consciousness University of California Press Berkeley, Los Angeles, London
S. Beer 1959 Cybernetics and Management English Universities Press London
R. Glanville 2009 A (cybernetic) musing: design and cybernetics Cybernetics and Human Knowing 16 3-4 175 186
N. Lambert 2017 The cybernetic moment: Roy Ascott and the British cybernetic pioneers, 1955-1965 Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 42 1-2 16 17
P. PangaroT. J. McLeish 2018 The Colloquy of Mobiles 2018 Project Paper given at symposium on Cybernetic Serendipity Reimagined, Liverpool https://www.pangaro.com/published/Pangaro-McLeishColloquy-2018AISB-2018distro.pdf retrieved February 2019)
G. Pask 1968 A comment, a case study, a plan Cybernetics, Art and Ideas https://pangaro.com/pask/Pask%20Cybernetic%20Serendipity%20Musicolour%20and%20Colloquy%20of%20Mobiles.pdf retrieved February 2019)
J. Reichardt 1968 Cybernetic Serendipity, the computer and the arts A Studio International special issue Frederick A. Praeger New York
C. RithH. Dubberly 2006 Why Horst W. J. Rittel Matters Design Issues 23 4 72 91
C. Scoates 1992 The Aesthetics of Time, Mistakes and Random Errors: Chance Systems and Process Brian Eno Visual Music Chronicle Books, San Francisco California
R. Sommer 1969 Personal Space: the behavioral basis of design Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs New Jersey
T. Trickett 2012 The Breadth of the Source-Code becomes the Brush of the Artist ATINER’s Conference Paper Series ART2012–0255 https://youtu.be/6WEXof-BWAw retrieved February 2019)
T. Trickett 2019a Four excerpts from J.S. Bach’s first Suite for Cello arranged for clarinet https://youtu.be/xeTdzxxmgtw retrieved February 2019)
T. Trickett 2019b Five excerpts from J.S.Bach’s first Suite for Cello arranged for clarinet https://youtu.be/6WEXof-BWAw retrieved February 2019)
N. Wiener 1948 Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine MIT Press Cambridge, MA

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[1] R. Ascott 1992 Foreward: Extended Aesthetics Brian Eno Visual Music Chronicle Books, San Francisco California

[2] R. Ascott 2003 Behaviourist Art and Cybernetic Vision Edward A. Shanken Telematic Embrace, Visionary Theories of Art, Technology and Consciousness University of California Press Berkeley, Los Angeles, London

[3] S. Beer 1959 Cybernetics and Management English Universities Press London

[4] R. Glanville 2009 A (cybernetic) musing: design and cybernetics Cybernetics and Human Knowing 16 3-4 175 186

[5] N. Lambert 2017 The cybernetic moment: Roy Ascott and the British cybernetic pioneers, 1955-1965 Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 42 1-2 16 17

[6] P. PangaroT. J. McLeish 2018 The Colloquy of Mobiles 2018 Project Paper given at symposium on Cybernetic Serendipity Reimagined, Liverpool https://www.pangaro.com/published/Pangaro-McLeishColloquy-2018AISB-2018distro.pdf retrieved February 2019)

[7] G. Pask 1968 A comment, a case study, a plan Cybernetics, Art and Ideas https://pangaro.com/pask/Pask%20Cybernetic%20Serendipity%20Musicolour%20and%20Colloquy%20of%20Mobiles.pdf retrieved February 2019)

[8] J. Reichardt 1968 Cybernetic Serendipity, the computer and the arts A Studio International special issue Frederick A. Praeger New York

[9] C. RithH. Dubberly 2006 Why Horst W. J. Rittel Matters Design Issues 23 4 72 91

[10] C. Scoates 1992 The Aesthetics of Time, Mistakes and Random Errors: Chance Systems and Process Brian Eno Visual Music Chronicle Books, San Francisco California

[11] R. Sommer 1969 Personal Space: the behavioral basis of design Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs New Jersey

[12] T. Trickett 2012 The Breadth of the Source-Code becomes the Brush of the Artist ATINER’s Conference Paper Series ART2012–0255 https://youtu.be/6WEXof-BWAw retrieved February 2019)

[13] T. Trickett 2019a Four excerpts from J.S. Bach’s first Suite for Cello arranged for clarinet https://youtu.be/xeTdzxxmgtw retrieved February 2019)

[14] T. Trickett 2019b Five excerpts from J.S.Bach’s first Suite for Cello arranged for clarinet https://youtu.be/6WEXof-BWAw retrieved February 2019)

[15] N. Wiener 1948 Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine MIT Press Cambridge, MA

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