Page 30 - Studio International - July August 1968
P. 30

It had to be established what facilities existed in the   Age of Baroque          four colour etchings by William Tillyer;
     building: machinery came to light which had never   Dear Sir,                      three etchings by Terry Warren;
     been seen before.                        Unfortunately I was ill when Michael Levey's   and three etchings by Shane Weare.
      So now the whole ramshackle structure of art   review of my  Age of Baroque  appeared  (Studio   The average size of the editions is thirty and they
     education, with its false premises, its immoral   International,  Art Books supplement March 1968),  are priced between 8 and 15 guineas per print. The
     barriers, strait-jacket attitudes and multifarious   and later abroad, so I have only just seen it. I am not   gallery is concerned with the young contemporary
     authorities has been rocked. The challenge doesn't   narked by its tone; I might plead good intentions   printmaker and travelling shows have been arranged
     stop there.                              but a book must be judged on results. However, I'm   to universities in England, Western Canada and the
                         Clare Francis        not going to let him get away with his complaint that   United States.
                         Harry Munn           there is no mention of Longhena ("the absence from   Finally we should like to point out two further mis-
                         David Page           text and plates of S. Maria della Salute is scarcely  takes. In the directory of galleries you state that some
      Hornsey College of Art,                 credible"). On p. 39 there is a paragraph devoted to   artists who are with Gorner and Millard are dealing
      Hornsey, London                         the Salute (and other comparable baroque buildings)   through the Fulham Gallery with which we have no
                                              in relation to its setting, and the painting by Guardi   connection. You further incorrectly state that this
     Cybernetics                              on pl. 70 has the Salute as its principal subject. with   gallery stocks a wide selection of 'velvet prints'. In
      Dear Sir,                               due reference in the caption. Why, both architect and   your print supplement of December 1967 you also
       Mr Gordon Hyde (June 1968) was quite right to   building even appear in the index ! Not a large ration   incorrectly stated that we stocked 'velvet prints'.
     draw attention to the careless and uninformed use of   perhaps, but space was limited. Let me assure Michael   Since that time we have tried to find a gallery which
     the term 'cybernetics' in art journals. As a fashionable   Levey that I admire S. Maria della Salute (at any rate   stocked them but as far as we can ascertain they are
     cliché, about to be institutionalized by the ICA, it is   from a distance and quite a lot close to) as much as   completely unobtainable.
     abused in studios and art schools across the country.   he does.                                     Yours faithfully,
       But for the record, as the artist responsible for first   Yours faithfully,                                  B. M. Gorner
      introducing cybernetic theory into art education in                 Michael Kitson   Gorner 8- Millard
     this country (Ealing 1961) and for having dissemin-  Courtauld Institute of Art,   London SW5
     ated the concept of a cybernetic vision in art through   London
     various art and scientific journals in recent years, I
     must inform Mr Hyde that neither I nor my associates   June print supplement corrections
     are unaware of Wiener's message nor of the   Dear Sirs,                           The following entry to the June 1968 Directory of
     particulars of the discipline he established.   In your June issue, the publishers' guide omitted   galleries dealing in lithographs and original prints
      While the behaviourist aesthetic of process and   the fact that Gorner and Millard is actively publishing   appeared in an incorrect form. We apologize to those
     system is only at a formative stage, and while art and   small editions of original prints. In fact over the past   concerned and take this opportunity of publishing
     design schools are only near the brink of becoming   few months the following editions have been, or are   the correct information—Ed.
     instruments of a cybernetic culture, it cannot be said   in the process of being published :
     that art today is unaffected by this new discipline,   four aquatints by the American Colin Connor;   Fulham Gallery, 361 New King's Road, S.W.6
     however ignorant the art journalists may be of its   two etchings by Hilary Beauchamp;   Original graphics including poetry-posters, screen-
     history and meaning.                      three colour etchings by Silvia Dingwall ;   prints, lithographs, etchings. Artists include Tom
                            Yours faithfully,   three colour etchings by the Australian Charles   Adams, Sandra Blow, Dick Bixby, Mark Boyle,
                                    Roy Ascott   Lloyd ;                               Adrian Henri, John Piper. Poets include Adrian
     (Associate Member of the Institute of Computer   four colour etchings by Michael Oelman ;   Henri, C. Day Lewis, Christopher Logue, Edward
                                     Science)   four aquatints and four screen prints by Christopher   Lucie-Smith, George MacBeth, Brian Patten. Prices
     Wolverhampton                             Orr;                                    from 10s. 6d. to 10 gns.





     News                                     The Magic Theater Exhibition which opened at   tested the subtle relationship between his own
                                              the Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City,  on   actions in the circumscribed space and the reciprocal
                                              May 25, is the most ambitious undertaking in the   programme of lights and sounds—can explore its
                                              field of environmental art that has yet been attempted   deeper significance.
                                              in Europe or America. It has been mounted by the   Howard Jones' Sonic games chamber  sets up a
                                              Performing Arts Foundation of Kansas, which   more immediate contact between the work and the
                                              secured the co-operation of manufacturers and   intervening spectator. Aluminium units arranged on
                                              technical experts throughout America and was also   three sides of a dimly-lit room contain fifteen
                                              able to count on much enthusiastic local support.   sensitive points which release different tracks of
                                               The exhibition consists of seven distinct projects   sound as the shadow of the spectator falls upon them.
                                              forming a carefully graded sequence. Charles Ross'   The staggered polyphony provides a direct cor-
                                              Forest of prisms  and Stephen Antonakos' Walk-on   relative to the timing of individual movements and
                                              neon are situated on the periphery. The prisms, which   the relationship of individual movements to those of
     The allocation of the Premio Marzotto  for   occupy the centre of the main hall of the gallery have   the group.
      Figurative Painting in Europe 1968 was decided in   a remote perfection that tempts but does not entirely   Boyd Mefferd's Strobe-lighted floor  offers a much
     Valdagno near Vicenza on June 1. The first prize of   seduce the spectator. Their remarkable limpidity,   stronger sensation of inter-relationships between a
      5m. lire went to Alechinsky, the Belgian painter   which derives from the fact that they are filled with   group of spectators. The strobe lights fire at random,
      living in Paris. Two prizes of 3m. lire each were   distilled water, is echoed and intensified in Anton-  picking out instantaneous phases in the movement
      awarded to the Spaniard Genovese and the German   akos' Multi-coloured neon tubes. The conception of   of the group, and challenge each member to re-
      Antes. One prize of 2m. lire was awarded to the Pole   Antonakos' piece is still basically sculptural. But the   compose the sequence of movements from a series
     Tadeusz Kantor.                          spectator is invited to walk across the toughened   of disconnected stages. Stanley Landsman, on the
      Although there were seven prizes of 20m. lire in all,   glass panels of the platform and make closer contact   other hand, provides the most intimate and personal
     the international jury of eleven members (two of them   with the flashing lights that are arranged beneath.   experience of the exhibition in his Walk-in infinity
      from Great Britain: Sir Robin Darwin and Dr J. P.   James Seawright's Electronic peristyle occupies the   chamber.  Every surface, except the black curtain
      Hodin) could not find enough works of quality   first darkened room of the exhibition. This seems at   through which the spectator enters, appears to be a
      among those sent in by the thirty invited artists to   first sight like the shrine of a mystery cult with the   recessed cube with mirror surfaces reflecting
      justify awarding all seven prizes. The 150 pictures   central perspex globe enclosing a complex battery   thousands of miniature lights. The black bands which
     will tour Europe during 1968/9 and will be shown in   of electronic equipment. The direct effects of this   occurwhere the cases join, become chasms stretching
     Vienna. Milan, Prague, Nuremberg, The Hague,   project are entrancing enough. Tiny bulbs flash on   into infinite distance.
      Brussels. Paris and London. The English painters   and off in the surrounding black columns and the   Terry Riley's  Time-lag accumulator  and Robert
     taking part in this exhibition are: Louis le Brocquy,   central 'brain' itself contains a rapidly revolving   Whitman's Vibrating mirror room  provide additional
      Erich Kahn, Philip Sutton and Keith Vaughan.    scanner. But only the initiate—the spectator who has   variety in this carefully-planned display.
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