Page 18 - Studio International - November 1968

'Cybernetic The main theme of the Cybernetic Serendipity nationalities, all classes, and the free entry for children
under 12 and old age pensioners enabled us to
exhibition* was the demonstration of machine-aided
creative processes. In the course of this demonstration realize what a vast and enthusiastic audience there
Serendipity' it became clear that we have preconceived notions is among the very young and the very old. The
about areas of activity and the people who engage ICA had more than 60,000 visitors during the eleven
in them, which are not only arbitrary but often simply wee<s of the exhibition.
Getting rid of preconceptions
untrue. We assume, for instance, that creative pursuits The installation of this show and the attendant
are the prerogative of people called artists and it is problems are worth mentioning briefly. The compli-
difficult for us to conceive of creative activity which cations involved demanded an ingenuity rarely called
does not result in art (or what we recognize as art for it the arrangement of the more usual art exhi-
Jasia Reichardt today) and which moreover is done by people like bitions. Whereas normally one is concerned with the
engineers, chemists and philosophers. By examining aesthetic arrangement, or even a meaningful arrange-
some of the creative processes which employ com- ment of objects, here one was dealing with works
puters and other cybernetic devices, we are im- soma of which were sensitive to light or sensitive to
mediately confronted with an entirely different set sound and which accordingly had to be placed in the
of people than those whose work normally fills the sort of surroundings which would enable them to
art galleries. The Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition remain operational. The degree of ambient noise was
incidentally involved 130 contributors, of whom 43 resp3nsible for the breakdown of at least one
were composers, artists and poets, and 87 were maciine, and the necessity for dim lights caused
engineers, doctors, computer scientists and philo- several visitors to trip over. Each contributor firmly
sophers. declared the wish for privacy for his particular work,
The main substance of the Cybernetic Serendipity and the installation became more like making seating
exhibition was information—the exhibits themselves arrangements for a number of difficult guests at a
consisting of objects, diagrams, films, and sounds, dinner table, than the normal process of hanging or
acting as illustrations of the various principles and arranging an exhibition, which after all had a single
ideas of which the information consisted. It just so aim-that of presenting works engendered by tech-
happened that the objects which demonstrated these nology. The fact that the machines had to live together
ideas were often so attractive or simply so absorbing in one area prevented many from working at 100%
in their own right, that neither the audience nor the efficiency. Sound was the most difficult element to
critics found it always necessary to venture into the control, and music was the most difficult material to
layers of information and explanation which were exhibit. Whereas every graphic, film, poem and
provided. The fact that the exhibition was approach- maciine was presented in its totality, all musical
able on a number of levels was most fortunate because compositions had to be represented by a small frag-
it meant that it could be enjoyed by the layman ment of no more than a few minutes. duration. Also,
without simultaneously seeming offensively simplis- since many of the visual scores were indistinguish-
tic to the experts. Since no claims were made that the able from the graphics in the exhibition, it was neces-
various manifestations aimed at art, there was virtually sary to divide all visual material into strict categories.
no discussion as to whether this was or was not an Both the exhibition and the lectures which dealt
art exhibition. Surprisingly many adults and certainly with the main theme of Cybernetic Serendipity were
all children found the question 'Is it art or not?' designed to dispel some of those prejudices which
irrelevant. cause many intelligent people to believe that the
In retrospect and on the basis of this experience it computer is a threat to those whose intellectual
seems that however esoteric an idea may be, pro- abilities and creative powers may no longer be in
viding that it avoids the rigid classification of art or demand as their role is gradually taken over by the
science, or technology, or psychology, and their artificial intelligence machines. The exhibition demon-
*The exhibition, held at the I.C.A., London, various subdivisions, the audience drawn will rep- strated the possibilities and limitations inherent in the
closed at the end of October. It was reviewed resent an entire cross section of people. Cybernetic uses of computers, and if it were not for the unfor-
in the September issue of Studio International. Serendipity had visitors of all ages, all types, all tunate sensationalism of some reports on the radio