Page 19 - Studio International - November 1968

Facing page and below Installation shots of the Cybernetic Serendipity
exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts

which talked specifically about 'art created by com- solely through the stimulation of the spectator's abstract expressionist movement—it is more exciting
puters', it might have been obvious to even more presence. Until something occurs physically within perhaps, more adventurous, but certainly less finite.
people that computers don't create anything them- the machine's orbit, it is not fully operational. The At EAT in New York anyone who comes to ask for
selves, and that whatever computer graphics, music audience in turn begin to respond to the sound and technological advice or assistance and who calls
and films are made, come about with the aid of com- light of the moving mechanisms which they have himself an artist is accepted as an artist; the fact that
puters through the very deliberate intervention of in- unwittingly stimulated. he may never have produced a single piece of art
dividuals. In rather the same way that we don't hold The Eastern Daily Press made one of the more widely which would be acceptable to any of our cultural
the typewriter responsible for the manuscript which repeated comments '...the show is guaranteed to clearing houses in Europe or America has nothing to
is typed on it, the computer hasn't, so far at least, keep children interested, and it is much more likely do with it. Somehow we have accepted that art can
created anything either. to be the adults who will be worried by it.' This was mean doing one's 'own thing', which can be anything
Since the exhibition fell between the two stools perfectly true, children rampaged in the exhibition for at all, and this marvellous freedom has created its own
of art and science, it was covered by art journals, hours on end, but it was almost impossible to find out problems. The exhibition has diverted a great deal of
scientific journals and, in the daily press, by news, art, from any of them what it was that they liked or did not interest into an area which is finite, which has very
and science correspondents. The general consensus like in particular. I suspect that it was the ambience specific parameters and aims, and which does pro-
of opinion was that as a venture Cybernetic Seren- of activity rather than anything specific that they vide stimulating material, albeit not art.
dipity was well worth while, that it was significant, found attractive. To elicit response from the various The technological world of Cybernetic Serendipity
and that it was enjoyable. The amount of editorial machines children screamed and danced, followed in was far from frightening. It was more human for
space devoted to the exhibition was exceptionally turn by many of the adults. Surprisingly enough in the instance than the recent display of minimal art at the
large, but surprisingly enough the longest individual spherical domes where computer music was playing, Hague, where black cubes, the size of small buildings,
articles appeared in the German newspapers. The comparative peace reigned despite the exuberant, filled a space not unsimilar to a ready-made deserted
exhibition's press cuttings book is like an exercise in demonstrations outside. city. Also, the frequent and persistent mechanical and
co-existence, where well-known names in the field of The extreme views were represented by the vindi- electronic id iosyncracies of the machines which kept
science are stuck next to those of art critics, edu- cations of Arthur Moyse in Freedom Anarchists a team of young men in attendance all the time, must
cationalists, anarchists, and gossip columnists. Gen- Weekly who dismissed Cybernetic Serendipity and have reassured many of those who assume perfection
erally the reports were both conscientious and Scientology in the same breath, and a doubtful if and inscrutability in technology. As for man's sup-
imaginative. surprising accolade was accorded to the exhibition remacy over the computer, this was also demonstrated
One of the main areas of misunderstanding involved (or at least its title) by the arrival of a new fashion repeatedly throughout the show. The computer does
the confusion about whether the act of audience boutique in Chelsea called Cybernetic Serendipity. only what you tell it to do and nothing else. Unfor-
participation was supposed to be creative in itself, The overwhelmingly enthusiastic response of the pub- tunately if you programme a series of pictures which
and if this participation was creative should it not lic contributed one of the most pleasant surprises and are essentially dull there is simply no possibility that
produce art as an end product. To me creativity does it was with some dismay that I heard from several they might turn out to be interesting. The randomness
not necessarily result in art or music or poetry, and foreign visitors that the same venture in Paris would achieved by spilling the contents of a bottle of ink,
participation has very little to do with creativity but a have needed police protection. has greater possibilities of improving a picture than
great deal to do with enjoyment. If the element of par- Two main themes emerge as the reasons for the the use of the random number generator in a com-
ticipation is rare in exhibitions generally, it is because obvious significance of the exhibition at this par- puter. What is disturbing about all this is that the
the wear and tear is so considerable that the works ticular time. The first has a great deal to do with the visual, poetic, and musical output of the computer
will quite obviously never be the same again. I shall context in which it is seen. As far as the art world is represents the intentions of the man who pro-
never forget Agam's first exhibition in London at the concerned, it arrived on the scene at a time when the grammed it with absolute accuracy. It is not surprising
Drian Galleries, where the only people allowed to sheer frequency of new 'isms' during the past ten that the series of deformations of Leonardo's inter-
play with his transformable paintings were collectors years has left marks of exhaustion. Michael Shepherd pretation of Vitrivius' theory of proportion are visually
and critics. Very unfair and very understandable. wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: 'What this exhibition more satisfying and interesting and altogether more
'What computers do is help people to respond to also serves to show up is a desolation to be seen in surprising than the results of the same process of
things': this comment by John Gormley of The Tablet art generally—that we haven't the faintest idea these deformation applied to an indifferent drawing. In the
was extremely relevant. In the context of the exhi- days what art is for or about.' This very same problem end it all depends on the material one starts with and
bition the computer is seen as a neutral tool, so much is reflected also in the sadness of the Venice Biennale, its potential.
so that only man's intentional endeavour brings about and the wave of dissatisfaction among staff and
some result. Not only the computers that had to be students of art colleges. Art as a concept is less grasp-
programmed, but also the machines which functioned able than it had been up to the dissolution of the