Page 25 - Studio International - October1968

Material wanted on René Magritte
Correspondence
inert tool, contrasted against human creativity,
Dear Sir, seems to me pre-cybernetic and not very helpful.
I am preparing a manuscript on the Belgian sur- After all, the idea of artificial intelligence is now
realist René Magritte, to be published next year by fairly reputable academically.
Thames and Hudson, and would appreciate the 3. Mr Blee mentions the possibility of a computer
loan of any unusual documents, copies of letters, being 'supplied with parameters by which to judge
and most particularly photographs of pictures. I the "aesthetic" quality of results'. This as far as I
would also appreciate information as to the where- know has not yet been attempted; to make such an
abouts of such documents, etc. Any material sent to attempt with the computer technology of today
me would of course be carefully treated and would would be premature. It is another matter, however, to
be returned. try and establish aesthetic criteria which, as well as
Any communications on this subject should be being artistically valid, would be intelligible to a
sent to me at 5 Westmoreland Street, London, W.1. hypothetical computer—in preparation for a day
Yours etc., when computers are vastly more powerful, cheaper
Suzi Gablik and more accessible.
London, W.1 Yours, etc.,
Jonathan Benthall
Barnett Newman and 'Tiger's Eye' London, W.11
Dear Sir,
I have been informed by Barnett Newman that 'Options' in Chicago
although his name appeared as associate editor of Dear Sir,
two issues of 'Tiger's Eye' (May issue, p. 256), in The enclosed statement is being sent to Mayor
fact he was never an editor of the magazine. Daley as well as to the major news media of Chicago
Sincerely, and New York.
Barbara Reise The undersigned artists would appreciate it if you
London, N.W.1 would help to make their views known to the
public.
'Cybernetic Serendipity' Sincerely,
Dear Sir, Carl Andre and others (as below)
Michael Blee's assessment of the ICA 'Cybernetic New York
Serendipity' exhibition (September issue) seems to
me well-reasoned, but there are some points which Statement :
should be taken up. On September 14, the Museum of Contemporary
1. He complains that the term 'cybernetics' is used Art in Chicago opens a show titled 'Options', in
by the ICA too loosely. I suggest that his own defini- which the undersigned artists participate. Since the
tion of the word is a narrow one, for which there are Chicago police under the direction of Mayor Daley
serviceable substitutes ('control system', 'homoeo- have made deliberate efforts to brutally suppress
stasis', etc.). The scope of cybernetics includes all dissent, artists have second thoughts about showing
observable systems—whether biological, electronic, their work in Chicago museums and galleries. A
industrial, economic or anything else. Further, number of them have chosen not to show in Chicago
W. Ross Ashby writes in An Introduction to Cyber- for two years as a protest against the city's administra-
netics that it tion and with the hope that Chicagoans will then
'takes as its subject-matter the domain of "all 'have discarded their present political leadership'.
possible machines", and is only secondarily We respect the position of these boycotting artists.
interested if informed that some of them have not However, we believe Mayor Daley and the Chicago
yet been made, either by Man or by Nature'. police are not people who would miss exhibitions of
Cybernetics, for Ashby, is comparable to modern contemporary artists, nor do such exhibitions show
geometry, which can 'treat accurately and coherently up in the city's income. Before the contrary is proven,
a range of forms and spaces that far exceeds any- we assume that citizens of Chicago who do care
thing that terrestrial space can provide'. about contemporary art are not followers of Mayor
It should not be necessary to press the relevance of Daley's conception of law and order. We doubt if
these concepts to 'abstract' or 'non-figurative' art their influence is sufficient to insure that people are
(which would get us into very deep water) for us to not beaten in Chicago streets and hotels. We think
see the cybernetic approach as a matter of the widest those Chicagoans who are interested in seeing our
cultural significance. This was certainly the teaching work should continue to have the opportunity to do
of Norbert Wiener. so. They should be informed, however, that the
Of course, some of the ICA exhibition was pretty exhibition of our work is not meant to create an
trivial, and Mr Blee is right to say so. We should atmosphere of phony culture that could cover up the
certainly raise our voices against any tendency for machinations of repressive forces. An attrition of
the idea of cybernetics in art to become a mere fad Chicago galleries and museums is likely to hurt the
of the sixties. wrong people and might even be in the interest of
2. Mr Blee's statement that the computer features Mayor Daley. We therefore do not withdraw our
'only as a tool never as a creative personality in its work from the 'Options' show. We indeed are for
own right' raises some interesting semantic questions. options—particularly in Chicago.
Clearly the computer is not a personality, but that Carl Andre Stanley Landsman
is too self-evident to bear much meaning. What is a Harry Bertoia Vernon Lobb
Tony Martin
tool? Many a creative personality may be treated as Hans Breder
a tool by the corporation he works for. How can we Jack Burnham Paul Matisse
define creativity except as something which mere Jackie Cassen Gerald Oster
tools are incapable of? The distinction between Enrique Castro Cid Charles Ross
Edward Samuels
instrumentality and creativity seems to depend on Tom Doyle
Joop Sanders
the intention or judgment of the observer. Thus a Peter Forakis
Robert Smithson
scientific programmer treats the computer as a John Goodyear
specialized extension of human capabilities of the Hans Haacke
Rudi Stern
same order as a telephone. But many of us are Eva Hesse
Theodosius Victoria
Paul Williams
interested in those cases where the computer comes Richard Hogle
up with some response which the programmer had David Jacobs Robert Zakarian
not predicted. The concept of the computer as an Lila Katzen