Page 30 - Studio International - September 1969

excluding biology, and which has some more pro- misuse of world resources. Buckminster Fuller, NOTES ON AN INTERVIEW WITH NAUM GABO,
found connections with ecology that I shall discuss aware of this acutely, speaks of a 'design revolution' CONDUCTED BY JONATHAN BENTHALL
later in this article. But cybernetics is likely to have in which the objective is 'more with less'.
considerably less appeal than ecology as a stimulus `Conservation' is too often regarded as a re-
to interdisciplinary work, for it is more restricted actionary or nostalgic cause. Whenever some How do you relate your own work to the tendency we
in its scope and implications. massive threat is mounted against some treasured have seen over the last few years for art to meet with
An elementary knowledge of ecology should be- area—a road, an industrial plant, a line of pylons science?
come part of all educated people's 'common core' etc.—the ensuing dispute is too often seen as an There is no indication of success up till now in
of knowledge. Interdisciplinary courses exist al- exercise in public relations or a trial of ad hoc
ready in schools and universities, but they lack any lobbying strength. In an industrialized and highly the bringing together of art and science. To
thoroughgoing intellectual connections, and in populated country like England, the conservation achieve success, the artist must be spiritually
many cases the criticism that they sacrifice depth to movement as we know it can only fight a losing at home in the field of science so that he can
breadth is a just one. Both humane and scientific battle against urbanization and capital investment think and feel in the same way as the scientist.
curricula should teach a basic ecological under- —unless the ecological issues are grasped as a whole. A spiritual union, not a technical one, is
standing of the situation of man in nature and the The technologies to which modern industry and
universe. Since the decreasing prominence of the the economic system are conunitted are to a great required. Art and science have common roots
classics and of religious instruction in education, extent obsolete in concept. What chance is there, in the spirit of man, but they are quite distinct
there is no other common core available. Ecology for instance, of introducing more sensible transport activities.
seems an obvious answer, and the only puzzle is than the private car into great cities—when a big Your 1920 vibrating wire is one of the most import-
why there has not already been pressure from sector of the economic system depends on increas- ant early kinetic works. What is your view of
educationalists for the insertion of a basic ecological ing the growth in car sales yearly?
course in school curricula. The answer must be There is clearly a need in a country like the United kinetic art and 'machine art' today?
that ecologists have not articulated well enough the Kingdom for a Ministry of Ecology, to act as a I have always stressed since 1920 that kinetic
case for their subject, which has perhaps been powerful counterbalance to the short-term demands art as it exists is merely the A in a new alpha-
associated for too long in the public mind with of industry, finance and the military. Organiza- bet. I never had anything to do with the
nature rambles or conservation of the past. tions of proportional standing should also be Futurists' glorifying of machines.
There are many ways in which ecology could be in- formed at an international level, with moral
serted into art education at an advanced level. backing from people in all countries. The chief positive of modern science is the
For instance, ecology offers a way of translating the Ecology teaches that conservation is not merely affirmation that all matter is in movement.
artist's traditional reverance for life into an exact the conservation of landscape, townscape and One must distinguish dynamics— the science
and up-to-date knowledge of the origins and fun- other 'amenities', as they are quaintly called in of forces which make the movement—from
ctioning of life. Light is essential to all life: it has official language. Ecology teaches the necessity of a kinetics—the movement itself. The technology
always fascinated artists, and in recent years artists broader conservation of the natural resources
have been interested in using the new light media, required by human society: such as light, nutrition, used by most kinetic artists is too heavy and in
which now include lasers and optical fibres; but clean air, clean water, energy, minerals, etc. It is fact essentially obsolete in an age of radar and
how many artists have equipped themselves with extraordinary how far an urban society can satellites. Also there is a poverty of originality
an understanding of why light matters for plants, detach itself psychologically from the sources of in their creation of forms.
animals and man? This is just one example of the these necessities. I wonder what proportion of What is your view of the experimentation in new
possibilities of exploring new media through a New Yorkers and Londoners are mindful of their
broad ecological discipline. Again, ecology may be dependence on such processes as photosynthesis, media that we are seeing so much of nowadays?
extended to cover the whole mechanical and tech- the carbon cycle, and the fertilization of flowers by Exploration of the laboratory by artists should
nological environment that man has imposed on insects. Warhol's soup-cans and Oldenburg's ham- be encouraged, but at present it is still playing.
nature—including the motor-car, the aeroplane and burgers have a significance here. It is good to be fantastic but bad to let the
the computer, to name but three examples. When Ecology shows the dangers of catastrophes which fantasy ride without any control. There are a
cultural and social institutions are added in, could extend to a global scale. Ecologists are con-
ecology can form links with psychology, sociology stantly pointing out that some new technological great deal of artists but few doing genuinely
and anthropology— links which have not yet been proposal must not be carried out because of its creative work, a communication of their own
properly established. After McLuhan and Fuller, unpredictable long-term effects, and frequently experience.
is it possible for the intelligent art student to shut they win. The international scientific community The younger artists want to be original, so
his mind to such issues? is probably influential enough to forestall short- they try tricks and gadgets and decorative
Again, art criticism and art history could be shown term catastrophe. But the creeping dangers of
to be fundamentally an ecological exercise. Ever overpopulation, and exhaustion or contamination gimmicks, to attract the crowd; and the
since Plato and Aristotle, people have often com- of natural resources, remain. Every so often, one crowd is delighted. Many artists are quite lost
pared the work of art with a living organism. (In of the Sunday papers runs a feature on these but believe they are creating a new world.
proposing the catchphrase 'symbiotic art' in the dangers—destruction of wildlife, air pollution and `Away with art' is an old cry, heard during
June issue to describe certain cybernetic work, I so on. Many readers write in sympathetically. In many periods of spiritual disturbance. When
hoped to imply that in a sense all art is symbiosis.) the United States pollution is already a top political
If works of art are like organisms, what of their issue. But the general public's ecological conscience asked for advice by young artists, I recom-
ecology? The best art critics and historians are is not yet wide-ranging enough—perhaps because it mend study in universities, meditation and
strong on relating art to the social environment in has not yet been adequately fertilized by the serious self-criticism. Quick results should not
which it originated; and the ecological terms 'cul- creative imagination of artists. be expected.
ture' and 'climate' (as in 'climate of opinion') are It is impossible to formulate a long-term policy on LONDON, MAY 1969
already standard in socio-artistic history. This the proper use of material resources (which is what
could lead on to considering what kind of art does is required), when one has no long-term belief in
emerge, and what might be emerging, from the non-material ends. What is the point ? One might [Naum Gabo describes his 'Kinetic construc-
technological and social complexities of contempo- as well live from hand to mouth. Ecology studies tion' on p. 89 of this issue.]
rary culture. It could stir artists themselves into the use of material resources, but there are few
facing these complexities. Such an exercise is of today to suggest convincingly how man should The University of Wisconsin, Madison,
course feasible without the benefit of an ecological fulfil those psychological or metaphysical needs Wisconsin, has exhibited a collaborative computer
model. But what needs especially to be encouraged which make life more than 'birth and copulation art project entitled Glowflow. A small computer is
is the growth of a new ecological or comprehensive and death'. `dedicated' to on-line control of a system which is,
sensibility, which would guarantee the unity and Christianity and other religions—not to mention in the words of Professor Richard Venezky, 'both
continuity of life as convincingly as the world's secular ideologies like Marxism—have proposed an exhibit and a laboratory'. The inputs to Glow-
great religions have done. The transition from answers, and have 'used artists to communicate flow are achieved by various sensor devices, pre-
exact scientific ecology to a 'higher ecology' of art their teaching. In Part Two of this article I shall programmed sequences and random functions.
and culture (where values are unquantifiable) suggest what art and ecology can contribute today. The visual output consists of phosphorescent liquid
must of course be approached with tact. JONATHAN BENTHALL pumped through clear plastic tubing and occasion-
Extension of ecology to the human world must lead ally exposed to light in a dark environment. Audio
any imaginative person to be shocked at the [Part Two of 'The relevance of ecology' will appear output is generated by means of a Moog sound
ravaging of the environment and the waste and in the December issue.] synthesizer.