Page 12 - Studio Internationa - March 1971

Project 84 INTRODUCTION the related crisis which appears to be developing
The aim of PROJECT 84 is to establish a centre in science, both make such co-operation
David Dickson for scientists and artists, where those concerned particularly pressing.
with future social and cultural developments While we have watched the great benefits that
can meet to study common problems and science has brought to many areas of social life,
discuss new ideas. we have also experienced the perversions, from
BACKGROUND the creation of atomic weapons to the
The need for co-operation between artists and degradation of human and natural environments,
scientists has never been greater. Art is finding that can result from its misuse. And we can
itself increasingly influenced by the techniques, observe among younger scientists the growth of
discoveries and applications of modern science, a similar alienation towards traditional scientific
while the development of science has created activity to that expressed by a long line of
many problems, some of whose solutions will `humanistic' authors, poets and artists.
require profound changes in social and political Since science is now a totally integrated
value systems; science is therefore having to part of the social system within which its
take note of humanistic and cultural traditions misuse occurs, the scientist is having to become
to overcome the growing crisis of confidence directly responsible for the social consequences
it now faces. of his actions. He is having to change the
Many of the effects of science on the conception of an 'ivory-tower', objective and
development of art are easy to distinguish. value-free science concerned solely with the
They arise from the fact that art is having to pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and
reflect, explore and develop the experiences recognize that it can no longer be practised,
of a society increasingly dominated by scientific studied, or taught divorced from its social
and technological developments. context.
On the one hand, the direct absorption of In addition, we must now face the fact that
what the French social philosopher Jacques technological developments have created
Ellul calls the 'technique' of modern society certain types of problems for which technology
into art has lead to the creation of new art-forms has no solutions, but which can only be solved
such as computer and kinetic art; and it has by changes in social, political and cultural
also led to the extension of existing forms, for value-systems. Surrounded as we are by
example in architecture and the plastic arts, menacing patterns of exponential growth, we
in a manner that would have been inconceivable are being made increasingly aware that the
in a pre-technological age. earth has only a finite capacity to contain human
On the other hand, however, the traditional activity, and that future plans for social
alienation of artists from the mechanistic view development must be based on grounds other
of the natural world—the legacy of the scientific than the exploitation of the natural environment,
method of Bacon and Descartes—still manifests the expectation of a continually rising standard
itself in artistic activity. This alienation is of living, and perhaps even the sacred pursuit
generated partly by direct observation of the of economic growth.
social and cultural effects of scientific and It is when faced with such problems that
technological developments, and partly by the inter-disciplinary co-operation is essential.
conflict felt between such developments, with For the re-moulding of value-systems is a
their implied positivistic philosophy, and the domain in which the scientist is no longer the
traditional metaphysical concepts of romantic expert, and in which the contribution of those
and platonic idealism. concerned with the arts and related subjects
In addition, many artists have adopted a becomes vital. While the insight brought by
quasi-scientific approach to their subject in the artist into abstract concepts such as
an attempt to parallel, and perhaps find a `awareness', 'appreciation', and even 'social
substitute for, scientific lines of enquiry into value' have an important part to play in the
the nature of reality. We can see in movements future development of science education, and
The following proposals have been drawn up by a such as Minimal and Conceptual Art a concern in the reformulation of the basic ideas and
group of individuals from the fields of the arts and with basic concepts similar to that of the values on which our present science is built.
of science, to establish a centre containing: experimental scientist, whose task is to reduce New systems-based sciences, for example,
1 A reference library, with books, magazines, the complexities of the natural world to sets such as ecology, cybernetics and developmental
reprints and other material relevant to future of fundamental laws and ideas. And some biology have much in common with the
patterns of social and cultural development. artists build from these basic concepts complex formalist concern for relationships rather than
2 A meeting-room, capable of accommodating a abstract structures whose freedom of expression identities apparent in many forms of art today.
group of up to twenty-five people. is reminiscent of the rich complexity of What we must pursue, therefore, is in many
3 A bookshop, including a small area for the biological forms. ways a reformulation of the ideals of some of the
display of print editions and other exhibits. Thus in various ways, developments in art early Bauhaus artists relating to the synthesis of
4 A small workshop, in which experiments relating are continually being conditioned and, to a artistic, scientific and technological activity. Yet
to the interaction of art and science can be carried certain extent, determined by those in science, such synthesis must not be solely oriented
out. both through its concepts and its technological towards pre-determined technological
Support has already been obtained from a applications. This would in itself be sufficient development, but must also be problem-
number of groups, listed in Appendix II below, to demonstrate the need for co-operation oriented towards the situation which the world
and the co-ordinator is David Dickson, z between artists and scientists, but the problems faces today. To achieve this, it will be necessary
Chalcot Square, London NW1 (01-722 0186). that are beginning to face the scientist, and to bring scientists and artists together to
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