Page 38 - Studio International - January 1973

ideas) and an adjustment of these aspects of the change in the normative framework which The 'Tennis Club Project' for Nottingham
social environments by being revelatory to his specifies apprehension of his models by an was essentially a synthesis of the conclusions
`audience'. Unlike his contemporaries, Willats `audience' to a direct redefinition of norms of drawn in the previous project, but although
is concerned not only with the conceptual action (in a behaviouralist sense) of the latter. initially a great deal more elaborate than its
framework of art activity, but also with the This is perhaps analogous to the shift referred to predecessor the objectives were approximately
social framework; the latter he feels determines by Marx (`Theses on Feurbach') when he talks the same, except that the participating groups
the former and is thus assumed more of the shift from interpretation of the world to (who converged at a tennis club) had a degree of
fundamental to his work. The methodology changing the world as being the change in physical interrelation. A further modification of
acknowledged in this work is one rooted in the philosophical objectives engaged in by the goals was in attempting to encourage
rejection of the traditional notion of 'objectivity'. materialist philosophy. The same sorts of shifts participants in a redefinition and alteration of
Von Wright's comments on scientific experiment are entailed in the recent questioning of the the rules which determined the nature of their
(Explanation and Understanding 1972) seem notion of objectivity in the social sciences. social interaction and relation with the artist.
equally applicable to Willats's methodology : The first of these projects, 'Man From The The role of the artist becomes less discreet and
`The discovery of causal relations presents 21st Century' was seen very much as an the project goes further than merely attesting to
two aspects : an active and a passive one. The experimental project. It utilized two social the societal criteria of meaningfulness in the
active component is the putting into action groups separated both physically and artist's role. It attempts to engage the
systems through producing their initial states. economically from one another (a working participants in social engineering, albeit on a
The passive component consists in observing class area in Hyson Green, Nottingham, microscopic scale. To this end Willats took on
what happens inside the system — as far as and a middle class area in Bramcote, the job of organizer to a tennis tournament,
possible without disturbing it. The scientific Nottingham). As the title suggests the every step of his organizational capacity being
experiment, one of the most ingenious and project took on the format normal to marketing controlled directly by the collated information
consequential devises of the human mind, is campaigns of commercial companies. from distributed questionnaires (distributed on
a systematic combination of these two `Canvassers dressed up in silver jump-suits this occasion by 'Tennis Super Girls').
components.' with helmets, and arrived in a street in a The project which Willats is presently
The problems involved in the dualism of time-machine'. The mechanistic strategies of engaged upon is probably the most ambitious
investigating a system and contributing towards the entire project were advised by a group of and sophisticated to date. In the 'West London
running the system have largely occupied cyberneticians and human behaviouralists : Project' four separate social groups are used
Willats's work. To him this is no philosophical cybernetics, George Mallen (theoretical from four different parts of West London. As in
problem but a social one which the strategies); operation researcher, Stuart Pound other projects it involves the introduction of
sophistication of cybernetics and human (actual strategies); a neurologist, Julian Miller artificial and temporary social relations to make
behaviouralism help him to tackle. Like all (behavioural psychology); together with a up a model. In the first place the increase in the
human activity the ideal for art activity would perceptual psychologist and an advertising number of social groups is for simple practical
be that of a self-regulating homeostat which is company (company organization). The reasons far more ambitious, but the model of
capable of self-determined evolution and strategies were simply to ensure overall this project is homeostatic. Thus for the time
meaningful interaction with the social efficacy in operating within the behavioural of the project, i.e. the duration of the social
environment at large. This model would unify patterns characterizing the social groups. system, a degree of self-regulation of the system
the dualisms of observation and participation. One of the main goals of the project was to is aimed at, through a self-determined interaction
As Willats wrote in Control Magazine No. 6 : 'As discover and effect a societal metalanguage of the four social groups. The issues involved for
soon as an artist is concerned with an audience suitable for operation within the strictures of the decision-making are naturally as restricted as the
there is a concern with behaviour. When behavioural modes of both groups to a further system containing them, but in this project the
audience strategies are devised then it becomes end of communication of social predicaments rules governing the system are given over to the
behavioural modelling, the choice of strategy (in the abstract — as determined by the participants to manipulate. This naturally
being dependent upon the goal of the artist's metalanguage). Information reaching both makes the project much lengthier. Paradoxically,
intention.' groups was initially 'encoded' in accordance with when the participants have reached their
There seem to be two basic strategies the hypothesized behavioural patterns of each. objective the system is left by the artist, although
artist can adopt: (1) either a change is made in Information received (from answering of potentially it then has the possibility of
the audience's routines via a behavioural switch questionnaires) from the groups would be persisting autonomously.
or (2) the artist works within existing routines of collated and used to deduce a successive 'input' Thus in the theoretical evolution of the
behaviour. In both cases it becomes necessary to into the social groups, and so on. An artificial sequence of projects, there exists a shift from
specify the audience if a redundance level that is social system is thus put into operation whose cognitive problems to issues of a regulative
unacceptable for successful behavioural input and output of information relating to the nature pertaining to the frameworks of
modelling is to be avoided. If the artist is to system is intervened by the artist who is cognition. The assumed stance of the artist
operate within different social environments/ engaged in modelling the evolution of the shifts from the objective 'outside' viewpoint to
contexts, then the nature of the premises will system, and of the 'metalanguage'. The finality that of an internal agent whose usefulness is in
also need to evolve and be rethought to a point of the temporary system is the phase where being 'inside' the systems and models developed.
where they relate to a social context and are information received by each social group is The shift has led to models of an altogether
meaningful within it. This might mean, for identically 'coded'. Two different social different nature to those of behaviouralism and
example, the artist adopting a more predicaments would initially be explained in the social sciences. The explanation for this is in
educationally inclined role. accordance with two different codes (which the differences in function between the latter
The succession of projects with which Willats are related to each and finally in the same and the 'art model'. The articulation of an art
is involved constitutes both a redefinition of his code). The system is terminated at this stage. model in a social context has, as its prerequisite,
explicit praxeology and a refinement of his Hypothetico-deductive assessments of the a real social agent who operates in the ways
ideological objectives. One can observe a shift of artist's function with respect to the simple prescribed in Willats's work as an artist. The
his theoretical framework in what could be system are fashioned in the same way at each work, though highly sophisticated, is thought by
called its ideological specifications in the course successive stage of the ststem. In this sense I Willats to be in the early stages of its
of the three main projects to date. This is best - would tend to assign to Willats's work a development.
explained by talking of a shift from inducing prescriptive mode of operation. ROSETTA BROOKS
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