Page 14 - Studio International - April 1974

against preceding units of his own making, sequences. By machine sequences I refer to the and their characteristic unit-linkages. In order
working that is to say by means of influences. relationship by which one mechanical invention to obtain an understanding of how these three
If we had occasion to find names for these three is linked to another in the train of inventions modes of production operate in society it will
processes, we might call the first, the magical directed toward the solution, progressively, of be useful to consider the professional systems
process; the second, the naturalistic process; problems associated with a continuing need. which support each of these modes of
and the third, the academic process of art Thus the bullock-dray, the coach-and-four, the production.
production. locomotive and the automobile are linked in a It's to be expected that a professional
Admittedly the term 'plurality of machine sequence directed towards the support system will bear a close functional
prototypes' is self-contradictory: by definition solution of problems associated with land relationship to a production sequence. This
there can be only one prototype. I have used the transportation; the clay-tablet, the reed-pen, may be conceded without assuming Marx's
locution here in order to bring out the contrast the wood-block and the lino-type machine with contention that modes of production in
between the artist's method and the communication by a written script. themselves create their appropriate
craftsman's, and the artist's capacity to sustain Machine sequences are similar to fine-art ideological superstructures. Whether the mode
a continuous and personal unity while working sequences in that any unit of such a sequence of production generates the professional system
from a number of sources or prototypes in the must differ from preceding units; otherwise it or vice versa is not relevant to this point of the
production of each unit of an art - in the will not be put into production; and each unit discussion. What concerns us is the functional
special sense - sequence. is based upon several prototypes, drawn interaction of the production sequence in
We have been directing our attention at the perhaps from previous technology, from question and the relevant professional system.
reasons for change and variety in craft and fine- scientific principles, even from analogies with At the risk of untidiness I'll omit any
art sequences. But there are also reasons why nature's mechanisms. discussion here of the support structure of the
sequences should not vary from unit to unit. On the other hand machine sequences differ craft system and pass, because time is passing,
The sequential nature of all production from fine-art sequences in that each new unit directly to a discussion of the professional
arises in response to demand; and the primary of a machine sequence renders previous units fine-art system.
effect of an increase in demand is to increase obsolete: locomotives drive out mail coaches, I argued at the beginning of this paper that
the demand for static sequences; since, normally, automobiles drive out locomotives. Machine an art system develops from a set of beliefs,
and in the first instance, only that which is sequences also differ from fine-art sequences in values, dispositions and expectations, and that
known is desired. Now the perennial factors that they are not linked by personal style. True, in consistency with those beliefs it evolves
affecting demand are an increase in wealth and it's not at all unusual for one inventor to make specialized components which often take on
in population. The operation of both factors a series of major contributions to one machine institutionalized forms. By means of the
throughout history has resulted in a sequence. But considering the long span of transmission and dispersion of such beliefs and
corresponding demand for static sequences. time during which machine sequences continue, values the system maintains its coherence and
The production of such sequences has been the personal contribution is of a brief duration. continuity. To set down the beliefs and values
rendered more efficient by the invention of It's perfectly reasonable to speak of an of the fine-art system with any hope of success
tools and machines; the initial effect of which inventor's personal style; but evidence for such would be virtually impossible, since the system
has been to increase the efficacy of replication. a style must be sought among all his inventions, we are considering is a dynamic system and its
Whilst tools and machines may be utilized by and there is no reason why these inventions beliefs and values change in response to the
artists in order to develop and sustain a personal should be confined to a single machine social environment within which it is located.
style, it would seem that this is possible only sequence, as described above. Indeed there are Christianity took several centuries and many
with such tools and machines as allow the good reasons why they should not be. For a councils to set down its beliefs, and these even
intervention of changing purposes and successful contribution by invention to a when set down have, notoriously, not met with
intentions at various stages of the productive machine sequence may satisfy, during the a consensus among all those claiming to be
process. The over-all effect of the invention of inventor's life-time, the initial needs and Christians. Now it may be argued that an art
tools and machines has been to increase the demands which prompted it. What links the system maintains a looser and more open -
efficiency (and economy) of repetitive acts and units of a machine sequence is not a personal structure than a religious system; and this
so increase the production of static sequences. style (nor even a period style, except in a purely openness and looseness may render it less
Mechanical invention transforms craft visual sense, i.e. machine object qua art object) socially `visible'; but itssocial:translucency
sequences into industrial product sequences, but the continuous transformation of a human should not mislead us into believing it not to be
which vary not by a skill variable but by a intention or human purpose into increasingly there.
(mechanical) precision variable. Mechanical efficient mechanical terms. In this sense Some of the central values of the fine-art
invention has also attached static craft machines are imitations of will, and may thus system may be inferred from the nature of
sequences and increasingly, since the become both substitutes for and symbols of fine-art sequences of production and then, to
Industrial Revolution, industrial product human volition and human performance. avoid circularity, be tested empirically against
sequences, on to fine-art sequences. In such Furthermore, it is to be noted that machine relevant fact.
cases individual works of art (the units in sequences co-ordinate the work of many We have noted that fine-art units are more
question) will vary according to two parameters, inventors towards a common goal. A machine varied than craft or industrial units, in a sense
(i) according to style in a fine-art sequence, and sequence is therefore unlike an art sequence - their capacity for variety makes them unique
(2) according to a skill variable in a static craft in the special sense - being neither a personal among types of production. Fine-art units
sequence, or to a precision variable in an sequence, nor a personal substitute for therefore become general symbols, whatever
industrial product sequence. An example from performance, nor a personal symbol. It else they may be symbols of in particular, of
antiquity of a static craft sequence attached to an satisfies generalized needs. To the extent that the imaginative capacity of the artists who
art work might be the production of terra-cotta the machine is expressive it expresses corporate invented them; and they also become, in a more
figurines of a cult image; an example from needs and corporate intentions: becomes a general sense still, symbols of human
more recent times, the reproduction of a kind of symbol of 'general will' in its area of imaginative capacity. For this reason works of
painting by line engraving, or photo-lithography. operation. art come to be recognized as precious objects
In considering industrial production there We have been considering craft, fine-art and which are appropriately conserved as part of a
are two types of sequence to keep in mind : industrial sequences mainly with respect to the general human heritage. And since works of
machine sequences and industrial product mimetic processes involved in their production fine art, as we have seen, have their source in
16o