From the Wikipedia page :
In systems art the concept and ideas of process related systems and systems theory [c.f Cybernetics] are involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic object related and material concerns. Systems art is named by Jack Burnham in the 1968 Artforum article "Real Systems Art". Burnham had investigated the effects of science and technology on the sculpture of this century. He saw a dramatic contrast between the handling of the place-oriented object sculpture and the extreme mobility of Systems sculpture. This systems art operates according to Thomas McEvilley by "transferring an object or site from one semantic system to another; it, like so much else, derives ultimately from Duchamp, in this case from his example of transferring everyday objects into the semantic system of art"
From the ArtNet.com definition :
[Systems art is a] Term loosely applied to art produced by means of a systematic or highly organized approach to an image or concept. It is often manifested by repetition, series, simplification and progressive variation. Other related terms include systemic or systematic painting, one-image or serial art. It is perhaps rooted in Cubism and its exponents’ objective of exploring the notion of painting as its own independent system. Systems art was further explored in Constructivism. Artists who may be associated with the term include Josef Albers, Donald Judd, Carl André, Sol LeWitt, Gerhard Richter, Mario Merz, Kenneth Martin and Mary Martin, among many others.
So. Which is it then?
My story so far:
My friend Lindsay sent me a book Science and Technology in the Arts Today, sections of which read as pretty much contemporary even though it's from 1972, and there are a number of artists that I've never heard of -- including the cover photo piece which is very similar to things I've been thinking about doing. There was a ref to Jack Burnham's Beyond Modern Sculpture book of 1968 -- I think I'd heard of Jack due to his being a Duchamp scholar, but not that book. He curated a show at the Jewish Museum in 1970 called Software and hypothesized something called Systems Art which is -- given loose re-translation of ideas and language -- what I've been going on about for the last few years myself: pulling ideas from cybernetics, robotics, and complex systems into the arts.
On a Feb 2009 trip to the Bay Area I went to Moes looking for the Burnham book and found Stephen Wilson's 2003 book Information Arts, a huge compendium of techno-art from the late-80's through the 90's, but most of it has nothing to do with the Cybernetic variety. Typically, I then visited my friend Brooke who always eventually starts dragging books that he thinks might be interesting out of his cave, and there it was, even though I hadn't mentioned it to him. So I now have a copy of the Burnham.
Burnham mentions Grey Walter, a British neurophysiology researcher who developed some small autonomous robot cars that could wander and re-charge themselves -- IN F**KN 1949 using 2 VACUUM TUBES and 3 RELAYS -- I'm sure I must have heard of this guy but forgotten entirely. Even more strangely enough one of these cars is listed (elsewhere) as having disappeared after being sent to a museum in NY circa 1970 -- to the Software show? And he is an unsung hero of the Artifical Life folks too.
To add further weirdness what was probably the first major "computer-art" show, Cybernetic Serendipity curated by Jasia Reichardt, opened at the ICA in London in August of 1968. The show traveled to the USA and ended up providing the founding exhibits for the Exploratorium in San Francisco in 1969. Ten years later I tried, and ultimately failed, to rebuild Albert, a robotic head which was supposed to follow visitors as they walked by. I also extinguished a fire underneath what was probably another of the pieces from the show...my second firefighting experience.
It all died on the vine. I extrapolate a number of reasons, money, technical difficulties, and critical theory being among them. The Software show was such a technical disaster that it apparently contributed to the Jewish Museum's board of directors decision to stop doing cutting edge contemporary art shows altogether.
So here I am, again, out there operating on my own, wondering why no one is interested in this stuff. Everyone I talk to seems to know nothing about any of this, even if they have heard-of/met/studied-with Jack Burnham. Even the folks that go on about "Science and Technology in the Arts" have difficulty calibrating their experience with my idea that art-machines should have a life of their own...I mean, where else but in the arts can a robot just let it all hang out and not have to go find someone and blow them up?
| edit | Software | Information Technology / Its New Meaning for Art; Sep 16 - Nov 8, 1970; Jewish Museum NYC |
| edit | Software; show overview | highlight ppt like presentation |
| edit | Software; documentation | Excerpts from doc for Software show |
| edit | ZKW musuem -- Zagreb | BIT International show web page |
| edit | Information | Show at NY MOMA. Jul 2 - Sep 20, 1970 |
| edit | Information, show catalog | MOMA library ref card for catalog call: NX427.N7 I5 1970 |
| edit | Cybernetic Serendiputy | Photos and press release for show at ICA London; Aug 2 - Oct 20, 1968 |
| edit | Cybernetic Serendipity | catalog pdf; seems to be the scanned real thing (local copy) |
| edit | Open Systems -- Rethinking Art c.1970 | Tate modern show, Jun 1 – Sep 18, 2005 |
| edit | 9 Evenings: Theater and Engineering | DVDs of the EAT program, October 13-23, 1966 |
| edit | Art and Technology | Program for LACMA show in 1970 resulting from their artist/corporate collaboration project |
| edit | Art and Technology | Book by Maurice Tuchman curator of LACMA show |
| edit | Complexity show | 2002 -- pdf quide |
| edit | Evoluon Senster (by Edward Ihnatowicz) | possibly the first computer sculpture at Philips Evoluon center 1966 |
| edit | Nicolas Schöffer home page | made first cybernetic art in 1954 for the 1st Salon Bâtimat, Paris (France) |
| edit | James Seawright -- wikipedia | early cybernetic-techno-sculptor |
| edit | Michael Schippling | my own page |
| edit | Simon Penny | contemporary UCI professor of Art/Tech |
| edit | Life 3.0 | 2000 A-life show description |
| edit | Ken Rinaldo | A-life artist at Ohio State |
| edit | Real Artificial Life as an Immersive Media | Louis-Philippe Demers. Bill Vorn, 1995 -- description of three coupled sculptures |
| edit | Fish-Bird: Human-Robot Interaction in a Contemporary Arts Setting | Rye, Velonaki, etal, 2004 -- interactive robotic installation |
| edit | Norman White | machine art work from 60s to 90s |
| edit | Machine Life | catalog of 2004 Canadian show |
| edit | Eric Singer and LEMUR | NY based electronic music and robotics artist |
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| edit | Jack Burnham Interview | Interview by Lutz Dammbeck (2001) |
| edit | The House That Jack Built | Jack Burnham's Concept of Software as a Metaphor for Art |
| edit | Jack Burnham | Access to the writing and thinking of Jack Burnham |
| edit | An Imitation of Life | Sabbatini, RME: The First Robots of Grey Walter |
| edit | Systems Art | Main Page |
| edit | Radical Software | Historic video magazine first appeared in Spring of 1970 |
| edit | Software Art | an introduction September 24th. 2003 -- Andreas Broegger takes a closer look a the different phenomena known to some as software art |
| edit | All Systems Go: Recovering Jack Burnham’s Systems Aesthetics | L. Skrebowski, 2006, Tate Papers |
| edit | Detached from history | Jasia Reichardt and Cybernetic Serendipity from Art Journal |
| edit | Michael Gasperi | Grey Walter Machina Speculatrix Page |
| edit | Simon Penny -- interactive art | leonardo |
| edit | Burnham Page | info and same 2001 interview, in german |
| edit | BIT International | The Ultimate Avant-garde: New Tendencies show and Bit International |
| edit | Systems Aesthetics: Burnham and Others | Matthew Rampley paper, Jan 05 |
| edit | Wikipedia Information Art | Information show, conceptualism, etc links |
| edit | art + aesthetics of artificial life | list of artists claiming Alife affiliation |
| edit | Detached from history: Jasia Reichardt and Cybernetic Serendipity | Art Journal , Fall, 2008 article on show and curator |
| edit | Art & Science Collaborations Inc (ASCI) | organization home page |
| edit | Leonardo Journal | home page |
| edit | Two Cultures links and discussion | further info on CP Snow science/humanities split |
| edit | Robots in Art | compendium of robot art...see especially Eduardo Kac chronology |
| edit | Prehistories of new media | nina wenhart blog entries on techart history, notes for class at AIC 2008 |
| edit | Complexity Theory -- A Science of Cultural Systems? | MC Journal article with some content |
| edit | Observing Systems-Art from a Systems-Theoretical Perspective | Halsall paper from CHArt 2005 conference |
| edit | Signals magazine 1964-1966 | ed David Medalla, London -- kinetic and media art |
| edit | Behavior, Purpose, and Teloglogy; Rosenblueth, Wiener, Bigelow | founding article on cybernetics -- Philosophy of Science, 10(1943), S. 18–24. |
| edit | Systems Esthetics | Burnham article from Artforum Sept 1968 |
| edit | From Systems-Oriented Art to Biopolitical Art Practice | S.Buchmann paper at Tate Modern 2005 Systems conference |
| edit | Foundation and development of robotic art | Eduardo Kac -- Arts Journal Fall 1997 |
| edit | Macy conferences on Cybernetics | summary of meetings 1946-53 |
| edit | Dartmouth Conference on AI | Initial proposal for 1956 conference |
| edit | Principles of Self-Organizing Systems | Ross Ashby, founding paper, 1947 Journal of General Psychology 37, pp125-128 |
| edit | Artist and Computer | Leslie Mezei 1975 Toronto -- re-evaluation of roles from an early adopter |
| edit | Systems Aesthetics + Cyborg Art | S Penny from Sculpture January/February 1999 Vol.18 No. 1 |
| edit | The Construction of Change | Roy Ascott, 1964 -- discussion of art/sci/cybernetics |
| edit | Telematic Embrace: A Love Story? | Edward Shanken, c2000 -- discussion of Ascott |
| edit | Listening to Cybernetics | Christina Dunbar-Hester, 2007 -- paper on 1950-1980 music and cybernetics, good ref section |
| edit | Media Art Histories Archive | huge collection of papers on media arts |
| edit | The Sciences and the Arts | Harold Cassidy, 1962 -- paper based on book of same name; indirect response to CP Snow, indicator of state of the art in early 60s |
| edit | Cybernetics - Art - Design | Cybernetic Serendipity social network page |
| edit | YASMIN | cybernetics online discussion group seems to have relocated here, there was a discussion of -- Cybernetic Serendipity in 2008... |
| edit | Embodying robotic art: cybernetic cinematics | Skogerson, G, 2001, IEEE Multimedia journal article |
| edit | Autonomous Mutations | blog with huge biblio list at end of page |
| edit | Burnham: Panacea That Failed | scan of article from: Myths of Information 1980 |
| edit | artificial intelligence research as art -- Stephen Wilson | 1995 article |
| edit | Hans Haacke 1967 | Artist statement, clearly describes Systems thinking in the arts |
| edit | Hans Haacke 1977 | Haacke, ten years later, taking the entire Consciousness Industry to task |
| edit | Frank Popper on Interactivity | From: Art of the Electronic Age (1993) -- social and aesthetic implications... |
| edit | Behaviourist Art and the Cybernetic Vision. | Roy Ascott (1966) describing Cybernetic Art |
| edit | Cybernetics and Art: Cultural Convergence in the 1960s | Shanken, etal (2002) -- How the two came together, and then dissipated. |
| edit | From Network Bands to Ubiquitous Computing | Rich Gold and the Social Aesthetics of Interactivity by George E. Lewis From G.Born etal 2017 |
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| edit | Get Real: | Morten Sondergaard, 2005 Real-Time + Art + Theory + Practice + History -- amazon.com |
| edit | MIT Press Journals | Search Results: "systems art" |
| edit | Infomation Arts | Stephen Wilson, 2001 -- compendium of late 20th techno-art, authors web site |
| edit | Explorations in Art and Technology | Candy & Edmonds 2001 online book with historical introduction |
| edit | High Techne | Rutsky 1999 philosophical examination online book |
| edit | The Two Cultures | CP Snow classic, reissued 1993 online book |
| edit | Cybernetic Serendipity catalog pdf | Seems to be the scanned real thing |
| edit | The New Media Reader | Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Nick Montfort 2003 online book (partial) |
| edit | The New Media Reader | online resources for book |
| edit | Video Culture: A Critical Investigation | Hanhardt (ed) 1987 -- c.f. Burnham -- Art and Technology: The Panacea That Failed |
| edit | Postmodern Currents | Margot Lovejoy 1997, postmodern technological responses |
| edit | Multimedia: from Wagner to Virtual Reality | Edited by Randall Packer and Ken Jordan 2002 -- media arts review |
| edit | Art and Technology | Maurice Tuchman, 1971 -- book by curator of LACMA show |
| edit | Science and Technology in Art Today | Jonathan Benthall, 1972 -- review of 1960s activity, pretty much the last of its kind |
| edit | Beyond Modern Sculpture (excerpt) (thanks to dxarts.washington.edu) | Jack Burnham, 1969 -- The Future of Responsive Systems in Art |
| edit | Beyond Modern Sculpture | Jack Burnham, 1969 -- amazon.com entry |
| edit | Cybernetic Serendipity | Jasia Reichardt, 1969 -- book about the show (not to be confused with The Computer in Art) |
| edit | The Computer in Art | Jasia Reichardt, 1971 -- followup to the Cybernetic Serendipity show |
| edit | Cybernetics Intuitions and Art | Jasia Reichardt, 1971 -- more followup (also named: Cybernetics, Art and Ideas) |
| edit | Art and Science | S. Graubard, ed, 1988 -- Daedalus collection of articles from various positions |
| edit | Art and Technology | Rene Berger, ed, 1986 -- collection of papers from Unity of the Sciences, Nov. 1983. |
| edit | White Heat, Cold Logic | Paul Brown, etal, ed 2009 -- history of British computer art 1960-80 |
| edit | Metacreation: Art and Artificial Life | Mitchell Whitelaw, 2006 -- review? |
| edit | Art of the Digital Age | Bruce Wands, 2007 -- review? |
| edit | The Myths of information | 1980 -- K. Woodward -- essays, including Burnham "Panacea" |
| edit | 010101 : art in technological times | Catalog of SFMoMA 2001 show |
| edit | Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art | Artist writing circa 1996, large Art and Technology section |
| edit | Eigenwelt Der Apparate-Welt | ARS Electronica 1992 catalog |
| edit | A History of Electronic Music Pioneers | David Dunn -- online history lesson, excerpt from Eigenwelt catalog above |
| edit | Art and the Future | Douglas Davis 1973 "History/Prophecy of the collaboration between Science, Technology, and Art" |
| edit | Expanded Cinema | Gene Youngblood 1970, history of early alternative film and video |
| edit | Expanded Cinema | Curtis, etal eds 2011, appears to be a post 1970 update of Youngblood (!?) |
| edit | Ghosts in the Machine | Catalog of New Museum 2012 show of early machine art, with historical essays |
| edit | Machine Wilderness | Catalog of 2012 ISEA conference...notable for including my work... |
| edit | Art of the Electronic Age | Frank Popper's 1993 survey of what went before |
| edit | Hans Haacke | 2004 monograph from Phaidon Press -- excellent resource |
| edit | Digital Art | C. Paul (2004) -- somewhat one-sided compendium of computer art of the time |
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