Jasia Reichardt

Jasia Reichardt was born Janina Chaykin in Warsaw in 1933 into a culturally rich Jewish family. During World War II, she survived the Warsaw Ghetto, was smuggled out in 1942, and lived under an assumed identity in safe houses and convents before reuniting with her aunt and uncle, Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, avant-garde artists who ran the pioneering Gaberbocchus Press in London. Immersed in this creative environment, Jasia attended Dartington Hall School, surrounded by children of notable intellectuals and artists, and later studied directing at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

She began her professional journey as assistant editor at Art News and Review in the 1950s, covering every contemporary art exhibition in London at a time when the entire scene could be explored in an afternoon. She then became assistant director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) from 1963 to 1971, director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery in the mid-1970s, and a longtime tutor at the Architectural Association. During her career, she curated groundbreaking exhibitions like Cybernetic Serendipity in 1968, which brought computers and art together in a way no one had seen before. The exhibition introduced new tools and ways of thinking to artists, and to engineers and scientists who, for the first time, became image-makers. It blurred the lines between disciplines and gave a glimpse into a future where machines weren’t just tools, but creative partners. She also curated shows like Fluorescent Chrysanthemum and Electronically Yours.

Jasia’s influence extends far beyond her curatorial work. She has authored key books on art and technology, including The Computer in Art and Robots: Fact, Fiction, and Prediction, while her memoir Fifteen Journeys from Warsaw to London offers a deeply personal account of survival and resilience. She contributed to more than 50 international journals, regularly broadcast on the BBC’s Critics’ Forum, and played a vital role in preserving and cataloguing the Themersons’ archive, culminating in a comprehensive three-volume catalogue published in 2020. Recognized as a foundational figure in cybernetic and digital art, her 1968 exhibition continues to inspire artists and technologists worldwide. In 2024, the Australian National University awarded her an honorary Doctor of Letters, praising her for shaping how we imagine computers in culture. Today, Jasia lives in London and remains a vital voice in art and cybernetics.