Cybernetic Serendipity: the computer and the arts

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Jasia Reichardt

1968

Book

Hardback

Cybernetic Serendipity The Library

Description

This special issue of _Studio International _magazine was published to coincide with “Cybernetic Serendipity,” the ground-breaking survey of art and technology that opened at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in August 1968.

Edited by the show’s curator, Jasia Reichardt, the special issue is heavier on text than a conventional exhibition catalogue, providing an in-depth overview of subject matter that was still unfamiliar to many readers. Articles include a history of computers from the 1890s onwards, a glossary of terms, and short contributions from exhibiting artists and computer scientists explaining the ideas and processes behind their work.

The first edition of the issue was published in July 1968; a revised edition came out two months later. A 50th anniversary reprint was released in 2018. The cover, designed by Franciszka Themerson (also the exhibition’s designer), features three projects included in the show: a 3D computer design by Donald K. Robbins, a plotter drawing by Charles Csuri, and the results of a Fourier analysis on X-ray crystallography by B.L. Kershaw.

CTG works list and group history, written by hand by Masao Kohmura Masao Kohmura / Computer Technique Group (CTG)1968 Ephemera

Computer-Drawn Dragonfly Pattern (cover of Kagaku Asahi, October 1968) Naomasa Nakajima1968 Ephemera

March of Polygons Computer Technique Group (CTG) / Haruki Tsuchiya1968 Print

Shot Kennedy No. 2 Computer Technique Group (CTG) / Fujio Niwa1968 Print

Kennedy in the Net Computer Technique Group (CTG) / Haruki Tsuchiya1968 Print

Miracle Stones Computer Technique Group (CTG) / Haruki Tsuchiya1968 Print

Perspective Pillar Collection Computer Technique Group (CTG)1968 Print

Twisted Circle Computer Technique Group (CTG)1968 Print