For its 37th issue, dated August 9, 1968, the English underground newspaper _International Times _devoted the front page to “Cybernetic Serendipity,” the groundbreaking exhibition of computer art curated by Jasia Reichardt that opened earlier that month at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
Rather than a single image, the newspaper features a collage of artworks from the exhibition: Charles Csuri’s series of plotter drawings riffing on Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian man; a looping, abstract shape that Sam Schmitt made by interpolating coordinate data; and George Nees’s 1964 study of polygonal forms with 23 corners. Inside, the paper’s eclectic contents include music and film coverage as well as a dispatch from Johannesburg reflecting on the aftermath of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre.
Toward the back, there is a mixed review of the ICA show by a critic called Biddy Peppin. “In conception and layout the exhibition is like a funfair with an arbitrary assortment of sideshows,” she writes. While Peppin approves of the interactive displays in particular, overall she finds that the show is “spoilt somewhat by the inclusion of an incredible amount of rubbish.”
Related Works
Siemens ComputerBernard Buffet1968Print
Switched on BachComputer Technique Group (CTG)1968Sound
Bijutsu Techo, Issue No. 303, Oct 1968Computer Technique Group (CTG)1968Ephemera
Graphic Design, Issue No. 33, Spring (March) 1969Computer Technique Group (CTG)1968Ephemera
Computers and Automation Portfolio - A Selection of Winning Entries from the 1968 Computer Art ContestMultiple Artists1968Print
Hummingbird (Computers and Automation Portfolio)Kerry Strand1968Print
Inspiralation (Computers and Automation Portfolio)A. M. France1968Print
Idealized Brush Strokes (Computers and Automation Portfolio)Evan Harris Walker1968Print