Rolling Stone (February 1, 1969)

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Rolling Stone

1969

Ephemera

The Library Cybernetic Serendipity

Description

The February 1, 1969, issue of Rolling Stone magazine includes a feature on two landmark exhibitions of art and technology: “The Machine at the End of the Digital Age” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and “Cybernetic Serendipity”_ _at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, both of which took place in 1968. This coverage, highlighted on the magazine’s cover, marks a breakthrough moment for cultural criticism of the subject.

Appearing in the “Visuals” section of the magazine, the feature is titled “Computer Soul” and written by San Francisco-based art critic Thomas Albright. “The subject of this piece is computer art, and I wish I could say nothing but nasty things about it,” Albright begins. However, his assessment of the works in the exhibitions leads him to a more positive judgment about the creative possibilities of working with computers. “In many ways, it is the ideas that count,” he comments.