REICHARDT, Jasia (ed.)
Cybernetic Serendipity – The Computer and the Arts

A reprint of the super famous catalogue of the groundreaking 1968 exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity curated by Jasia Reichardt – in collaboration with Mark Dowson (technological adviser) and Peter Schmidt (musical adviser), and designed by Franciszka Themerson (who brought a pataphysician vibe to the project) – at ICA London. Cybernetic Serendipity was the first major exhibition to focus on the use of computers and programs in art, with an interest in “links between the random systems employed by artists, composers and poets, and those involved with the making and the use of cybernetic devices” (Reichardt).

After a quick introduction to cybernetics and the history of computers, from Ramon Lull to Norbert Wiener, the book – a special issue of Studio International – documents a large, and forward-thinking, array of projects where computers, machines or “cybernetic devices” are experimented by artists, or used (trained?) to create artistic forms. Shorts statements and texts by artists, scientists and researchers, accompanied by illustrations, point to projects in the fields of dance, music, poetry, film, installation, graphics, architecture…

Contributors include Nanni Balestrini, Alison Knowles, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Joseph Schillinger, John Cage, Gustav Metzger, Gordon Pask, Francizka Themerson, a. o.

Published by Studio International Foundation, 2025
Facsimile & Reprints / Exhibition Catalogues / Artists' Writings / Media Studies / Technology