The Art of Living in Conversation | A Conversation about the Cybernetician Gordon Pask

The Art of... | Talk


[08.03.2022]


What if machines and works of art would engage us in
conversations? »The Art of...« invites you into the world of one
of the most brilliant figures of cybernetics in the 20th century
- Gordon Pask (1928-1996), the creator of learning machines and
cybernetic artworks.


Gordon Pask (1928, Derby–1996, London) fascinated his
contemporaries not only by his appearance – an Edwardian dandy in
a bow tie and cape – but also by his pioneering experiments in
the field of adaptive teaching machines. As early as the 1950s,
he proved that it was possible to build teaching machines that
could adapt to the abilities of human learners.


What makes his work unique within cybernetics, however, is its
close connection to the arts. Pask was not only a cartoonist,
painter, and poet, but also founded a theater company in the
early 1950s for which he wrote his own plays and songs. Thus,
theaters and music halls became the experimental laboratory for
Pask's first cybernetic machines. Among his best-known projects
and works are »Musicolour« (1953-1957), the 'moody' light organ,
and the »Colloquy of Mobiles« (1968), which he developed for the
legendary exhibition »Cybernetic Serendipity« at the ICA London.


Often overlooked when considering Pask is the influence of his
cybernetic thinking– his »Conversation Theory« – on 20th-century
architecture: Pask collaborated on the conception of the »Fun
Palace« (1964), the visionary project of architect Cedric Price
and theater activist Joan Littlewod, and taught for many years at
the Architectural Association in London. It is also too little
known that he served as a consultant to Nicholas Negroponte's
Architecture Machine Group at MIT, informing its ideas about the
relationship between artificial intelligence and design.


Titled »The Art of Living in Conversation«, Paul Pangaro,
President of the American Society for Cybernetics, and historian
of science Andrew Pickering, in conversation with Margit Rosen,
explore how Pask's machines and his »Conversation Theory« might
change the way we think about living with machines.


»The Art of Living in Conversation« belongs to the online
conversation series dedicated to artists and theorists related to
the ZKM collection and archives.