THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF THE LAB: Collabora ve Research at the Intersec ons of Art, Science, and Technology
Edward A. Shanken www.artexetra.com
Grad Media Design Art Center College of Design 1 March 2012 I have seen the future and it doesn’t work
- Robert Fulford (Canadian journalist)
Conven onal criteria are insufficient
Hybrid forms transcend disciplinary limits, push conven onal structures of knowledge
Evalua ve methods par cular to a given discipline may not offer adequate measures of success or failure
New methods must be developed Must recognize the importance of process Deep Interdisciplinarity and Breakthrough Innova ons
“… a crea ve team [comprised ] of very similar disciplines … will be unlikely to achieve a breakthrough.” One made up of “very diverse disciplines is more likely to achieve breakthroughs – but will also produce many more low-value innova ons” - Lee Fleming, “Perfec ng Cross-Pollina on,” Harvard Business Review, Sep 2004. Revel in Failure
Breakthroughs demand extraordinary risks Must be willing to fail most of the time
“If you’re not failing at least 90% of the time, Alex Hay, E.A.T. 9 evenings, 1966 you’re not aiming high enough” – Alan Kay
Some of the biggest flops in history provide some of the future’s brightest successes
Ihnatowicz, Philips collab 1969-70 Predic on is very difficult, especially about the future
- Niels Bohr
The present has difficulty recognizing what the future will valorize from the past
Especially true of cu ng-edge research whose outcomes do not easily fit establish norms
Throughout history, the present has demonstrated a remarkable inability to recognize what its most important contribu ons to the future will be
Outcomes of experimental transdisciplinary research, although seemingly banal today, may be the breakthroughs of tomorrow. Bell Labs
7 Nobel Prizes Inven ons include: the transistor, laser, informa on theory, UNIX, C++
Pioneering work in computer music, computer graphics, computer anima on
John Pierce, Exec Dir Research Communica ons • “Father of the communica ons satellite” • Led inven on of the transistor, a term he coined • Pulse-code modula on (basis of digital audio) • Science fic on author (J.J. Coupling pseudonym)
Max Mathews, Dir, Behavioral and Acous c Research 1962-85 • “Father of computer music” • Demonstrated music synthesis,1957. $200/hr IBM computer • Developed real- me computer systems for live performance • Max MSP so ware named in his honor Bell Labs
Ar sts in Residence
James Tenney, 1961-64
Stan Vanderbeek and Ken Knowlton, Lillian Schwartz and Ken Knowlton, Poem Fields #2, 1968. Pixillation, 1971. E.A.T. Experiments in Art and Technology
9 evenings: theatre & engineering, 1966 ‘Have you ever met a normal, healthy and working engineer who gives a damn about contemporary art? Why should the contemporary ar st want to use technology and engineering as material?’
- Billy Klüver, 1967
Billy Klüver with reflective Mylar balloons, later used by Andy Warhol in Silver Clouds, 1966. Bell Labs operated the Mylar communications “satelloons” of Project Echo, 1960-65. 9 evenings was a ‘deliberate a empt by … ar sts to find out if it was possible to work with engineers.’ - Billy Klüver
everyone’s ‘investment in terms of putting-yourself-out-on-a-limb was considerable’ - Billy Klüver
9 evenings: theatre & engineering
• E.A.T. founded by Billy Klüver, Fred Waldhauer Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman in 1967 • Ar sts: John Cage, Lucinda Childs, Öyvind Fahlström, Alex Hay, Deborah Hay, Steve Paxton, Rauschenberg, David Tudor, Whitman • Audience of 10,000 • 8500 engineering hours • “midnight requisi ons” from Bell Labs 9 evenings cast, 1966 9 evenings: theatre & engineering, 1966 Most cri cs considered it a flop…
But…
Captured public’s imagina on about ar st-engineer collabora ons
E.A.T. helped make “materials, technology and engineering available to any contemporary ar st” (Klüver)
6000 members, 28 chapters in US and more internationally E.A.T.’s ROLE IN EXHIBITIONS
E.A.T. compe on, 1967 NY Times, Scien fic American E.A.T. Some More Beginnings, Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1968
Jean Dupuy and Ralph Martel Heart Beats Dust, 1968 (winner)
Pontus Hulten, The Machine as Seen at Norm White, First Tighten Up on the Drums, the End of the Mechanical Age, 1968 1968, in Some More Beginnings PEPSI PAVILION, EXPO 70, Osaka Japan
Designed and engineered by E.A.T. (un l Pepsi fired them over ar s c differences and budget issues)
seen by an es mated audience of 1 million visitors E.A.T.’s LEGACY
• vital inspira on for ar sts’ ongoing inves ga on of emerging technology • especially for ar s c collabora ons with engineers and scien sts • gained legendary status as a visionary ini a ve an cipa ng the future • extensive archives s ll overseen by long- me E.A.T Secretary, Julie Mar n The future ain’t what it used to be…
- Baseball legend Yogi Berra
What once looked shiny, new, and futuris c – like fins on automobiles – later become the quaint objects of nostalgia.
How can we preserve the essence of our own forward-thinking visions and prac ces – both the historical, cultural contexts in which they emerge and the crucial lessons learned through experimental processes of grappling with the unknown – so that future genera ons can learn from and build upon them? Philips Corporation
Philips Evoluon Hall, Eindhoven, 1966 Louis Christiaan Kalff, architect
• Inventions and innovations: lighting, cassette tape, CD, DVD • Innovative collaborations with artists since 1950s • Important examples of that work perished, including archives Historic Ar st Collabora ons at Philips
Nicholas Schöffer , CYSP I, 1956 CYSP = cyberne c + spa odynamic Historic Ar st Collabora ons at Philips
Le Corbusier; Xenakis; Varèse, Poème Électronique, Philips Pavilion, World’s Fair, Brussels, 1958 Destroyed.
a ‘liturgy for twen eth-century humankind, dependent on electricity instead of daylight and on virtual perspec ves in place of terrestrial views.’ – Marc Treib Historic Ar st Collabora ons at Philips
Edward Ihnatowicz
Sound Ac vated Mobile (SAM) 1968 =>
<= Senster, 1969-70
• 4m robo c sculpture controlled by a computer connected to sensors including sound and radar. • Responded to the sound and movement of audience. • Dismantled in 1974. Electronic components given away. • Philips’s archives related to the Senster destroyed. • As of 2003, the mechanical structure displayed as outdoor sculpture
Unanimated and decontextualised, the welded steel armature remains but a weathered ghost of a formerly Senster, 1969-70. Exhibited at Philips’ glorious surrogate being that in its prime enchanted Evoluon Hall, Eindhoven, 1970-74 thousands, providing them with a glimpse into the future. The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet
- William Gibson
It’s a ma er of spreading and dissemina ng it. New Media Art Ins tu ons, 1990s - on
Entrance to ICC, Tokyo, 1997
Graffi Research Labs, Train Bombing, ZKM, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Ars Electronica, 2006 (top); AE Center, Karlsruhe. Founded 1989; building 1999. Lichtkunst Linz. AE founded 1979; AEC 1995. aus Kunstlicht exhibi on (2006) and catalog (top). Expanded 6500m2 €30mil 2008. So what can we learn from Bell Labs, E.A.T., and Philips?
The success of an extraordinary transdisciplinary project o en cannot be gauged at the moment of its crea on.
Its recep on will likely be confused and contradictory.
Those who lack exper se in the key fields contribu ng to it will have difficulty evalua ng it in either ar s c or scien fic terms, much less in framing its poten al historical significance. Transdisciplinary Collabora on
“Collabora ons are the black holes of knowledge regimes. They willingly produce nothingness, opulence, and ill- behaviour. And it is their very vacuity that is their strength…. It does not entail the transmission of something from those who have to those who do not, but rather the se ng in mo on of a chain of unforeseen accesses.” - Florian Schneider, “Collabora on. Seven Notes on New Ways of Learning and Working Together,” 2007 It is into these vacuous black holes that the labs of the future must boldly plunge, enabling the unforeseen to emerge in its opulent nothingness.
However, in a context mediated by a bo om-line mentality, experimental labs must facilitate transla on not just between ar sts and scien sts but between visionaries and accountants. Venture Capital (VC) Model for Transdisciplinary Collabora on
100 ventures 100 x €1000 = 100.000 (loss) - 99 x 1000 (99.000) gain + 1 x 1000 x 1000 1.000.000 Net 1.001.000
Following this model and Fleming’s research, only a very small frac on will achieve extraordinary success.
Must ins tute rigorous criteria and develop exper se to support, recognize, and nurture: • innova ve research • breakthrough value (eg. Xerox GUI OS) • knowledge transfer to applica on • incuba on
Pool resources to spread risk, share success In the history of human thinking the most frui ul developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet. - Werner Heisenberg
We must be willing to take risks, to cross boundaries, and to collaborate in unconven onal ways that involve ‘pu ng themselves out on a limb,’ as Klüver noted.
Misunderstandings will arise, tensions will build, and egos will be bruised. Such conflicts should be embraced as a crucial and crea ve catalyst for innova on.
Breakthroughs may occur not just at “those points where two different lines of thought meet” but at the points of fric on where they rub or grate against each other. The resolu on of such crea ve fric ons demands the development of hybrid forms of knowledge produc on.
Such approaches may yield insights and results that could not have been achieved by using the methods and techniques of any single discipline. It is a supreme understatement that … collabora on is difficult.
extraordinary commitment and dedica on, taking it largely on faith that the outcome – which could not be an cipated in advance - will be worth the effort.
• fas dious project coordina on • managing and mo va ng people • inspira on and crea vity
TIME: • develop a shared language to communicate across disciplines • iden fy boundary objects as common locus of research • develop trust in one’s colleagues • develop effec ve and efficient modes of collabora ng together
Must believe in each other and in shared vision, even when misunderstood by the public and panned by cri cs and colleagues; even when their labors might not result in an exhibi on-worthy artwork or peer-reviewed ar cle. HYBRID PRACTICE/PRACTITIONERS
As the number of hybrid practitioners increases, their impact on the centrality of technology and science in the production of art and design (and vice-versa) will force a reconsideration of the canons of art and design history and the histories of science and technology. Ideally, such work will create new forms and structures of meaning that expand the languages of art, design, engineering, and science, and that open up new vistas of creativity and invention. COMMITMENT
it is truly remarkable what the collaborators in the 9 evenings were able to achieve in less than a year.
Klüver was so commi ed to AST collabora on that he quit a pres gious job at Bell Labs and relied on philanthropic sources to fund E.A.T. and provide for his livelihood.
Does such impressive vision and commitment exist today? Where can it be found? SUSTAINIBILITY, INTERPRETATION, AND RATIONALE
If it’s not strictly art, science, or engineering … then what is it? What new knowledge does it produce or enable? What is its function in the world?
Labs, artists, and scholars whose work fuses disciplines, will be prematurely curtailed if their contributions are not recognised and rewarded
Must develop: 1) rigorous criteria for evaluating and documenting processes and products of transdisciplinary collaborations
2) compelling rationales for research as engine for innovation – innovation not just as a marketable commodity, but as constituting more subtle and perhaps more insidious and profound shifts in the conception of knowledge and society. THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF THE LAB: Collabora ve Research at the Intersec ons of Art, Science, and Technology
Edward A. Shanken www.artexetra.com
Grad Media Design Art Center College of Design 1 March 2012