Cybernetics of Art : Reason and the Rainbow

First published in 1983, Cybernetics of Art uses the methodology and concepts of cybernetics to explore art and the creative process. Part I surveys the domain that includes both science and the arts, attempting to understand their differing viewpoints- and the basis of conflicts between them. Art is approached as a method of knowledge aimed at knowledge of experience per se (as distinct from knowledge derived through experience).

Part II poses the problem of notionally constructing an authorship machine and develops the technical argument by exploring the question of the kind of machine it would need to be. Part III examines the products of such a machine with a view to finding criteria for distinguishing those that might be called art. An extended, non-technical commentary accompanies the text throughout, with the dual aim of comparing the book’s technical conclusions with ideas expressed by critiques and practicing artists and assisting readers unfamiliar with the information sciences in following the argument. In a world dominated by artificial intelligence, this interdisciplinary book will be useful for scholars and researchers of cybernetics, art, and humanities and social sciences in general.