Exhibition: "A Study in Psycho-Cybernetics", Marvilla Art District, Lisbon 2023
Photos: Alexander Ramos 2023
Photos: Alexander Ramos 2023
A study in Psycho-cybernetics
Cybernetics was defined in 1948 by Norbert Wiener as “the science of control and communication, in the animal and the machine” - basically, the theory of messages. Cybernetics is a way of thinking about systems that can act toward reaching a goal, and can be applied across many aspects of human existence including psychological habits and human awareness. Taking its name from a series of principles defined by Maxwell Maltz in his book Psycho-cybernetics (1960), I embody his research that “It requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to gel”.
Twenty-one artworks are produced in twenty-one days. Exploring the work of art as a complex dynamic system, the art process as an internal series of feedback loops can be externally observed through the repetition of gestures and imagery. Constraints, used a little like the programming of a machine that is given the power to learn, assist the direction of the work. The film poster, as a representation of illusion and fantasy, becomes a space of destabilisation, cyber-myth, and ultimately of reinvention. Absent bodies in an almost-human scale invite the viewer in to reconcile their own interpretation of the symbols and semiotics of contemporary image culture.
In order to be “truly cybernetic” the artist must enter into a relationship with his audience which establishes a negative feedback loop to regulate behaviour towards a desired goal. We could question then, how does this relationship manifest? What defines a ‘successful’ exhibition, and who defines this? When is a work of art ever finished?
» 06_what matters is in the connections (2022)
analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm 
» 11_the question of souls (2022)
analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm |
» 08_Data sets are selective stories (2022)
analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm 
» 05_empty spaces arranged as a pattern (2022)
analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm |
» 03_the other side / greener grass (2022)
analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm 
» 07_parallel systems (2022)
analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm |
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