ZKM | Karlsruhe /// Gespräche /// Talks

The Art of... | Dokumentation [09.08.2022] Als Elisabeth Walther-Bense 2018 im Alter von 95 Jahren in Stuttgart starb, gab es kaum eine öffentliche Reaktion. Dass sie die ersten Professorin der heutigen Universität Stuttgart war, schien ebenso vergessen wie ihre Leistungen als Übersetzerin, Semiotikerin und Publizistin. Das ZKM, in dessen Archiv sich ihr Nachlass befindet, nimmt den 100. Geburtstag von Elisabeth Walther-Bense zum Anlass, mit einer Dokumentation ihr Leben und Werk in Erinnerung zu rufen.

The Art of... | Talk [12.04.2022] Gideon Bachmann, dessen Stimmenarchiv sich seit 2014 am ZKM befindet, führte von 1963 bis 1975 zahlreiche Gespräche mit dem Schriftsteller und Filmemacher Pier Paolo Pasolini. In den unkonventionell geführten Interviews offenbaren sie Pasolinis kritische Gedanken zur poetischen Eigenart des Kinos, zum Umgang mit der Vergangenheit und zur Bedrohung durch einen technokratischen Neokapitalismus. Bachmann sah in Pasolini einen Seismographen der Gesellschaft.

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.

The Art of... | Talk [14.12.2021] Clean water is essential for life on earth. Access to it has been a declared human right by the UN since 2010. In a country like Chile, where water is no public good, rivers hence become a symbol of a ruthless and failed economic system. Chilean media and sound artist Claudia González Godoy works at the intersection of art, science and technology. She dedicates her work to Chilean rivers, which she considers – in a poetic way – from geographical, socio-political and chemical perspectives. With a sensitivity to systemic relationships and through extensive field research she explores the effects of industrial overuse of water on the environment and the communities living along the rivers. Examples include excessive mining for copper and hydroelectric power generation for private companies. González Godoy translates the findings of her observation and research into mixed media installations that integrate image and sound. She combines digital technologies with analog processes such as copper engraving. The works are animated by water and electricity as central components. For the conversation, Claudia González Godoy has invited the curator, scholar and cultural manager Alessandra Burotto Tarky, who has accompanied the artist's work for many years.