Concerning Stephen Willats and the Social Function of Art : Experiments in Cybernetics and Society

## PREFACE xi of art to owe anything to what has gone before. It is more relevant to start looking around to see other disciplines in society that are about developing new concepts and modus operandi in communication. . . . You create a new territory, a new 'cognitive' territory for people." 2 ME: But even those other disciplines exist in time; historiography matters because "new" is relative. The territory needs context. WILLATS (telling me about a radio broadcast of Stephen Hawking's Reith Lectures): "Time is meaningless. There is no past." The late Hawking noted: "If the predictability of the universe breaks down with black holes, it could break down in other situations. Even worse, if determinism breaks down, we can't be sure of our past history either. The history books and our memories could just be illusions." 3 ME: Cosmology is concerned with origins and change, too, though on a scale that I have trouble imagining. I'm more than willing to consider that history books are illusions, but, still, real people exist(ed) in real places, and often suffer(ed) and die(d) in those places, in part due to historical constructions that demonize, oppress, and exploit individuals and groups. Their lives were and are not illusions. This hypothetical conversation indicates some of the tension that Stephen and I have experienced as I tried to write this book. We are only nine years apart in age; his life started during the Second World War in London and mine a bit later in the United States, during the Cold War, in Seattle, Washington. I insist on acknowledging our situatedness in the past and the present-both physical and social-because I believe it is integral to our work, his art-making and my writing. Stephen and I resolved some of our differences, compromised on others, and remained at an impasse regarding image rights. In this preface, I briefly outline the history of our interactions, touch on the negotiations between us about reproducing images of his art, and offer a guide to visualizing his work in the absence of illustrations. Stephen and his wife Stephanie have been alert gatekeepers of his information and images. In the years between 2003 and 2016, they allowed me into their homes and studio, fed me, sat for interviews, shared documents and art in their possession, and walked and drove around with me. I felt that they were genuinely supportive of my publication effort, and I did my best to compensate them for their time and attention. I remain grateful for the years of my engagement with Stephen and Stephanie Willats. I deeply appreciate Stephen's project works and the ideas that drive them. PREFACE xii paradox: by giving up on the illustrations, I gain more say in my writing. Writing history is always in revision and under debate; what follows is my version of this book's trajectory. On November 21, 2012, in response to my publication in Information & Culture 5 on some of Stephen's work, he sent a laudatory fax to me, which in part read: The more people that read your text, the more people there are who love it, at least over here in the UK. . . . Think about a book. There could be someone over here interested. 6 A book on Willats's art aligned with my interests, and so I continued my research and grant-writing. I sent out book proposals in 2015 and received a book contract early in 2016. By March 2016, I returned to London to finalize my manuscript, having written and received grants to pay Stephen modest fees for rights and reproductions. I never pretended that my funds would fairly compensate him, but for a time he seemed willing to accept what I had to offer. I resisted Stephen's oversight of my writing, but I did relent that spring and provided a draft for him to read since he refused to provide images unless he read what I wrote. Stephen did not like the version that he read and denied permission to use his images for illustrating the book; his gallery, Victoria Miro, communicated this decision to me in August of 2016. Stephen's gallery then became my liaison with Stephen. While I have not spoken directly to Stephen since May of 2016, the staff at Victoria Miro Gallery were patient and professional as Stephen and I struggled to come to agreement. Regarding that 2016 draft, Stephen's comments on it emphasized that his artistic practice was not social science or urban planning; the comparisons I made between his work and that of sociologists and planners seemed to irritate him. He also did not appreciate that my text associated his work with networked games or art curation. I welcomed his factual corrections and took his objections seriously, changing emphases to try and better represent his intentions. In the initial draft that he read, I tended to instrumentalize his projects. For example, when I wrote that Willats "create [d] new ways to engage with regulations or ad hoc schemes in order to amplify the needs and desires of ordinary individuals living within controlled settings" in that early draft, he wrote in the margin, "not the aim at all." While challenging housing policies may have been a consequence of Stephen's work with tenants, I acknowledge that this was not his motivation. In February 2017 my editor suggested that we proceed with the external reviews of my manuscript and see how the image permissions might sort out in the process. By December of 2017 I had the reviews in hand and began another revision. At the suggestion of the external readers, I included more discussion of British artists to provide context for Stephen's work, along with further focus on early cybernetics in Britain. These comparisons PREFACE xiv PREFACE xv of his art. This is as it should be: artists must benefit from their ideas and imagery, which often have been created at great personal cost. Stephen has used an idea from chaos theory, a "strange attractor," to describe the partial view that we each have of processes occurring around us. 12 We rarely observe an event at its origin or at its completion. All that we have control over (and even that may be an illusion) is the quality of temporary interaction. This book, then, is an ephemeral offering within an elusive whole. I invite you to engage with it in the changing context of art scholarship. It is informed by my relatively brief encounter with Stephen and Stephanie Willats, which has left me puzzled and seeking further understanding. This publication is about interrelated systems and ways in which artists can and do help us understand them. You might say the conceptual spine of this book is supported by the interactions of artists and systems, in which a self-selected, place-specific audience shapes art within structures instigated by an artist, in this case Stephen Willats. I owe both Stephen and Stephanie Willats thanks for the quantities of time they offered; their patience with me; the delicious home-cooked meals, many phone calls, faxes, emails, film screenings and introductions; and their willingness to let me intrude multiple times into their private spaces. The process has humbled me. Who I am and where I went changed quite a bit in the years during which I worked on this book. Since I began my research in 2003, it is with trepidation that I recreate my paths in order to thank so many who helped me. Landing in London knowing no one during that first research trip has turned into a fantastic group of friends interconnected across the UK and my home in central Illinois. List of figures -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: new functions for art practice in society -- A cybernetics primer Cybernetics goes social A social practice primer Chapter overview -- 1. The Omni-Directional Artist -- Heuristic tools on the move Control Magazine Homeostat diagrams Cooperative decision-making: Visual Meta Language Simulation Pedagogical processes Man from the Twenty-First Century -- 2. Modelling the Social -- Cognition Control Centre for Behavioural Art Constructing social resources and social models West London Social Resource Project Social modelling in Edinburgh Meta Filter Art and social function -- 3. Mutually Bound -- Of concept frames From a Coded World A 'new reality'? Willats in east London Sorting Out Other People's Lives Inside an Ocean Art for Whom? -- 4. The Art of Sociotechnical Systems -- Toward a 'depleted, disillusioned new reality' The Ideological Tower Vertical Living Brentford Towers Art creating society: curating the Oxford Symposium and the Mosaic Series Personal Islands -- 5. Creativity in Self-Organization -- Participatory reception Working within a defined context Defined context, social practice, and the multi-homeostat problem Living with practical realities Do-It-Yourself (DIY) aesthetics 'Objects of Creative Release' Back to the Wasteland -- 6. Open-Ended Urban Systems -- Middlesbrough and The Transformer Marble Arch to Oxford Circus, London: Freezone Simulation in Sheffield South London: changing everything A pivot in scale: data streams Oxford community data stream Data stream portrait of London -- Conclusion: On Giving Up and Compromise -- Feedback and multiple futures Open systems and participation Thinking with cybernetics Compromise not compliance -- Notes -- Select Bibliography -- Index. Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 Illustrations 8 Preface 11 Acknowledgments 17 Introduction: New Functions for Art Practice in Society 24 A Cybernetics Primer 25 Cybernetics Goes Social 29 A Social Practice Primer 30 Chapter Overview 33 Chapter 1: The Omnidirectional Artist 38 Heuristic Tools on the Move 40 Homeostat Diagrams 47 Cooperative Decision-Making: Visual Meta Language Simulation 50 Pedagogical Processes 51 Man from the Twenty-First Century 54 Chapter 2: Modeling the Social 58 Cognition Control 59 Centre for Behavioural Art 61 Constructing Social Resources and Social Models 63 Art and Social Function 77 Chapter 3: Mutually Bound 80 Of Concept Frames 82 From a Coded World 87 A “New Reality”? 91 Willats in East London 92 Chapter 4: The Art of Sociotechnical Systems 102 Toward a “Depleted, Disillusioned New Reality” 103 “Art Creating Society”: Curating the Oxford Symposium and the Mosaic Series 121 Responsive-Ability in East London 125 Chapter 5: Creativity in Self-Organization 134 Participatory Reception 136 Defined Context, Social Practice, and the Multi-Homeostat Problem 141 Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Aesthetics 147 “Objects of Creative Release” 157 Back to the Wasteland 160 Chapter 6: Open-Ended Urban Systems 166 Middlesbrough and The Transformer 168 Marble Arch to Oxford Circus, London: Freezone 171 Simulation in Sheffield 176 South London: Changing Everything 179 A Pivot in Scale: Data Streams 181 Conclusion: On Giving Up and Compromise 190 Feedback and Multiple Futures 191 Open Systems and Participation 193 Thinking with Cybernetics 196 Compromise Not Compliance 199 Notes 204 Bibliography 275 Index 292 "This book on Stephen Willats pulls together key strands of his practice and threads them through histories of British cybernetics, experimental art, and urban design. For Willats, a cluster of concepts about control and feedback within living and machine systems (cybernetics) offered a new means to make art relevant. For decades, Willats has built relationships through art with people in tower blocks, underground punk clubs, middle-class enclaves like Harrow, and warehouses on the Isle of Dogs, to investigate their current conditions and future possibilities. Irish's study demonstrates the power of Willats' multi-media art to catalyze communication among participants and to upend ideas about 'audience' and 'art.' Here, Sharon Lee Irish argues that it is artists like Willats who are now the instigators of social transformation"-- Provided by publisher "This book on Stephen Willats pulls together key strands of his practice and threads them through histories of British cybernetics, experimental art, and urban design. For Willats, a cluster of concepts about control and feedback within living and machine systems (cybernetics) offered a new means to make art relevant. For decades, Willats has built relationships through art with people in tower blocks, underground punk clubs, middle-class enclaves like Harrow, and warehouses on the Isle of Dogs, to investigate their current conditions and future possibilities. Irish's study demonstrates the power of Willats' multi-media art to catalyze communication among participants and to upend ideas about 'audience' and 'art.' Here, Sharon Lee Irish argues that it is artists like Willats who are now the instigators of social transformation"-- Omslag This book on Stephen Willats pulls together key strands of his practice and threads them through histories of British cybernetics, experimental art, and urban design. For Willats, a cluster of concepts about control and feedback within living and machine systems (cybernetics) offered a new means to make art relevant. For decades, Willats has built relationships through art with people in tower blocks, underground clubs, middle-class enclaves, and warehouses on the Isle of Dogs, to investigate their current conditions and future possibilities. Sharon Irish's study demonstrates the power of Willats's multi-media art to catalyze communication among participants and to upend ideas about “audience” and “art.” Here, Irish argues that it is artists like Willats who are now the instigators of social transformation.