My review of Material Poetry at HEK is now published in Studio International. And join me in HEK’s virtual space, on 4 December to discuss new forms of visual digital poetry with Eduardo Kac and curator Giorgio Vitale.
Catherine Mason
On-line talk: 18 September – George Mallen & the early Computer Arts Society
Join me on Zoom to hear about some of the artists and artworks in my new book – Creative Simulations. Don’t know who George Mallen is? Well, I’ll tell you all about him and the ground-breaking Computer Arts Society project Ecogame of 1970. Ecogame was a simulation model of an economic system, dealt with opportune issues of ecology and environment, and was the first multi-player, digitally driven, interactive gaming system in the UK. It exemplified the CAS belief in a positive ‘human machine interrelationship’ made visible through art. Watch the recording here: YouTube
Presentation at EVA London Conference
I’m pleased to be participating in EVA this year on 8 July, in a symposium chaired by Jonathan Bowen and Tula Giannini: Computation, AI, and Creativity. Featuring my new book Creative Simulations, about George Mallen and the history of the Computer Arts Society. Read the EVA paper here. And come to a FREE book launch evening event!
NEW BOOK!
It’s been a long time coming (three + years!), and my latest book is now out – Creative Simulations: George Mallen and the Early Computer Arts Society published by Springer. This tells the story of the beginning of the Computer Arts Society, through the career of George Mallen, the last surviving founder of CAS and pioneer of creative computing systems since 1964. Mallen commenced his career with cybernetician Gordon Pask, and Pask’s concept of interdisciplinarity influenced various activities including the Ecogame (exhibited in London 1970 and in Davos 1971) – a cooperative project involving many CAS members. Ecogame was the first digitally-driven, multi-player, interactive game (simulation) in the UK. Learn all about this and many other exhibitions and events from the 1960s and 1970s in this new book.
Listen to a talk I gave to the Computer Arts Society now on YouTube
Stan VanDerBeek for the Tickle
My latest for the Tickle out now – issue 92, featuring the multimedia artist and computer film pioneer Stan VanDerBeek.
Forthcoming Generative Art Summit – Berlin
I am very honoured to be invited to attend this major gathering in Berlin in July, organised by the Herbert W. Franke Foundation, to discuss the history of digital and generative art in the work of George Mallen. Full conference programme here.
Harold Cohen essay published in Studio International
Do you know how Harold Cohen transitioned from working with paint to working with code? Find out in my article just published in Studio International (CLUE – it has to do with cybernetics!)
UAL lecture out now on video
My zoom lecture about artistic use of pre-artificial intelligence systems in British art schools is now available. Listen again here. Also pleased to be a part of this ai-created book of the proceedings (shown above). This was part of the AI Practice Sharing day organised by Chris Rowell at University of the Arts London
Latest for the Tickle – featuring 1980s micro-computers
Essay published in new book about Dominic Harris by Halcyon Gallery
“As if Stirred by Magic”, my essay for the Feeding Consciousness: Dominic Harris exhibition this past summer at the Halcyon Gallery, London has just been published in a beautifully-illustrated hardback book.
Also included is a transcription of a talk in the gallery between the artist and myself.
