DPrime Research’s ISEA2012 project, Biopoiesis is influenced by the work of Gordon Pask. Gordon Pask (1928 – 1996) was Professor of Educational Technology at the Open University, of Cybernetics at Brunel and President of the Society for General Systems research.
Pask’s 1953 Musicolour is considered as the first cybernetic art machine, a sound-actuated interactive light show. The Musicolour machine, accompanied musical performers responding with lights and movement changes to the music. If the performer became too repetitive and did not engage the machine enough, Musicolour would grow bored and stop responding.
This was part of Pask’s interest in systems that ‘adaptively construct their own sensitivities to environmental information’ (DPrime Research, 2012).
This short video, The Experimenters, 1974 introduces Pask and some of his machines.
Maverick Machines – Edinburgh, 2007 An exhibition from 2007 inspired by the work of Gordon Pask.