Introductions

Introduce yourself and include the following info:

  1. Name
  2. Pronouns
  3. Major & Year
  4. Why did you sign up for this practicum?
  5. How do you define 'Systems' and how do you see as it intersect with art & design practice?
  6. What do you hope to get out of this brief practicum?

'Systems Esthetics' - Jack Burnham (1968)

Please read the following in its entirety:

Systems Esthetics - 1968

While reading, consider aspects including:

Jack Burnham

Jack Burnham

Discussion Quotes

We are now in transition from an object-oriented culture to a systems-oriented culture. Here change emanates, not from things, but from the way things are done.

…a systems esthetic is literal in that all phases of the life cycle of a system are relevant. There is no end product which is primarily visual, nor does such an esthetic rely on a "visual" syntax. It resists functioning as an applied esthetic, but is revealed in the principles underlying the progressive reorganization of the natural environment.

The scope of a systems esthetic presumes that problems cannot be solved by a single technical solution but most be attacked on a multileveled, interdisciplinary basis.

The components of systems—whether these are artistic or functional—have no higher meaning or value. Systems components derive their value solely through their assigned context. Therefore it would be impossible to regard a fragment of an art system as a work of art in itself…

In the systems hierarchy of control, interaction and autonomy become desirable values.

The emergence of a "post-formalist esthetic" may seem to some to embody a kind of absolute philosophy, something which, through the nature of its concerns cannot be transcended. Yet it is more likely that a "systems esthetic" will become the dominant approach to a maze of socio-technical conditions rooted only in the present. New circumstances will with time generate other major paradigms for the arts.

Relevant artwork

Nicolas Schöffer - CYSP 1 (1956)

Nicolas Schöffer - CYSP 1