Selected writing by David Topping

Plan of work - July 2000

(With the aim of staging a research exhibition in January 2001 and preparing to transfer my registration from M.Phil. to Ph.D.)

"computers are useless, they can only give you answers"
Pablo Picasso

Introduction

This plan of work will set out my study for the rest of this calendar year with the aim of staging an exhibition of work-in-progress in January 2001. The exhibition will then form the basis for my application to transfer from M.Phil. to Ph.D. registration.

Up until now my study has been fairly generalised in that while a subject area in which to base a study has been identified, no specific questions have arisen. In my registration document I identified the term 'Information' as key, especially as it related to the idea of living or to be human, in an 'Information Age'. My aim, stated simply and loosely, was to create artwork that explored this notion. Much of the process since then has been devoted to identifying what is to be excluded from this study rather than allowing the artwork created to guide its direction.

However since the last meeting with my tutors I have tried to create a much clearer picture of how this study will proceed. I am proposing to split what is essentially the central portion of my study, beginning year 3 through to the end of year 4, into three roughly equal parts.

The first part of this period will be devoted to the creation of work that explores data and information gathering. The second part of this study will involve the creation of work that explores data and information processing. The final part will explore the idea of transformation, that is the data or information that we gather and then process is returned to the world in a transformed state. I have included a more detailed explanation for stage one in the practice section. The focus of stages two and three will be reviewed after the completion of and reflection upon stage one.

This study is analogous with the working methods of artists in general. The Tate Britain is to host a major exhibition this summer titled Intelligence: New British Art 2000 that explores this process. The Tate's promotional material explains, "Many artists today can be seen as intelligence agents at large in society, gathering, sifting and transforming the raw data of our life, critically examining our environment, the way we live and our relations with each other." What is being added here of course is a fourth stage, the notion of intelligence or wisdom as the result of this artistic process.

This is a study that explores two parallel strands. One strand is a study of the way in which artists explore information as object and as process and the second stand is about challenging the way things are made and how we read them.

Theoretical Framework

The starting points for this study were the three artworks that exemplified a type of information I felt marginalised in current debates. Tracy Emin's Everyone I have ever slept with 1963-1995, Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Gerhard Richter's 1989 painting from the cycle 18 October 1977, Arrest 2. These artworks contain information of a type that I am currently labelling 'Possibility Space'. Though not meant to conform to any existing definitions of information it is possible to explore these works in a context that starts from one. Shannon (1949) talks about 'potential information' which has entropy, randomness or possibility and focuses on the capacity to transmit information. Gatlin (1972) talks about 'stored information', which is contained within a library for instance, or requires a sense of order as the opposite of possibility. It is the prospect of there being a link between Richter et al., and a recognised theory of information that encouraged me to explore further. Though neither of these two definitions are absolute or indeed seem to encompass the scope of what it required, they do provide an important marker. It is possible for Richter's painting to be information because it either provides potential information or contains stored information and consequently could be called Information Art. This however could be applied to any artwork and it is hoped that a more useful definition will emerge.

Further to this study is the identification of a number of images that seem to provide scope for exploring this idea. I have identified aesthetic categories that I feel may contribute to a possible definition of Information Art. I have found it useful to classify these images into five overlapping aesthetic groups. These are not intended to be an exhaustive catalogue but a way forward. Currently they also exclude much of the area's dealing with cybernetics, interaction and others. The aim is to get closer to the notion of an information art and not to simply catalogue artists, genres, styles or movements. Many of the art works and artist identified fall into more than one group and this may provide scope for further exploration.

• Micro - this focuses on the use of circuit-boards and electronic components

• Bio-Electronics - this looks at a machine-art aesthetic and its convergence with the human body. It includes the work of such as Alan Rath's electronic sculpture Info Glut II and Jo Brunenberg's merging of Leonado da Vinci's scientific diagrams with the human body.

• Systems - such as political and social organisations, artists such as Hans Haacke and processes and objects such as application forms

• Possibility Space - including work by Gerhard Richter, Tracy Emin and Maya Lin

• Conceptual Structures - Conceptual graphs and work such as Simon Patterson's The Great Bear. 

The texts that I feel are key to this study are in two areas. Those identified previously that deal in the main with definitions of data, information and knowledge in specific contexts such as scientific, communications and computing. The second area deals with art and artists that have or are currently working in related areas. From a historical perspective this begins with conceptual or idea art which has also been referred to as Information Art. Key texts include Lippard (1973), Lovejoy (1997) and Popper (1993).

All information art explores a concept of information that fits within one existing definition or another. Patterson for instance uses the techniques of Graphic Design in much of his work and in The Great Bear (based on the London Underground map) specifically, he explores his idea of a 'neurological map', where thought and impulses are transmitted electronically. This is perhaps fitting as the original underground map was designed by Harry Beck who was neither a graphic designer nor a cartographer, but a temporarily laid off electrician who based it on what he knew best: electrical circuit plans - in effect an energy map. Also of interest is the work of Anton Stankowski. His publication Funktion und ihre Darstellung in der Werbegrafik: die sichtbarmachung unsichtbarer vorgänge (Visual Presentation of Invisible Processes: how to illustrate invisible processes in graphic design) has some interesting examples of extracting meaning from the visualisation of data or information. Though even this doesn't necessarily take us any further down the path to stage four and the elusive understanding that we term wisdom.

Method

There are a number of ways to explore the idea of information gathering, and a number of questions that may arise. These include: 

• will the use of traditional artistic practice to explore data and information collection methods provide new insight into the way in which we gather data in non art areas

• will it provide insight into the nature of information itself

• will we discover that differing methods or materials have differing results

One way to explore the nature of data or information gathering is through the use of language definitions or 'key terms'. Certainly the use of language has always been important in the development of my own work. On a separate sheet I have listed some terms that relate in general to the areas of information, new technology and cyberculture. The terms that relate specifically to this study are: 

aesthetic 
containment 
desire 
difference 
dislocation 
dysfunction 
domestication 
faith 
trace

By applying these terms to the process of data and information gathering, I would hope to generate a body of work that provides a solid foundation for further study. The term aesthetic will be the primary term, as the initial study will explore how changing the visual aspect of an object or process, affects our understanding of it.
I will also continue to consider the meanings of the term data, information and knowledge themselves and the uses to which they are put. The use of key terms is my preferred method of exploring this area.

However, should this prove to be inadequate in throwing any significant light on the processes involved then another method may be required. This method may be the subversion of process, specifically an intervention and a deliberate altering of the meaning or intent. It is possible of course that the ideal outcome will be from the comparison of two separate methods. 

Artists gather information to produce some new understanding about an aspect of the world, and it could be said that is also the intent of other non art areas. Though the results might be mundane they can also contain profound insights about our role in society. 

Practice

The traditional methods of information gathering employed by artists include the use of sketchbooks, clippings from newspapers and magazines, collecting natural objects, looking, reading, use of a photographic or video camera, and many more. What I want to do is look at data and information gathering tools and methods used by other areas, using artistic methods of inquiry to explore their importance in conjunction with the key terms identified in the method section.

One example is whether a drawing of an ethnic monitoring form in a sketchbook provides any insight into our understanding of what this collection method should or does provide us with. Does this tell us anything about information or the types of data we collect? This process would then continue with an exploration of whether different techniques or approaches will produce differing results. For instance what happens when a form is photographed or photocopied? Is there a particular way of collecting data or information that throws up a significant result?

Stankowski amongst others uses the device of visual metaphor. This could be straightforward in the sense that the terminology of the database field for instance could literally translate into graphic imagery of data being sown. The success or failure of this approach or any other will be measured by reflecting on the artwork created.

So what are the key areas or definitions of the data or information gathering age: Forms, storage, the personal computer, digital communications technology, the home or mobile telephone, the facsimile or the Internet? People collect scientific data by doing experiments on living creatures or by using sensors in the environment. What happens when we take one of my key terms such as domestication and apply it to the use of scientific sensors? What would we gather or sense in a domestic environment? Would it measure stresses in family relationships or the amount of liquid in a washing up bottle? If we decided that this is indeed what should be done then how best to visualize this, as a sketch, a photograph or a collage of clippings?

My practical work will investigate a range of methods to explore these questions. Once these 'sketches' of the data or information gathering methods have been produced then it will be essential to reflect on the outcomes before moving forward to explore the area of data or information processing. 
Plan of Work

Stage One, August 2000 - March 2001

This period will be devoted to the creation of work that explores data and information gathering. The practical work will conclude with an exhibition of work in progress in January 2001. This will then be subjected to a period of reflective writing of the outcomes until March 2001.

Stage Two, April 2001 - November 2001 
This part of the study will involve the creation of work that explores data and information processing.

Stage Three, December 2001 - August 2002
The final part will explore the idea of transformation, that is the data or information that we gather and then process, is then returned to the world in a transformed state.

Bibliography

Austin, J. 1975. How to do things with words, 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford university press
Borgmann, A. 1999. Holding on to Reality: the nature of information at the turn of the millennium. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 
Coyne, R. 1999. Technoromanticism: digital narrative, holism, and the romance of the real. Cambridge: The MIT Press
Derrida, J. 1974. Of Grammatology. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press
Gatlin, L. 1972. Information Theory and the Living System. New York: Columbia University Press 
Godfrey, T. 1998. Conceptual Art. London: Phaidon Press
Goodman, N. 1976. Languages of Art. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company
Hale, C. (ed.). 1996. Wired Style: principles of english usage in the digital age. San Francisco: HardWired
Hayles N. 1999. How we became Posthuman: virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 
Lovejoy, M. 1997. Postmodern Currents: art and artists in the age of electronic media, 2nd edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Lakoff. G & M. Johnson. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Lippard, L. Six years: the dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972. New York: Praeger 
McCarty, C. 1990. Information Art: diagramming microchips. New York: The Museum of Modern Art,
Obrist, H. ed. 1995. Gerhard Richter: The Daily Practice of Painting: writings and interviews 1962-1993. London: Thames and Hudson
Popper, F. 1993. Art of the Electronic Age. London: Thames and Hudson
Stankowski, A. Visual Presentation of Invisible Processes: how to illustrate invisible processes in graphic design. Teufen: Arthur Niggli Ltd. 
Townsend, D. 1997. An Introduction to Aesthetics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers

Appendix I

aesthetic [noun] the visual look and feel of an object - its texture, colour, size shape, layout etc.
[adj] appreciation of beauty/visual pleasure

containment [mass noun] exploring the limits - control - keeping something harmful under control

desire [noun] wanting or wishing something to happen - have or have no
[verb] want something - I never got my hearts desire

difference [mass noun] the state of being unlike - quantity by which things differ. Their marriage wouldn't last because of the age difference.

dislocation [mass noun] disturb from usual state or place - Injury to body joint

dysfunction disruption [adj] not operating normally - unable to deal with normally

domestication The social life of information - rather than the idea of business information or intelligence look at more human attributes. School friends debating whether to tell the best friend they saw their boy/girl friend with another. 

faith [noun] trust in something - strong belief - break it or keep it

trace [verb] discover by investigation - copy - describe the development of
[noun] a mark or object indicating the existence of something - small quantity

Last Updated 08 October 2000