Cybernetics Revisited / IMAC2012 Expanded Proceedings LEA Call for Papers

Cybernetics Revisited – Towards A Third Order?, Leonardo Electronic Almanac

Senior Editors for this volume: Lanfranco Aceti and Morten Søndergaard.

Is the world ultimately unknowable – if considered as a place where genuine novelty is always emerging? Is it possible to look at the history of cybernetics as something that provides us with “an imaginative model of open-ended experimentation in stark opposition to the modern urge to achieve domination over nature and each other?” (Andrew Pickering, 2011).

What if we explore Pickering’s arguments further and locate them into the interactive media art field, thereby investigating the status of cybernetics today in art, technology and science? What levels of ‘order’ and systematic communication enter into the transdisciplinary artistic, technological and scientific set-up of present-day cross-domain laboratories, and practice-based theoretical production and experiments?

Von Foerster coined the idea of a ‘cybernetics of cybernetics’ as a way to analyze the control of control and the (set-up of) communication of communication(-systems). The question is if a ‘third order’ cybernetics is emerging… and, if so, what would it entail?

Paper Proposals dealing with one or more of the following subjects within this conceptual framing will be welcome:

• (Norbert) Wiener Classic
• Cybernetics, art and politics
• Bio-cybernetics
• Interactive media art – towards a ‘third order’?

Please send proposals to: info@leoalmanac.org

a) Subject heading: Cybernetics Revisited
b) 500 hundred word abstract for articles. Deadline: August 31, 2012
(RE-NEW / IMAC 2012 in Copenhagen opens November 18)
c) Deadline for submission of full article for consideration: January 10, 2013
d) 2 images at 72 dpi resolution no larger than 700pixels width for artists
e) Links to previous work, videos or personal sites

Our publication formats allow for full-color throughout and we encourage rich pictorial content where relevant and possible. Note however that all material submitted must be copyright cleared (or due diligence must be evidenced). For online publication a wide variety of media content may be considered (animation, mp3, flash, java, etc…)

• For scholarly papers please submit the final paper ready for peer review. Your contribution will be reviewed by at least two members of the LEA board and revisions may be requested subject to review.
• For themed and pictorial essays please submit an abstract or outline for editorial consideration and further discussion.
• Please keep your news, announcements and hyperlinks brief and focused – include contact details and a link to an external site where relevant.  We reserve the right to sub-edit your submissions in order to comply with LEA policies and formats.  Where material is time-sensitive please include both embargo and expiry dates.
• In all cases specify special system considerations where these are necessary (platform, codecs, plug-ins, etc…)

For further information or image submission contact: Ozden.Sahin@leoalmanac.org

We look forward to hearing from you!