Relationship of art and technology: Edward Ihnatowicz’s philosophical investigation on the problem of perception

Abstract

At the earliest stage of computer’s history more and more scientists as well as artists were vividly interested in the usage of advanced technology which was available that time. I would like to show that Ihnatowicz’s motivation for using computers in the field of art was not strictly artistic or scientific, because he was more interested in resolving the problem of movement but in a slightly different way than other artists representing kinetic art. His investigation of the role of movement in the field of art led him to the more philosophical problems of the body engagement into the perceptual processes and, finally, to the problems of artificial intelligence. He considered the definition of artificial intelligence, which was then elaborated by researchers from computer science labs, not really operational and manageable. Ihnatowicz claimed that any system, natural or artificial, in order to be able to deduce anything about any object simply by looking at it, must at first be able to interact with the perceived object in some mechanical way. Basing on the Ihnatowicz’s papers, his book proposal, archival materials and technical documentation I would like to argue that his cybernetic sculptures (i.e. SAM, Senster and Bandit) were not only artefacts, which may be considered as pieces of art, but also very important thought experiments in the field of philosophy of perception and AI.