ANU honours a pioneer who helped unite technology with creativity

Jasia Reichardt, a pioneer in bringing technology into the realm of art and creativity, has been given a top honour by the ANU.

Jasia Reichardt in her London home. Photo: Andrew Meares

In 1968 British artist Jasia Reichardt made an indelible mark as the organiser of an exhibition, Cybernetic Serendipity, at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts.

The event arrived like a thunderclap in the art world, sparking the realisation – which through the media was transmitted to a mass audience – that computers were revolutionising human creativity.

After opening in London, the exhibition toured the US the following year, and its impact has echoed down the decades as artists, musicians, writers, technologists and innovators in many fields drew inspiration from it. It was a spark that set off a creative explosion. Technology opened the door for humans to express themselves in many new ways.

The Australian National University has honoured Ms Reichart – who is active in her work at 90 years of age – with an honorary doctorate, conferred in London last week by ANU chancellor Julie Bishop.

“Ms Reichardt’s contributions have been transformative, shaping the way we perceive and interact with technology and art,” her ANU citation says.

“Her work continues to inspire new generations of artists, scholars and innovators, highlighting the enduring relevance of cybernetics in our rapidly evolving world.”

ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop awards Jasia Reichardt an Honorary Doctorate of Letters at Australia House in London, accompanied by High Commissioner to the UK Stephen Smith. Photo: Andrew Meares

The keyword in the citation is “cybernetics”, a field in which Ms Reichardt was one of the pioneers. It was very influential in the 1960s as a means of exploring and trying to understand the immediate impact of the new digital age and its wider, longer-term consequences.

The essence of cybernetics is studying the interaction, and feedback, between humans and machines and Ms Reichardt’s exhibition include electronic artworks, computer graphics, robots that responded to human input and machines that played games, as well as music, literature and movies produced by computers.

“Cybernetic Serendipity imagined and demonstrated a relationship between humans and machines that was interactive rather than inanimate and showed how machines could be used to make art as well as be art,” the ANU said in a media release announcing Ms Reichardt’s honorary doctorate.

Her work has a particular resonance for the ANU because its recently established School of Cybernetics aims to “revive and refit” the discipline of cybernetics for the 21st century and find ways for today’s digital technologies, such as AI and the internet of things, to be scaled in a safe, sustainable and responsible way. The founding director of the school, Genevieve Bell, was appointed this year as ANU’s vice-chancellor.

Ms Reichardt, who is a writer and art critic as well as a curator, was a key influence on a 2022 exhibition at ANU title Australian Cybernetic: a point through time, which included some works from Cybernetic Serendipity over 50 years earlier.

Deputy director of the ANU School of Cybernetics Andrew Meares, said that Ms Reichardt had “helped create the future we enjoy today”.

“Her astonishing contributions spanning exhibitions, critique, books, articles, education and talks provide rich histories and diverse perspectives that challenge us and also help us find different ways of how we consider and build new technologies,” he said.