Huddersfield Art Gallery Visit

 The purpose of this this gallery visit was to look at the Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition mainly, but also look around the other exhibitions and consider the questions on the worksheet we were given, which related to the theory lectures and seminars over the past three weeks.

Here are some photos I took from the Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition:

Within the exhibition there were various methods of visual communication, such as books, type, images, photos, digital - films on a computer and tv screen, and publications. The most effective form that had the most impact on me as a viewer would be the Cybernetic Serendipity films shown on an old computer monitor, as I felt like the use of this media channel linked well with the theme of the 'cybernetic' and worked better somehow than if the films had just been shown on a really modern computer system. 

One of the questions we were asked to consider was whether we could identify examples of semiotic meaning-making and to look for any examples of symbolic, iconic or indexical signs in the works of the exhibition. One piece of work that I found included such examples was a work called 'Running Cola is Africa' which featured the icon of a running man turning in to the icon of a coca cola bottle, morphing in to the continent of Africa. 

When looking at the other exhibitions in the gallery we were asked to look at the different types of paintings different ways as many of the works were abstract and some appearing more narrative. A painting I chose to look at and think about how I might 'read' it from an iconographical/iconological perspective, and what it 'means' to me was Jo Brown's 'Channel': 

When looking at this painting I thought that the symbols on the right looked like basic bird drawings, while the right side looks to me like a a boat on the sea. 

Overall I found the Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition somewhat interesting, and liked some of the works featured within it but also felt a bit unsure as to what the meaning of it was meant to be and felt a bit confused by it all, which may be due to the exhibition being quite text heavy, and also as I got told after I had seen the exhibition, that it was actually a documentation of an exhibition of cybernetic art curated by Jasia Reichardt, shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in 1968. Also though, my confused response to the exhibition could have been the intention, due to all the different media channels going on and the repetitive noise of the films being played along with the complex algorithms featured on the walls.