Cybernetics, Art and Creativity

Andrew Pickering explored the relationship between scientific and artistic practice through the cybernetic concept of "dances of agency," in which practitioners engage in dynamic exchanges with their materials and environment. He argued that scientists create "islands of stability in the flux of becoming," temporarily fixing phenomena for study, while artistic dances continue indefinitely, embracing ongoing transformation and emergence.

Pickering illustrated these ideas with a deliberately provocative installation concept involving nuclear fuel rods, designed to challenge conventional boundaries between art, science, and risk. The presentation argued that cybernetics provides a uniquely powerful framework for understanding creativity as a process of open-ended interaction rather than predetermined design, with implications for both artistic practice and scientific methodology.