Aritsts Statement

The Form of the Invisible  is the title of a book by the English writer Herbert Read which we were surprised to discover, translated into Japanese, in Tsukuba University library. The Form of the Invisible is itself a very good book, that is, a physical object containing immaterial ideas. The role the book as a carrier of ideas and culture, its changing form and function in a new era of technological media, has been the focus of our recent work.

This approach should naturally be leavened with recourse to readymade processes when available, and indeed it is the case that large applications programs which rely primarily on graphic user inter­ faces are now providing interfaces either to dedicated scripting facilities or to generalised inter­ process communications capable of or oriented towards programmed control. More and more, third party provided components may be connected to produce flexible and powerful hybrids.

The communicational connections that constitute these hybrids are at once generalised, specific, arbitrary and structured. They are inevitably expressed in some form of language. The program of events described by that language is limited largely by the ability of artists to express themselves appropriately. Few would disagree that expression is an essential goal for artists.

• Susan Gamble & Michael Wenyon, UK