Newton Harrison
Bo rn New Y or k City . 1 9 3 2
Re sidentLa J olla.C a l i fo rn i a
Newton Harrisonhastaughtsince1965 in the art departme nt at t he Univ er s i tyo f C a l i fo rn i aSa
. nD i e g o .In the
fall of 1967 he describedto his paintingclassa notion he
h a d beenpur s uingo f re n d e ri n g
c o l o re dl i g h t a sfo rm , i n
a way not pos s ible
w i th o rd i n a ryn e o ntu b i n go r i n c andescentlights.One memberof his class.Keith Carter,a
former physicsstudent,responded
by showingHarrison
dis p l a yi n a b e l lj a r i n o n e o f th e
a g l o w dis c har ge
p h y s ic slabor at or ie sA. g l o w d i s c h a rgies th e i o n i z a ti on
, tc .)i n to a
o r b r eak downof ga s(h e l i u m,n e o n ,a rg o n e
diffusearc by meansof a plasmaor fluid which conducts
e l e ct r ic it yA
. s im pl efo rm o f a g l o w d i s c h a rgies n e o n
light, but because
the ionizationactivitytakesplace
within the constricted,narrowareaof a tube, the various
a h i c h o c c u rd u ri n gi o n i z a ti o na re
typ esof phenom enw
not visible.Glow discharge
is a commonlyknown
physicalphenomenon,usedby scientists
for yearsin
va ri ousk indsof r es e a rcahn de x p e ri m e n ta ti o fo
n ,r
exampleas a methodof convertingthermalenergyinto
e l e ct r ic it y .
Harrisonwasintriguedby the possibilities
of artistic
e xpr es s ion
inher en ti n th i s p h e n o me n o nT.h e c o l o rsthat
can be madeto appearrangefrom subduedpinksto
bright orangeto bluesand greens.Undervaryingconditionsone can observethat the light takeson numerous
distinctshapes:arcs,lightningstreaks,platelets,bubbles,
or shaftsof color. The colorsand forms dependon three
va ri ablesam
: ounto f v a c u u mi n th e c h a mb e r;ty p e and
a mountof gasus ed(p ri ma ri l yh e l i u m ,n e o n .a rg o n .
ca rb ondiox ideand n i tro g e n );a m o u n ta n dty p e o f
e l e c t r ic it y( eit herA C o r D C ).H a rri s o ns e tu p a d i s p l ay
i n h is s t udiowit h a p ri m i ti v ep i e c eo f e q u i p m e nat nd
experimentedwith it for sometime, attemptingto
determinethe capabilityof a glow discharge
asa worka b l ear t m edium .
At about this time we learnedof Harrison'sinterestin
A & T f r om his c oll e a g u D
e a v i dA n ti n a t U C S D ,a nd i n
Ap r il, 1969,Hal G l i c k s ma nv i s i te dh i ss tu d i oa n ds aw
in the three
the experimentalset-upof a glow discharge
jar.
Harrison
foot bell
With Antin's encouragement,
submittedto us a projectproposaltitled "Light ascolor
in space,"which statesin part,
with light arethat it defines
Our normal associations
g rm b y i ts p re s e n ce
or
or illum inat es
a p re -e x i s ti nfo
a bs enc e.
T his is t ru e o f c o n v e n ti o n aslc u l p tu rel.t i s
alsotrue of everylight work I haveeverseen.Even
searchlightsculpturein defininggiantspacevolumes
must be considered
asdrawingon a grandscale.ln
propose
light as color is the form. lt
this work that I
definesitself. lt needsno object.A plasmais light
unadulterated.
After studyingthe proposaland checkingthroughour
rosterof contractedcorporations,we decidedto senda
copy of Newton'sproposalto Dr. RobertMeghreblian,
118
Deputy AssistantDirectorof Jet PropulsionLaboratory.
(W ehadtouredJP L w i th JamesB yars,R i chardS erra,
Mark di Suveroand MichaelAsherbut had beenunsuccessfulin placingany of them at this extraordinary
faci l i ty.)In Jul y,w e vi si tedJP L to di scuss
research
further the feasibilityof a collaborationbetweenthe
companyand Harrison.The artist met first with Dr.
w ho w asi mpressed
by the amountof
Meghrebl i an,
research
Newtonhad alreadyaccomplished
and by his
i ntel l i gentl yaboutthe sci enti fi c
abi l i tyto converse
aspects
of the problemsinvolved.Meghreblian
assigned
DonaldBartz,Managerof PropulsionResearch
and
AdvancedConceptsSection,to work with Harrison.
That sameafternoonHarrisonhad a lengthydiscussion
with Bartz,Ray Goldsteinand severalother plasma
experts.This meetingevolvedinto a productiveproblem
a rapportbetweenNewton
solvingsituation,establishing
and the JPL staff which existedthroughoutthe collaborthey tal kedof revi sing
ati on.A t that prel i mi narysessi on
the shapeof the gascontainerfrom Newton'soriginal
conceptof a si x by ni nefoot cubeto a cyl i ndri calshape,
therebyeliminatingthe necessity
for severalgluedseams
the vacuumchamber.The sizeof the
and strengthening
fl exi bl e,to be determi nedat a l ater
cyl i nderremai ned
datealongwith other estheticand technicalconsiderations. In additionthey discussed
the problemof removi ngor di sgui si ng
the el ectri cal
w i re runni ngfrom top
to bottom of the chamber.Varioustentativesolutions
emergedbut nothingdefinitewasdecided.Bartzsuggesto investigate
ted that a JPL designteam be assigned
thesestructuraland technicalproblemsand to projecta
costestimate.
ln the next few weeksNewton met with Bartzand the
from which
engineering
teamon severaloccasions
eventual l emerged
y
the fi nal desi gnfor the gascontai ners:they decidedto makefive identicalcolumns,eachof
ei ghteeni nchesi n di ameter
one i nchthi ck pl exi gl ass,
and twelvefeet high,or from floor to ceiling.This
sol uti onei l i mi natedthe needfor vi si bl eexteri orw i ri ng
would be housedin end-plates
at top
sincethe electrodes
would residein
and bottom and all supportmechanisms
for bui l di ngthe five
fl oor and cei l i ng.The costesti mates
of its connection
unitswereso high that JPL, because
organization,
with NASA asa non-profitspaceresearch
decidedit would not completelyfinancetheir constructi on. JP L agreedto suppl ytechni ci anti me to run al l
necessary
testson the tubes,to furnishadditional
engi neeri ng
desi gns[1], andto makeavai l abl on
e a l oa n
equi pmentthey coul dspare,b ut
basi sany mi scel l aneous
units or coverthe
they would not fabricatethe plexiglass
cost of the electricalfixtures.
The projectat this point becamemore than a one-to-one
collaboration,
and in accordance
with this specialsituation. Newtonagreedto apply somegrant money he had
acquiredfrom UCSDto designand constructthe power
A&T
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suppl i es(transformers
and vari acs)
andgasi nj ect ion
system.For this part of the projecthe pressedinto
serviceKeith Carterwho, from his previousexperience
with the glow discharge,
had the knowledgeto carry it
through,usi ngthe metaland el ectri cal
shopfaci lit iesat
U C S D .Fabri cati on
of fi ve pl exi gl ass
tubesw asdo neby a
l ocalpl asti cs
fi rm and pai dfor by the Museum,s
A &T
" materi al s"budget.
By Augustwork had begunon all threeof thesefronts,
and by thi s ti me w e w ereconsi deri ng
H arri son,s
sculpturesas l i kel yfor the E xpo show .For a ti me, the design
of the i nstal l ati on
becamea col l aborati ve
effort i n volving all of us. In severalmeetingswith Newtonwe discus_
sedvari ouspossi bi l i ti es.
i ncl udi ngthat of a total e nvir on_
ment usi ngl i qui dcrystal si n someki nd of confi gur at ion
with the tubes.An ideaNewtonhad had in mind for the
56o P aul oB i enal ew asto makea l i qui dcrystalpa t hway
which would changecolorsunderheatand pressure
from
the passing
crowds.He now proposedusingliquid
crystalsin conjunctionwith the tubes,perhapsas a path
leadingto the clusterof five light columns.Weencouragedhim to extendthis notion further,suggesting
an arrangement
of liquid crystalsin a steppedformation,
endingat the columns.An alternative
solutionwasro
designa corridorwith the wall surfacescoveredby the
crystalsand heat lampsspacedalongthe floor with an
electric-eye
devicetriggeredby the passingcrowdswho,
by their movement,would control the color modulati o n si n t he liquidc r y s ta l s .
Howeverafter considering
all of thesenotions,Harrison
decidedthat the tubeswould havegreaterimpactif they
weredisplayedby themselves,
dispersedin a carefully
worked out configurationin a room devoidof ambient
light. The spectators
would passthroughthe groupingof
co l u m nsac
, t uallyc om i n gi n to c o n ta c tw i th th e m a n d
possiblyalteringthe glow discharge
by interferingwith
th e e l ec t r ic al
f ield.
In October,after delaysin fabrication,testingbeganon
th e tu b esat J P L.S ev e rate
l c h n i c i a n sp,ri ma ri l yR a y
Go l d s t ein[ 2] . f ir s t r an te s tsd e s i g n eto
d e x a mi n ev a ri ous
kindsof stresson the structuralstrengthof the tubes,
and the resultsshoweda safetyfactor of 7.0 abovethe
expectedloads.(Safetyfactorsof 4.0 and 5.0 aretypical
i n e n gineer ing
des ign.)H a rri s o na n d C a rte rb e g a ne x p e ri me n ti ngwit h t he phen o m e n oints e l f,m a n i p u l a ti nigts
threeelements-thegases,
electricity(in the form of a
heavyduty neonsigntransformer)and a vacuumpump.
wasthat the
One of the first thingsthey discovered
rangeof visibleeffectsin a twelvefoot columnwas,as
could be expected.much greaterthan in a threefoot bell
jar. Harrisongraduallybecameableto control a wide
rangeof color-shapes
and configurations
which became
his formal vocabulary.
H i s i ni ti alconcepti onhad i ncl udedcertai nkey prerequisi tesw hi chhe l ateroutl i nedi n an i ntervi ew :
I wantedthis pieceto havea participatoryquality. I
found that by touchi ngthe tube,a humanbei ng
coul dal terw hat w asgoi ngon i n therebecause
i nsi de
thosechambersareelectro-magnetic
fieldsand a
humanbei ngi s a resi stor.l guess,and so hi sfi el d
interfereswith what goeson there or affectsit. So
now I had at leastone elementthat I could call
participatoryabout it.
The next thing I wantedwasa certainkind of configurati on.l f you havej ust a beauti fulgl ow i ngtube,the
possi bi l i ti es
metaphori cal
are l i mi ted,but the mi nute
l i ghtni ngarcsstartoccuri ng,you havea frankl y
frighteningoblect.
A&T
I want edt h e m to b e s i mu l ta n e o u sbl ye a uti fuland
s c ar yand e e ri ea n d c o n te mp l a ti v.e. . .
After the tubeshad beenrunningconstantlyfor about
fifty hours,the plasticsurfacesbeganto cloud over,
obs c ur ing
t he c o n fi g u ra ti o nasn d m o v e me nof
t l i ght.
B ec austehe g l o w d i s c h a rgies u s e do n l y i n te r mi ttentl y
for scientificpurposes,
suchchambersin the pastrarely
werenot
developedthis defect,and the technicians
preparedfor this contingency.A spectralanalysis
of the
w as
c loudingindi c a te dth a t th e i o n b o mb a rd ment
Keith Carter
crackingthe surfaceof the plexiglass.
qu i te b y a c c i d e n t,a p o s s i b l e
s o l u ti on.
dis c ov er ed.
Applying a siliconegreaseto the interiorsurfaceof the
c y linderwou l d ,h e fo u n d ,p ro te c ta g a i n sito n bombardobscuringeffect.
ment and the consequent
I n Dec em beth
r e p l e x i g l a scso l u m n sa n d a l l mi scel l aneousequipmentwereshippedto Osaka.Beforethe tubes
for
wereen unpacked,the Japanese
SafetyCommission
the World'sFair refusedto allow them to be installed,
r n dg a si n j e cti onmi ght
f ear ingt hat t h e v a c u u mc h a mb e a
implodeor that crowdstouchingthe tubesmight receive
callsto us at
an electricalshock.MT madeemergency
the Museum, and we in turn contacted Bartz and Meghreblian requestinga letter explaining the extensivesafety
precautionstaken by the JPL staff. Bartz wrote a statement describingthe electrical design of the tubes,
concluding with the statement that "touching the
surface of these tubes is no more dangerousthan touchi n g t h e s u r f a c eo f a n o r d i n a r y f l u o r e s c e n t l a m p ." Th e
Japaneseauthorities were persuadedto allow the installation to proceed.
At this point another problem arose. On one of the
tubes. which had undergone the most experimentation
a n d t e s t i n g a t J P L , a s o l u t i o n h a d b e e n a p p l i e d wh i ch
c l e a n e dt h e i n t e r i o r s u r f a c e .b u t i t a l s o c a u s e ds m a l l
fissuresand cracks in the plexiglasswhich did not appear
until after transit to Japan, where Harrison discovered
t h e m . [ 3 , 4 ] Wi t h t h e o p e n i n g d e a d l i n e r a p i d l y a p proaching, this tube was sent to a local Japnaeseplastics
firm in a last minute attempt to polish out these imperfecti ons.
Before coming to Japan, Newton had spent several
w e e k s w o r k i n g o u t a p l a c e m e n t s c h e m ef o r t h e tu b e s.
H i s i n t e n t i o n w a s t o a v o i d a g e o m e t r i c c o n f i g u r a ti o n a n d
to ar r iv eat r ando ma p p e a ri nagrra n g e m e nW
t. i th the
programmingassistance
of Jeff Raskinat the UCSD
computercenter,he had attemptedto achievea random
but ab a n d o n eth
dis pos it ion
d i s me th o db e c a u s e.
in hi s
own words,"everytime I obeyedthe computerand
plac edt ubesr and o ml yth e re s u l tsl o o k e dc a l c u l a ted."
He t hen us edf ull -s c a l cea rd b o a rdm o d e l sa n de x p eri ment edwit h t hem i n th e U C S Da rt g a l l e ry m
, a rki ngoff
the s iz eand s hap eo f h i s a re ai n th e P a v i l i o nH
. e went on
to say.
I endedup c ho o s i n ga n a rra yth a t h a dtw o c o l umns
very far apart.By havingtwo asfar apartas possible,
I wasablet o ma k eo n e c o l u m nb ri g h te ra n d o ne
c olum ns light l yd i m m e r,a n d s o w h e ny o u s toodat
one end, the spaceexpandedor compressed,
depending uponwhich e n d y o u w e rel o o k i n ga t, b y v i rtueof
light constancy.I felt it wasvery importantthat the
c olum nsex
. clusivo
e f th e l i g h t,e n e rg i z th
e e s p ace.I
alsoput two columnsvery closeto one anotherso
t hat a s ens eof s u rro u n dc o u l dh a p p e nw
, i th o n e
uncomfortablycloseto the wall so that a little
pr es s urteo t he w a l l w o u l d ti e th e w h o l ea rra yto the
r oom . [ 5]
p i n k - v i o l e t a r c . We s e t i t u p s o t h a t t h e g a s w a s
injected in such a way that it startedout as lightning.
s t a y e d l i g h t n i n g f o r a b o u t t w o m i n u t e s ; b e c a m ea n
arc; stayed the arc for about three minutes; became a
g l o w - a t o t a l g l o w i n t h e t u b e ; . . . t h e g l o w s t a r t e d to
break down into platelets and then I shot more gas in
s o i t w o u l d b e a n a r c a g a i n .T h i s w a s a t e n m i n u t e
cycle. I found out strangethings. I had originally
Oncethe tubesand vacuumpumpswere in place,the
ceilingto supportthe vacuumpumpscompleted,and the
scaffoldingremoved,Harrisonwasfinally readyto
determinethe compositionof eachchamber.Monthsof
research,
designand testingweremerelypreparatory
stepsto the processof actuallycreatingthe piece.
Throughoutthe precedingeighteenmonths,both with
the belljar dis pla yi n h i s s tu d i oa n dw i th th e a c tu al
tu besat J P L, New to nh a d fa mi l i a ri z e h
d i ms e l fw i th
vir t uallyev er yr e l a ti o n s h iopf c o l o r,s h a p ea, n d movement of which the systemwascapable.He had purposely avoideddecidingbeforehandwhich gases
would go in
wantedto makeit just lightningfor five minutes.But
l i ghtni ngfor fi ve mi nutesw asa bore.Li ghtni ngfor
four mi nutesw asa bore.Li ghtni ngfor a mi nutean d a
hal f to tw o mi nutesw asexci ti ngand l i ghtni ngfl i ppi ngi nto an arceverysi x mi nutessay,had a ri ght
senseto me. That flip wasvery important,and if I
the time betweenthe flips, it becameless
lengthened
frightening.One of the thingsthat is frighteningis
suddenand unexpectedchange,so I usedsudden
changeasa time framesystem.
eachtube. so that he could manipulatethe numerous
possibilities
in the spaceitself.Newtonlaterdescribed
how thesefinal choicescameabout:
. . . in the first tube I put an arc that wasa mixture of
heliumand ar go n .T h e h e l i u mh e l p e dth e a rc p a th;
the argonguaranteed
that it would be a shocking
Wetook the far tube and put nitrogenin it, and
startedto run it from arc,to mass,to space.Through
that are involvedin that, I started
the color changes
to play with timing. I found out that if two tubes
arcedat once,they gaveeachother away. But if they
would arc at differenttimes.we quadrupledthe
suddenchangethat wasgoingon aswell asstrengthenedthe dialogue.So I programmedthe nitrogenat
the far end to go into an arc stateonly when the first
pi ecew asi n l i ghtni ngform or i n massform. l f you
make a pa intin g ou t of day - glow c olor s ex c lus iv ely ,
they cancel each other out. They have an acidity in
common th at makes yo u t ir e of t hem quic k ly . I
found out that all the gas colors also have a certain
acidit y, a lo w-ke y brillia nc e in c om m on. The dif f iculty was to can ce l tha t s ens eof c om m onalit y in t he
gas. K eith , with g rea t delic ac y , r es olv edt he c r it ic al
t iming p rob lem. I ch ose in one t ube t o us e neon
responsesthat I was interested in, rather than either
r e s p o n s e .T h e w h o l e p i e c e h a s t h a t k i n d o f a n a t t i tude in it.
Wh e n N e w t o n h a d f i n i s h e d p r o g r a m m i n g t h e c y c l e . t h e
group of sculpturessuddenly came together as an esthetic entity. lt was an exciting moment. The element of
timing is the critical factor, as Harrisonsaid:
The cycles run from ten minutes to forty-five minutes, and to really see how the thing works, you have
to spendabout ten hours with it, but nonetheless,
y o u c o u l d k n o w i t i n a n o n - r a t i o n a lw a y , f e e l i t , i n
about two or three minutes, and that was a very
tough problem which conditioned how fast I made
the spacesgrow. For instance,if the spacesgrow too
fast, then they look tricky, but if they grow slowly,
it's too slow to see but it's suddenly there anyway. I
like the ideaof playing with slow and fast changes
a n d t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s .T h e r e i s a m u c h s l o w e r t h a n
heartbeat change,and then there are abrupt changes;
the work becomesa study of small differences and
changes.
H e a l s o d e s c r i b e ds o m e o f t h e s p e c i f i c i n t e n t i o n s h e h a d .
A n i n t e r e s t i n ge x a m p l e w a s a c o l o r c o n f i g u r a t i o n , i n o n e
of the tubes-a rose-white hue-which hovers on the top
a n d b o t t o m w i t h a n e m p t y s p a c ei n t h e m i d d l e . N e w t o n
e x p l a i n e dt h i s a s ,
. . . just what Rothko was dreamingabout. I knew
what he was doing . . . . He was trying to make paint
d o w h a t p a i n t c o u l d n e v e rd o , a l t h o u g h h e g o t h i s
which is o ran ge -reda nd in anot her helium whic h is
green and white. Then I had one tube left and after
playing with it, in trod uc ed C02 t o it . lt was bluis hw hit e, a nd a s a co lor it t alk ed a bit t o t he light ning,
and argue d a b it with the r es t of t hem , but it m ade
strange platelets that were very narrow and then
t urned into bu bb les. I fo und out t hat when y ou
touched those bubbles, they were responsiveto you
t oo; you cou ld actua lly r ais eor lower a bubble of
light....
I was invo lve d in crea ting a f r ic t ion. The c y linder s
look very organized;they are very contained; they are
very sedate. I wanted to create a friction between the
neatnessand the eleganceof the cylinders and the
sensationof the sudden releaseof more power than
you had ever seen before in one place. When that
floppy arc happens,you cope with that. The eye tells
you everything is contained and safe; your experience
says I doubt it. lt's the friction between those two
work to casta light. The far tube to the right I really
made a sort of private homage to Rothko. I made a
v e r y s p e c i f i c r e f e r e n c et o h i m . l f y o u l o o k e d a t t h e
shape on the top, it was a Rothko type shape,a
R o t h k o c o l o r s h a p e ,a R o t h k o i n t e n s i t y s h a p e a n d i t
was surroundedby a dark field. This was my way of
a c k n o w l e d g i n ga m a n w h o m I t h o u g h t w a s i n v o l v e d
i n a k i n d o f m a g n i f i c e n ta n d v e r y l o n e l y v i s i o n .
Newton also describeda further fantasy about the work:
. . . T h e v a r i a b l e si n i t w e r e s u f f i c i e n t l y s i m p l e s o t h a t
we could use one of the brainwave converters and
once a person had played it with a control panel, he
could undergo further transformation and work the
t h i n g b y a l p h a w a v e sa l o n e . A t t h a t p o i n t , y o u c o u l d
call in storms by your own mental activity. I would
like the work to be such that a person could be so
familiar with the keyboard that he could then put the
c a p o n a n d e x p e r i e n c ea w h o l e o t h e r k i n d o f c o n t r o l
a n d a c t i v i t y . T h i s k i n d o f e x p e r i e n c em i g h t b e i n t e r e s t i n g s c i e n t i f i c a l l y . U n t i l n o w w e 'v e b e e n w o r k i n g w i t h
state-of-the-arttechnology, and one shouldn't see
t h e s e w o r k s a s 's c i e n c e . 'l t 's r e a l l y e n g i n e e r i n g .
In retrospect it was the opinion both of Newton and of
the JPL staff that although the project was perfectly
suited to the laboratory's capability, the collaboration
125
itself-interactionbetweenthe artistand the scientistswasnot asextensiveas it might havebeen.Dr. Meghrebliancommentedthat one of JPL'sreasons
for particip a tingin A & T was to e s ta b l i s ah s ta ff i n te ra c ti o nw i th
a n a r t is t ,but t hat t h i s o b j e c ti v ew a so n l y p a rti a l l y
realizedbecause
executingthe projectinvolvedso few
p e rs onnel.
T hos ein d i v i d u a l sh,o w e v e r,d i d ma k ea
si gnif ic ant
c ont r ibu ti o ns, p e c i fi c a l liyn th e d e s i g nand
testingof the chambers.But because
of JPL'sfinancial
limitations,Newtonhad to rely on sourcesoutsidethe
host companyand consequently
the realcollaboration
took placebetweenhim and Keith Carter.Cartermadea
major innovativecontributionin the designof the gas
i n j ec t ions y s t eman d i n w o rk i n go u t th e fi n a l ti mi n g
of the tubes.
sequence
Ne ver t helesNewt
s,
o n ' sA & T e x p e ri e n cw
e a sv a l u abl ei n
p ro v ok ingc hanges
i n h i s a tti tu d eto w a rdh i sw o rk :
M y wholes ens eo f p ri o ri tyh a sc h a n g e dN. o rmal l y,
artistshavea fierce,one-pointedpreoccupation
with
m ak inga f or m of a rt, a n de n d u p c e n s o ri nagn d
c anc elling
any t h i n gth a t a p p e a rs
i rre l e v a n t.'fil n d that
attitudepersonallydestructive.My own growth came
as I tendedto giveup the designation
of artist,giving
permissionto myselfto be asdiffuseas I chooseor as
focusedas I choose.As a resultI abandonedmy
studioabout a year agoand haveonly beenin it to
assemble
things.I no longerthink in my studio.To be
A&T
in a studiowasto do paintingand sculpture.As I
abandonedthe conceptof myselfasan artist, I began
to thi nk of mysel fasa probl emsol veri nstead,This
wasvery muchenhancedby my experiences
at
JP L....
W hat I' ve reachedi s somethi ng
el se;I' m now al most
uninterested
in offeringsinglepiecesof art. What I do
comes out of interaction of all kinds. lt might be
interaction with something I have seen, but I find it's
more productive to interact with human beings: they
can talk back . . . . I have ceasedmaking art by
m y s e l f . A s a n a c t i v i t y I f i n d i t u n i n t e r e s t i n g ,a n d I am
a p p a l l e d b y t h e i s o l a t i o n t h a t s u r r o u n d s t h e a r t i s t 's
approach to his work. So many people find it natural
a n d i n e v i t a b l e . I s u r e l y d o n 't .
T h e r e a l l e a r n i n ge x p e r i e n c ei n t h i s m u l t i p l e x c o l l a boration was my own development of a way to admit
p e o p l e i n t o m y p r o c e s si m m e d i a t e l y p a s t i n t u i t i o n
r a t h e r t h a n a t t h e m u c h l a t e r p o i n t w h e n f o r m a l i z at i o n t a k e s p l a c e . I a m n o w e x p e r i m e n t i n gw i t h
executing works with people during the intuitive state
or even in advanceof it and in searchof it.
A tangible extension of this conclusion has been developing in the months since the Expo show. While watching Newton operate the chambers in Japan. John Fork-
Erich Hartmann
B orn Muni ch,1927
R esi dentN ew Y ork C i ty
n e r (theengineer
on W h i tm a n ' se n v i ro n me n t)
c o m m enphenomenonworks in much
ted that the glow discharge
th e sam eway ast he a u ro rab o re a l i sIn
. tri g u e db y th i s
way of lookingat the glow dischargepiece,Newton
co n c eiv ed
of m ak inga n a rti fi c i a al u ro rab o re a l i sa n d has
, i n gto re s o l v e
si n cebeenpur s uingt h e p ro b l e m try
th e
l o g i s t ic of
s it s ex ec uti o n l.t w o u l d i n v o l v ep ro j e c ti n ga
ro cke tint o t he ionos p h e re
w h i c h ,w h e nf i re d ,w o u l d
activatethe ions in much the sameway that a plasma
fu n ctionsin a glow di s c h a rg ec,re a ti n ga s i mi l a re ffe cton
a g ra ndoissec ale.New to nme t w i th D r. F e y n ma nw
, ho
agreedto attemptto procuresmallrocketsand permissi o nto us ea launc hi n g
s i teth ro u g hh i sc o n ta c tsa t
NASA. lt remainsto be seenif theseeffortswill be
reali zed.
Ga i l R . Scott
The photographerErich Hartmannsaw MT in New York
i n D ecember,
1968,andw rote to us l aterthat month:
SinceI sawyou I havespeculated
and daydreamed
pl easantland
y repeatedlon
y w hi ch corporati on
would interestme and what sort of work within it I
w oul d propose.B ut al thoughthi s i s f un, i t i s fi nal l y
sel f-defeati ng.
l t cannothel pbut soundl i ke a sal es
talk for myselfand evenworse,it attemptsto make
predi ctablw
e hat shoul dnot be predi ctabl ief i t i s
truly to fulfill the purposesof the project.Ergo,no
concreteproposalsfrom me.
Instead,l w ant to gi veyou the stateof mi nd,the
attitude,with which I would approachthis project
regardless
of the industry,the products,the people.
the underl yi ngi deasi nvol ved.I w oul d fi rst of al l
attemptto.rensewho and what they are,what they
makeand how they makei t, thei r underl yi ngpri nci plesof conceptand designand manufacture.I would
w ant to do thi s w i th al l my senses,
w i thout preconceptionof knowledgeor experience,
but usinginsti nctand i ntui ti on.I w oul d w ant to soakup the
pl aceandthe peopl eandthe envi ronmentunti l I
werefull like a sponge,hearingconversations
reverberatein the mind'sear and seeingpreviouslyseen
sightsin the mind'seye long afterwards.Only then
would I beginto askof myselfand of othersthe
questi ons
w hi chsi gnalthe entry of i ntel l ectand of
the desireand the needto organizeexperienceinto
e undersomethi ngmeani ngful
andexpressi bland
standabl e.
Mosti mportantof al l ,duri ngal l of sucha proj ect,I
would intendto addressmyselfon everylevelof
perceptionpossibleto the meaningof the project
itself,Art and Technology,to the attemptand the
effort to fusethe two entitiesinto an expression
of
their relatedness.
My beliefis bestexpressed
in a
sonnetby Franci sThompson:' A l l thi ngs,N earor
Far,H i ddenl y,to eachother l i nkedare. . .'
Whatthis frame of mind togetherwith experience
andski l l s,pl usthe sti mul ati onof the hostenvi ronment,would yield for the 1970 exhibition I don't
know andcannotpossi bl yforetel l .P erhaps
i t w oul d
be photographicor in somewaysrelatedto photography,perhapsnot. From my coreas a photographer
I haveventuredinto other fields.not alwaysrelated
to photography,suchasgraphicand conceptual
bl endi ngof w ordsand i mages,
desi gn,a personal
i nto
the designof three-dimensional
structuresand objects
to conveythe feelingand sometimeseventhe meani ng of compl extechnol ogi cal
i deasl i ke programmi n g
for computers.