THE IMPACT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ON AESTHETICS By Jean Ladriere REPRINTED FROM: The Challenge Presented to Cultures by Science

and by Science and Technology (UNESCO: Paris, 1977), pp. 117133 AESTHETICS a subsystem of the cultural system, namely, that of forms of expression. Art and Symbols are the close bonds linking this subsystems. ART covers all the modalities of know-how which involve a specialized skill and the use of material activities that utilized technological systems, and aesthetic activities, to the extent that they comprise, as much as and perhaps more than the capacity for the invention and manipulation of forms, a genuine science of materials, experience of the procedures to be applied and that elusive ingredient which forms part of the personality of the artist himself and which we might call his touch. SYMBOLS belongs to the realm of expressive. there is what is called symbols of gesticulatory or ritual nature, which might be classified with forms of expression involving bodily gestures and movements, such as dancing. The dance, moreover, has often been used as an element of ritual. Any symbol may be regarded as an expression: there is nearly always a correspondence, in a given culture, between the representative elements (particularly beliefs) and symbolic elements. SYMBOLIC ELEMENTS it is functioned to make tangible, so to speak, that which the representations suggest in a type of discourage which remains always abstract even when, as in the case of myth, it takes on symbolic forms.

**Aesthetic objects have symbolic significance, and it would involve probably be no exaggeration to claim that, in the past, the principal role of expressive forms was precisely to serve as a medium for the symbolic function. ** The characteristic of aesthetic object is precisely the singular and indissoluble way in which it unites a particular configuration, incorporated in a material with an individual essence, i. e. a distinctive mode of appearance which gives the object its unity and obliges it to take the visible form it does as opposed to what happens when an object is produced by chance or serves a purely functional purpose. ** To examine the impact of science and technology on expressive forms, we must inquire how it affects the dynamics of their development, for this is where it an be most clearly seen. ** In the development of a given field of expression, we are able to distinguish two categories of evaluative factors: purely internal and the external. INTERNAL FACTORS correspond to the development of an attitude to forms which once it has been accepted, imposes its own logic on the creative artists and somehow compels them to continue their efforts in a specific direction. A given form is never a final formulation; it represents only a sort of precarious balance in regard to tensions that characterize a field of problems, which is itself the outcome of the development of previous forms.

In architecture, the problem of using stone to create spaces of the largest possible area, while rejecting all external support, created the Gothic forms as the quasi-natural prolongation of what had been begun with Romanesque forms.

In painting, the effort to master effects of light was in a sense inevitable bound to bring about the

dislocation of classical space and give rise to the impressionist mode of construction, and the latter, in turn, was bound to suggest a still more radical system of restructuring and synthetic decomposition, namely that of cubism. EXTERNAL FACTORS correspond to disturbances from other systems which may affect field of expression, for example from the system o representations, from the economic system, or from the political system

1. S & T certainly contribute to a great

extent of determining the mode of approach to the problems to which the invention of forms is a response by providing methods of analysis and suggesting formal conceptions or even themes. 2. S & T affect the development of expressive forms indirectly, through S & T impact on the economic system and the political system, or on the non-expressive components of the cultural system, which, in turn, exert an external influence on the expressive component of that system. 3. We have the contribution of S & T to the internal logic of the development of forms, as these may be grasped in and through the works themselves. 4. S & T contribute to the way the expressive activity fits into the field of culture and, on a wider scale, into society as a whole. ** As far as the works are concerned, materials are distinguished from processes from the forms proper, as well as forms from the themes. ** A work may be analyzed from a formal point of view: considering the way in which it succeeds in bringing into being an autonomous, equilibrated configuration, or, more accurately, the way in which achieves within itself a reconciliation between a principle of differentiation, which emphasizes diversities and separations, and a principle of uniform, which allows the differences to persist but holds them together a single, interrelated whole. the compounding of unity and difference yields a structure and comes, therefore, within the category of form, in the strict sense of the term, i.e. in the sense of rational construct by virtue of which a configuration is perceptible.

In architecture, research at the beginning of the Gothic era, which aimed to pare away the walls of the cathedrals as much as possible so as to leave room for stained glass windows, was inspired by philosophical and mystical conceptions related to the symbolism of light. Patterns of production through the class structure which they bring into being in the social system, and through the ideological representations which go together with the class situations thus generated, also exert an influence even, in the view of some, a decisive influence on the development of expressive forms, and especially, of course, on their content. As for the political system, it can exert an influence not only indirectly, through the way in which it dictates the distribution of the material resources indispensable to artistic activity, but also, in some cases, directly, by encouraging or even imposing, on behalf of the community and the type of social dynamics which it seeks to promote, one particular aesthetic conception in preference to others. ** The way in which aesthetic forms actually evolve is the outcome of the interactions which develop between the two types of factors: arts were cut off from social evolution as a whole in purely internal explanation while it would seem that art would no more than a reflection of what happens in the sphere of productive relations, ideologies and political decisions in external explanation. INTERVENTION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The specific characteristic of a work of art is to give form concrete existence, to provide it with a medium, vests it with an outwardly visible body, but at the same time passes on to its own potentialities and thus contributes actively to maintaining

the constitutive tensions without which it would fade away. ABSTRACT the possibility of an association. mere

A concrete relation is necessarily a relation between terms, and the nature of those terms helps to give the relation its individuality. The distinction between form of material is valid only for analytical purposes; it is acceptable one as long as it does not lead to a dualistic view of the work, but forms part of a conception which on the contrary, shows how the ewe elements are held together in the unity betokening the works true auto-genesis. In analyzing the development of works of art, we are led to consider the nature of the materials before their embodiment in the unity of the work, and correlatively, the nature of the formal principles of composition before their utilization in the act of creation itself. MUSIC Musical works are produced by using sounds of a certain kind, themselves generated by material devices which emit sound waves. The system of sounds selected by a given musical aesthetic constitute the material. The problem of composition is, in some sort, the problem of using it to bring about a unified succession of relational configuration time. To do so, a principle of differentiation is needed provided in this case by the differences in pitch and timbre of the notes and a principle of unification, provided by the rules governing the distribution of the differences in time, by means of their strictly acoustic properties and the temporal factors length, rhythm and periodicity which bear on the differences actually produced. The principles of composition constitute the formal element.

The strictly aesthetic quality of work is in fact attributable to the sort of constraining force with which it vets the form by immersing it in a body of sound and, correlatively, to the organizing force which it imparts to the sound elements by enveloping them in a strongly integrative temporal structure. The main problem of aesthetics is no doubt to match the development of the material to the development of the forms in such a way to ensure that they are able to fit together as effectively as possible in the actual works, in other words to imbue the material with form, so as to raise it from the raw modality o its existence in isolation, and make the form concrete, so as to give it the stability and opacity inseparable from material phenomena and objects. The work may also be analyzed from the point of view of its content. It is very natural to ask what a poem or novel means; we can easily connect the theme of a literary work or imagination with a certain conscious or unconscious view of society, discover in it the working of ideological factors and, in certain cases, see in it the direct reflection of the tensions and contradictions peculiar to an era and its type of social structure. A traditional painting is associated with a representative function : showing persons, events and situations, mythical, imaginary or real, but which could at least be recognized and identified, even in the idealized and, in some case, transfigured guise which the particular mode of representation imposed on them. Recent paintings developed a nonrepresentational concept. Even if the notion of content is not always applicable, the notion of THEME continues to be relevant, provided this term is interpreted in a sufficiently wide sense.

THEME The guiding thread of the construction, the inspiration, the underlying intentionally. In the case of non-figurative work: it is the organizing principle which governs the construction, as distinct from the structural formula itself. In music: it will be the principle which gives the work its individuality, its distinctiveness, almost personal character, and which gives that power of attract whereby it impinges on the sensitivity or the feelings (we call this the affective essence) There is a lose connection between formal configuration and effective essence, because affectivity itself is not pure quality, but also partakes of structure: it is the patterning of pure subjectivity. A detailed analysis would inevitably show how this distinctive patterning is linked to temporality: it is essentially because the subject, by virtue of his own structure, is necessarily, though not consciously led to relate his experience to time, that he is able to present himself in a variety of configurations. In temporal arts, the theme conceived which becomes perceptible in it and through it. In architecture, theme mean building program: it is not a matter of a few conceptions which have to be expressed, but a set of limiting requirements to be satisfied in accordance with the purpose of the building. S & T EXERT AN INFLUENCE AT EACH OF THE THREE LEVELS: 1ST LEVEL: MATERIALS Includes processes; its most visible effects are hose of technological development. In architecture, the introduction of cement and metal carcasses, synthetic materials utilizable for surface coverings, partitioning and ornamental designs, new methods of heating, lighting and air conditioning, opened up undreamed-of prospects in building.

Use of these materials may affect he environment. However, it can be regulated at will; unlike the external word, where man continues to be exposed to the elements, it is subject to constant control, geared to balance which are freely chosen and automatically maintained. 2nd LEVEL: PROCEDURES USED IN PRDUCING THE WORKS OF ART. Modern building methods in architecture through the use of prefabricated units and high capacity cranes, make it possible to build much more quickly and with relatively few men In plastic arts, traditional tools were replaced by tools provided by technology. The medium is changing: instead of confining themselves to creating effects of colors and form on surfaces, or obtaining effects of volume from a few natural materials such as bronze, artists have decided to make direct use of objects or materials produced by technology or to take advantage of somewhat sophisticated optical phenomena, which can be produced by means of appropriate electronic montages or by very recent techniques such as that of holography, based on the use of the laser. In music, there was the creation of sounds altogether by means of electronic circuits. The field of aesthetic is no longer limited to the utilization of a preexisting material, but includes the creation of that material. 3rd LEVEL: RECOURSE TO COMPUTERS Programme the key to the work; whether it affects configuration, the law of composition or the material plus configuration complex, it is made up of instructions which correspond to elementary operations linked together in certain order. Aesthetic activity is displaced to a high level of abstraction: it now consists in devising the principles of a programme.

**OTHER THINGS, EVEN WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW MATERIALS AND NEW PROCEDURES, IS DICTATED BY THE EMERGENCE OF NEW PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION. Research into form is itself partly generated by the development of materials and partly suggested by scientific ideas. A change in the material gives rise to corresponding change in the forms. S & T INFLUENCE ON THEMES: science fiction uses scientific knowledge as raw material for imaginative constructions IMPACT OF S & T ON THE NORMATIVE TENDENCIES OF AESTHETIC ACTIVITY PHENOMENON OF RUPTURE works of art are becoming more and more detached from their external meanings, so that their value resides solely in their internal characteristics which cause them to exist as objects valid in their own right. S & T isolates the aesthetic object and take away its transcendent meanings. The object becomes less important. There is a growing tendency for contemporary art to lose all its representational character and develop along non-figurative, formal lines. The work of art is expected to represent the very dynamics of society, its striving to project itself into the future, its struggles and its victories its historical destiny. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VARIOUS TYPES OF AESTHETIC ACTIVITY IS ROUSING THEM TO AN INCREASINGLY CRITICAL SELFAWARENESS. As aesthetic activity moves away from representation, it produces and that, through a series of works, it somehow tends to return to its own essence, which is, moreover, always inaccessibleTHE ARTIST IS NO LONGER VERY IMPORTANT IN ALL THIS. THE WORK OF ART IS NO LONGERCONCEIVED AS THE EXPRESSION OF AN INDIVIDUALS PERSONALITY, HIS LIFE AR HIS

THROUGH, BUT AS A SELF SUFFIECIENT REALITY, WHICH HAS VALUE IN ITS OWN RIGHT, IN ITS AESTHETCI ABSTRACTION. TOWN PLANNING TODAY HAVE EMBRACED SCIENTIFC AND TECHNOLOGICAL VALUES WITH AESTHETIC VALUES. IT IS NO LONGER THE ART OF DESIGNING TOWNS BUT RATHER THE ART OF ORGANIZING SPACE ON HE SCALE OF A REGION AND EVEN OF A WHOLE COUNTRY. QUESTIONS WITH VERY FAR-REACHING IMPLICATIONS: HOW ARE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CRITERIA BE RECONCILED WITH AESTHETIC IDEAS? IN THE FINAL RECKONING, ISIT NOT A CERTAIN CONCEPTION OF COMMUNITY LIFE WHICH IS IN QUESTION? IS IT NOT ENOUGH TO DRAW UP PLANS MERELY ON THE BASIS OF TECHNICAL DATA OR EVEN AESTHEIC IDEAS? WHAT ARE THE VALUES WHICH ARE REALLY CAPABLE OF EXERTING AN ORGANIZING INFLUENCE AND WHICH SHOULD EXERT IT? This challenges the very status of S & T in the general context of social and cultural life