Michael Benjamin Izett: The Unconscious And Electronic Art; Is Automatism Achievable Through Modern Technology?
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| Michael Benjamin Izett: The Unconscious And Electronic Art; Is Automatism Achievable Through Modern Technology?
Critical Research Essay For BA (Hons) Degree 2016 Fine Art: Print and Time-based Media Wimbledon College of Art Contents Automatism and its Origins 7. Organic Electronic Art 15. Generative Art 24. Conclusion In this paper, I will be examining whether or not automatism is possible through electronic mediums. For the purposes of presentation, the paper will be divided into four main sections. The first will serve as an introduction to the concept of automatism and an overview of Sigmund Freud’s theory of unconsciousness. In the second and third sections, organic electronic art and generative art will be discussed in relation to automatism. Finally, the fourth section will act as a conclusion to the paper. Automatism And Its Origins 
Fig. 1: Breton. Self-portrait: Automatic Writing. 1938 I would like to begin by discussing André Breton’s Self-portrait: Automatic Writing (1938)[fig.1]. There are two reasons for this: Firstly, Breton has managed to suggest visually much of the historical DNA that makes up the concept of automatism, providing me with the chance to circumnavigate the monotonous formality of writing a humdrum introduction. Secondly, the question posed by this paper is a question based around different forms of digital art (usually moving image or sound), so opportunities to include images are rare. A good place to begin the discussion of Self-portrait: Automatic Writing, and indeed the discussion of automatism itself, is André Breton’s interpretation of automatism as written in the original Manifesto of Surrealism. SURREALISM, n. Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one purposes to express - verbally, by the means of written word, or in any other manner- the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern. (Breton, 1924, p. 26) According to Breton, accessing the unconscious through the use of automatism affords the artist the opportunity to unshackle himself from the constraints of his perceived reality, to forget any moral principles, to discard preconceived aesthetic composition and cultural values, leaving him to work in an uninterrupted and uninhibited manner. Breton’s automatism is a form of liberation. With this in mind, why has Breton decided to discuss automatism the way he has in figure 1? The work’s composition is clearly premeditated. So why discuss automatism with a piece that is clearly not automatic?1
The answer is that Breton, rather than provide us with an example of automatism, has chosen to create a diagram to explain the different components that make up automatism. Breton has been able to create this diagram by employing the technique of photomontage which in itself acts as a reference to Dadaism. As the name suggests, photomontage is a method in which the artist layers and assembles separate printed images to construct a composite image more specific to the subject than that of a single photograph. As an means of expression, photomontage was popular amongst the Dadaists as its deconstructive nature summarised what the movement aimed to achieve, namely complete cultural reformation via the discarding of pre-war cultural complacency and solemnity, as explained in Richard Haulsenbeck’s Dadaist manifesto:
Broadly speaking, Dadaism was unsuccessful in its aims to remove the ivory towers of pre-war culture. The seeds of its downfall are contained in the movement’s name, which was designed to confuse and infuriate: an obsessional fixation in French, an animated assertion in Slav, a hobbyhorse in baby language, a nonsense word (Ball, 1996, p.1) –But Dadaism, despite its flaws, remains a key movement within the concept of automatism, as Breton and Philippe Soupault were the first to apply the previously psychoanalytic procedure to artistic expression in their 1919 collection of automatic texts, Les Champs Magnetiques. By 1924, Breton had publicised the relationship between automatism and psychoanalysis in the following passage:
Furthermore, Breton has composed the image in such a way that behind we see a caged, attractive woman with outstretched arms directing an alluring smile at him. This is his second reference to Freud. He is suggesting his unconscious wishes, which in accordance with Freudian theory, mainly comprise of repressed sexual drives (Shpilman, 2013). In response to this, Breton’s facial expression seems anxious, as if he feels somewhat uneasy with the opportunity to surrender to her seduction, thus disregarding social ideals – thus succumbing to psychosis. The final, and perhaps most important point we can take from this piece, is how Breton has rather elegantly explained what artistic automatism is: Automatism is where the fictitious meets the genuine, where the unknown can be brought to observation. It is where seemingly disassociated objects, themes and emotions, such as what Breton has decided to include, are free to interact among one another. It is where reality is juxtaposed with a super reality. It is where we find the middle. This is Breton’s greatest gift. His work to bring awareness of this concept to art would go on to inform and be practiced by many artists associated with significant movements (the Abstract Expressionists and Les Automatistes, to name two). Testimony to the poignancy of the concept, we find that it is still explored today, leading me to the second section of this paper. Organic Electronic Art Before beginning the discussion on organic electronic art in relation to automatism, I feel it would be right to explain briefly why I have chosen to use this term. Organic electronic art is a way of signifying that the work in this section of the paper is work that has been created through the use of human processes, like how a painter incrementally applies colour to a canvas in an organic way, whereas the third section will concentrate on work that has been made generatively. In other words, this section will explore art made in the traditional sense followed by art that has been made somewhat untraditionally. The first artist I’d like to discuss in this section is the electroacoustic composer and improviser, Visa Tapani Kuoppala. Kuoppala’s practice is based on using field recordings and sound found within the realm of technology. His work is made with the use of sounds that most of us are not consciously aware of, for instance the sound of subverted code, white noise, static and hardware hacking, as well as unassuming pre-recorded sounds (like the hum of an air conditioning unit), which we may have prematurely dismissed as banal or unimportant, or just simply overlooked. Once a library of noise has been compiled, the sounds are digitally brought forward and undergo real-time layering and alteration through the use of external devices such as filters, frequency oscillators and ring modulators, leaving the resulting piece entirely improvised. As we, as a species, haven’t yet developed a technology that allows us to paste sound into a hard copy of text, I feel that an adequate description of the experience one is presented with when one sees Kuoppala perform is that it is not dissimilar to witnessing an action painter mid-painting [see fig. 2]. The assembling and manoeuvring of sound is done with such immediacy that the casual fluctuation through the sphere of emotion often leaves the listener overwhelmed and anxious, and then, without warning, entirely satisfied. The result is pure unadulterated emotion, accurately conveyed with its own respective instability. An inevitable question that arises when discussing composers that describe themselves as improvisers, as Kuoppala does, is: what is the difference between improvisation and automatism? Phrases like ‘on the fly’ and ‘off the cuff’ must apply to both practices, but is there a difference? Why has Kuoppala described himself as an improviser rather than an automatist? To answer this, a definition of improvisation is needed. Having a background in musical performance and composition, when thinking about improvisation I think of great jazz pianists like Keith Jarrett and blues players like Muddy Waters. Keeping this in mind, I feel that improvisation is the practice of freely using one's intuition over some form of stimulus, whether that is a particular key, chord progression or emotional atmosphere. Furthermore, employing this definition to artistic expression would imply using one’s knowledge of the medium to compose spontaneously but with a degree of logic, perhaps incorporating a preconceived colour scheme or conceptual motif. 
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