Norman T. White

I’ve haven’t said much about Lirec lately, as I’ve mainly been doing not so interesting technical stuff (looking into cmake and yarp), or quietly researching robot art. During the course of the latter however, I’ve been reading about Norman White who is one of these inspiring people who were getting on with doing exciting work years before anyone else, particularly robot and electronic installation art. Alongside philosophising over toaster repair and pioneering fussy logic, he has a good list of art-beliefs:

  1. Art should concern itself as much with behavior as it does with appearance.
  2. Some of the best art happens when behavior and appearance are completely at odds with each other.
  3. Economy of means is a critical part of aesthetics.
  4. Art functions best, and is most needed, outside of galleries and museums.