Dave Young Graduation Project Proposal Final version 05.12.2012 2012

Tentative Title

Untitled (The Noun of Noun in the Noun of Adjective Noun)

General Introduction

My project explores how cybernetic systems have been used to mediate social discourse in order to maintain some sort of non-hierarchical democratic ideal. My main interest is in why and how these systems tend to fall apart, resulting in the emergence of a hierarchy within a group of people.

Relation to previous practice

In my past practice, I was examining the relationship between cybernetic theory and cold war computer technologies, and their resulting impact on popular culture. I was particularly interested in how computer technologies were represented in the science-fiction cinema, often as a propaganda device that illustrated the technological prowess of the United States over the rest of the world. Last year I had also investigated how cybernetic theory was reappropriated by the counterculture, removing it from its military/corporate background and using it to create non-hierarchical social systems within the communes in the early 1970s. My current interest is a development of these ideas: firstly, that cybernetics had a large social impact through its representation in cinema and print media during the Cold War, and also to explore the reasons it might be used to influence the behaviour of a group of people.

Practical steps

Currently, my practical steps involve two experiments. The first is a workshop where a group of people are challenged to build a city in the game Micropolis.

References

A list of references (Remember that dictionaries, encyclopedias and wikipedia are not references to be listed. These are starting points which should lead to more substantial texts and practices.) As with your previous essays, the references need to be formatted according to the Harvard method.) See: http://pzwart3.wdka.hro.nl/wiki/A_Guide_to_Essay_Writing#The_Harvard_System_of_referencing

Feel free to include any visual material to substantiate, illustrate or elucidate your proposal. For example use images to reference your work or that of others.