Jóna Hlíf
Halldórsdóttir &
Hlynur Hallsson

Hlynur Helgason

Þóranna Dögg Björnsdóttir og Þráinn Hjálmarsson

Arnar Eggert og Hjálmar Brynjólfsson

JBK Ransu

Systems that fail

Sigríður Harpa Halldórsdóttir

Systems…

Many people have often talked about systems and how they can be sued to improve things such as performance, business, profits and other such nonsense.

But sometimes there are people who try to use systems thinking to change society for the better. I would like to tell you a little story about how one many tried to change a country’s industry with systems modelling and cutting edge technology. It ended up being a forgotten footnote in the country’s history, but has been discovered by people and is considered a work that was decades ahead if it’s. This work was known as Project Cybersyn.

It was at university in Liverpool where I first learned about a man named Stafford Beer. Beer was a British man who saw how Operation Research, a way of organising resources that was so successful during World War II, could be used in society during peacetime. He went on to pioneer the use of systems and cybernetics in social models and businesses, and developing the Viable Systems Model, which can map out any autonomous system you can think of.

Now Beer didn’t look like your average management consultant, or even a systems theorist. He has tall, broad, full of energy to the point of pissing a lot of people off, and instead of wearing a suit and tie, he would often been seen with a massive beard and a pullover jumper, a bit like Santa Claus on his day off.

One of his more interesting exploits was the creation of Project Cybersyn. In 1971, the country of Chile elected Salvador Allende, a doctor and left wing socialist. Allende wanted to find a way of completely revolutionising the management of the countries industries, which had now come under state ownership.

Allende contacted Beer for help with implementing his ideas to solve this problem. Beer, seeing a way to implement his theories on a national scale, took up a fulltime role in the project. The result of this work was a system of telex machines situated on all state run factories that fed daily data into a huge mainframe computer centred in the capital Santiago. Receiving economic information in real time would allow government managers to respond to situations quickly and plan for the best possible outcome. In a way, the project would act like a national central nervous system, a socialist internet”.

It was risky. While this sort of work had been done in countries, it had never been done on a national level. Plus, according to its critics, it also smacked of Stalinist style central socialism. But Project Cybersyn looked to circumvent such top-down management styles, allowing the lowers levels (factories, workers) autonomy of their decisions, with higher up levels only coming into play if decisions couldn’t be made. If it worked, the combination of individual freedom and collective achievement that had always been the political holy grail for many leftwing thinkers.

The main highlight of it all was to be the “Operations Control Room” where all the info from the factories would come in. Designed by Gui Bonsiepe to be a completely revolutionary working environment, it looked more like the Starship Enterprise with special rotating chair, futuristic computer screens and bright colours. This was not your usual office space. Instead it was pure ’70 techno design porn.

When the project was kicked in, it began to be beset by problems. In stable countries all the information from all these factories would have taken weeks, even months, to collect and process. But Chile was beset by strikes, food shortages, and rioting between left and right wing groups. People had other priorities than trying to hand in complex daily statistics to a computers room 300Km away.

But there were certain major successes. In 1972, with secret support from the CIA, conservative small businessmen went on strike. Food and fuel supplies threatened to run out. The government found that Cybersyn allowed then to obtain real time information to plan a way to outflank the strikes. Using a small number of trucks, they were able to guarantee food into Santiago.

Alas by 1973, the project was growing too big, personal frictions within the government and increasingly blatant attempts by right wing groups to strangle the country meant that the outcomes were constantly being hampered. Beer meanwhile was growing tired of the project and was already looking onto other things.

And then came General Augusto Pinochet.

Before the updated control room/spaceship bridge could be plugged in, Pinochet (with the backing of many western countries) imposed a brutal coup de tat. Allende was assassinated, and a military dictatorship took power. They were shown Project Cybersyn but, partially because they didn´t understand it and finding its open egalitarian unappealing, ordered it to be destroyed.

After the coup, and possibly suffering guilt from the fact that most of his colleague on the project were tortured and killed, Beer left his house, wife and most of his possessions and went to live in a small cottage in Wales.

Project Cybersyn may have been an example of glorious failure. When it was being built, Cybersyn was met with distrust by many people, both inside and outside government. According to beer, it failed because it wasn’t accepted as a network of machines AND people. Indeed nothing like it has been attempted since. But it was incredibly ahead of its time with it electronic nervous system being a forerunner of today modern internet.

Systems. Complex, but NEVER boring…..

Bob Cluness is a music writer for the Reykjavik Grapevine. When not listening contemplating the ideas of the universe, he annoys people with his deranged outburst of geekery. He also has a bear. And a cat.

www.reykjaviksexfarm.wordpress.com

A Perfect Way

When the word system comes up I immediately associate it with bureaucracy, which in my mind is a particularly negative association. System equals bureaucracy. Already getting frustrated just thinking about it. Visualizing myself standing in line, waiting and holding a piece of paper with a number on it, only to be redirected to another line when it is my turn, as I am informed that I did not fill out the right form, therefore I should go right back where I started two hours ago and get the 3C-B1 form, not the C3-B1 one. Once I have gotten the right form and filled it out, I have to stand again in line to get a new piece of paper with a number on it so I can wait in yet another line or sit in a waiting hall desperately looking at the pager hoping my number is up soon. People groaning and moaning, kids crying and parents shouting. It is just like being on an airplane. Allah, Buddha, Jesus, Thor save us all!

As always, you end up spending twice as long time there than you expected or even longer. The steam is boiling out of your ears, you are sweating uncontrollably and your face is turning red with frustration. The concept, “time is money” has so far not been applied or perhaps discovered within the bureaucratic system. You feel like you are stuck in a maze of forms, regulations and directives. Where is the way out of this hell hole? Lets not mention each visit leaves you with a new gray hair on your head and in a world of constant pressure of staying young and pretty, this only adds to your anxiety.

Still you want to keep your cool as you know it is not the employees’ fault that the bureaucratic system they are representing, does not work as smoothly as it was designed in theory. Yes in theory or some Weberian utopia, not in practice.

Also they are probably underpaid and have to deal with exasperated people like you and me all day long. No wonder they can be cranky and less understanding than you would expect.

But hey, we all have to follow the rules. We know that, right? So lets be the subordinate citizens the bureaucratic system wants us to be and swallow our frustrations, opinions and independence. I mean, who are we to decide…

Habby Osk

Þóroddur Bjarnason

CIS – Closed Independent Systems

Many people live on Earth. Each and every one of them is a closed independent system. None of these systems can control the next system. None can think for another system, none can live the life of another system. No system has the same feelings as any other system has – or should we say; no system can know if it has even similar feelings as the system standing next to it. They can´t because it is impossible. No nerve systems have been joined. No brains have been connected and/or synchronized. No two systems have a connected blood circulation system (except Siamese twins of course).

Each system is independent, it is responsible for itself. That´s the only thing it can do.

The system is run on electricity. Just take a first aid course, and figure that out yourself. The fact is that if the electricity goes off, the system shuts down. If you can´t manage to put the power back on, the system will never ever start again. And, if you like, the whole universe with all of its systems, small and big, will tumble into the system the same moment it goes off, and come to a swift end.

Some say, in contrary to reason, that a system can talk for another system, think for another system, know what the system in front of it needs, and even control other system, or; systems.

Some stretch this even further and claim that they themselves are actually other systems, reborn. What a nonsense.

From time to time there have been systems saying they can export bits of information from their own system to another. They call it telepathy. That is not possible. We are closed independent systems. Others claim they can think for another system, even whole group of systems, without using the so called telepathy. That is even more ridiculous.

Each and every one of those billions of systems that are up and running in the world today is independent and has creative powers. „We are all different“, is a common phrase. None of us is like any other. And communication between systems is therefore never perfect – fluent at best, since we are all independent. Not connected. It is easy to tell how closed a system we all are, just by trying to communicate with another system.

Through the ages many systems have come forward and insisted that there exists an invisible mega-system that has a wireless connection with other systems. What a naive idea.

I repeat; we are closed independent systems that cannot connect to other systems. We cannot think for other systems, not suffer for other systems, not control them, and not make sacrifices – and if we tried, that would be betraying our own closed independent system.

Thoroddur Bjarnason

System

Katrín Jakobsdóttir minister of education, science and culture

Systems ideally have to do with transformations of some sort. What goes up must come down; what goes in must come out. As a system politics can strike one as a strange kind of phenomenon. Good intentions and careful consideration can suddenly turn into a quick reflex to unexpected situations caused by internal or external effects. In a political reality the common comparison of systems to well oiled machinery is only partly true. Nonetheless decisions are usually made with good intentions; the outcome on the other hand has to do with the condition of a wide variety of different nuts and bolts.

Systems are all around us, from the microcosmic to the macro social and environmental realities we live in. We are a part of some of those systems but in the end we are also entities of our own, committed to ourselves and those in our immediate surroundings, family and friends. Let’s never forget the importance of that system while still maintaining our knowledge and empathy for those not in our daily surroundings. Let’s always remember that some of the world’s wrongdoing is caused by system failure – systems designed by men.

Kerfi

Katrín Jakobsdóttir mennta- og menningarmálaráðherra

Ef allt er eðlilegt snúast kerfi um umbreytingu. Eitthvað fer inn í kerfið og eitthvað kemur út úr því. Stjórnmál virðast oft vera einkennilegt kerfi. Góður ásetningur og ýtarleg yfirlega getur skyndilega snúist upp í viðbragð sem taka þarf skyndilega vegna breytinga í innra eða ytra umhverfi kerfisins. Það er því einungis að litlu leyti hægt að líkja stjórnmálum við vel smurða vél. Þó að ákvarðanir séu teknar með góðum hug þá veltur útkoman oft á ástandi ólíkra þátta kerfisins, á ólíkum skrúfum og boltum svo við höldum okkur við vélarsamlíkinguna vinsælu.

Kerfi finnum við allt í kringum okkur, allt frá því örsmáa og upp í stóru vistkerfin og félagslegu kerfin sem við lifum innan. Við tilheyrum sumum þessara kerfa en við erum einnig ein og stök, skuldbundin okkur sjálfum og okkar nánustu. Gleymum ekki mikilvægi þess kerfis um leið og við erum meðvituð um allt það sem ekki er í okkar daglega umhverfi. Verum minnug þess að margt af ranglæti heimsins er einmitt til komið vegna galla í kerfinu – kerfi sem er mannanna verk. 

A part of the exhibition will be to publish BLATT BLAÐ number #60. The Reykjavík Art Museum will publish 500 copies of the magazine and we have  invite 110 artists to participate in the magazine.

Blatt Blað was founded in 1994. It is made in the way that “Magazin for everything” by Dieter Roth published for years. Everyone can publish in the paper. Each author gets one example for his contribution.

The 118 artists are:

Adri Galindo Rami / Aðalheiður S. Eysteinsdóttir / Aðalsteinn Þórsson / Alex Gross / Alexander Steig / Andreas Jari Juhani Toriseva / Arnar Ómarsson / Ásmundur Ásmundsson / Benoit Blein / Claus Kienle / Dodda Maggý / Edda Þórey Kristfinnsdóttir / Egill Logi Jónasson /  Elín Anna Þórisdóttir / Elísabet Brynhildardóttir / Elisabet Olka / Emmet Kierans / Erica Eyres / Eugene Jho / Frauke Hänke / Freya Steadman / Gabriel Jones / Gauthier Hubert / Guðjón Sigurður Tryggvason / Gudný Rósa Ingimarsdóttir / Guðný Rúnarsdóttir / Gunnar Helgi Guðjónsson / Gunnar Kristinsson / Gunnar Már Pétursson / Gunnhildur Þórðardóttir / Habby Osk / Halldór Úlfarsson / Hannah Kasper / Hannes Malte Mahler / Haraldur Jónsson / Helena Aðalsteinsdóttir / Helena Hansdóttir / Helga Óskarsdóttir / Hrafnhildur Halldórsdóttir / Hugi Hlynsson / Huginn Þor Arason / Hugsteypan / Indíana Auðunsdóttir / Ingirafn Steinarsson / James Carl / Jeannette Castioni / Jim Colquhoun / Jón Laxdal Halldórsson / Jón B. K. Ransu / Joris Rademaker / Julia Hartmann / Júlía Runólfsdóttir / Julia Schmid / Jürgen Witte / Kaj Nyborg / Kari Vehosalo / Karin Sander / Karlotta J. Blöndal / Kartenrech / Katie McGown / Katrín I Jónsd. Hjördísardóttir / Katrín Dögg Valsdóttir / Knut Eckstein / Kristina Bengtsson / Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson / Magnea Ásmunds / Maj Hasager /Margrét H. Blöndal / María Kjartans / Mark Briggs / Michael Göbel / Nikola Röthemeyer / Ninaliba Gersemi / Ólöf Helga Helgadóttir / Ómar Smári Kristinsson / Pálína Guðmundsdóttir / Piet Trantel / Raabe/Stephan / Raquel Mendes / Rober Knoke / Rolf Bier / Rüdiger Stanko / Ruth Barker / Sabine Öllerer / Sara Riel / Scott Rogers / Selma Hreggviðsdóttir / Snorri Ásmundsson / Sonja Lotta Forster / Sophie Roube / Steinunn Helga Sigurðardóttir / Sukyun & Insook / Thomas Gunnar Bagge / Tumi Magnússon / Ulrike Schoeller / Unnar Örn / Ville-Veikko Viikilä / Volker Troche / Yst / Yuen Fong Ling / Þóra Sigurðardóttir / Þóranna Dögg Björnsdóttir / þórarinn blöndal / Þóroddur Bjarnason / Þórunn Eymundardóttir / Þorvaldur Þorsteinsson

T A L K is a platform installation. We have invite artists, lawyer, composer, philosopher, anthropologist and art publisher to come ant talk about system

JBK Ransu, artist and art writer and critic

The history of abstrakt art, take two

Thursday 24. mai 2012 time 12:15 – 12:45 pm

Reykjavik Art Museum, Hafnarhús – „Independent People“

Hlynur Hallsson & Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdóttir

Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen, musical writer and critic and Hjálmar Stefán Brynólfsson, lawyer

K(e)rfi

Thursday 31. mai 2012 time 12:15 – 12:45 pm

Reykjavik Art Museum, Hafnarhús – „Independent People“

Hlynur Hallsson & Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdóttir

Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen er fæddur árið 1974 í Reykjavík. Hann bjó í Kópavogi til átta ára aldurs en fluttist svo í Árbæinn. Hann er B.A. Í félagsfræði frá Háskóla Íslands en hefur starfað við tónlistarblaðamennsku síðan 1999 á vettvangi Morgunblaðsins og víðar, m.a. í sjónvarpi, útvarp og á vefheimum. Áhugamál hans eru tónlist fyrst og síðast og fremst en hann hefur og sinnt ýmis konar íþróttaiðkun á seinni árum, aðallega hlaupum og hjólreiðum. Hann hefur gefið út tvær bækur í samstarfi við aðra og vinnur nú að sinni þriðju, greinasafni byggðu á skrifum hans fyrir Morgunblaðið. Arnar er auk þess sæmilega listrænn að upplagi og hefur ágætt auga fyrir því hvað er heitt og hvað er ekki neitt, einkanlega þegar kemur að dægurlistum. Hann þykir drátthagur og á tíma rak hann hljómsveitina Maunir sem lék tilraunakennt rokk undir djúpum áhrifum frá The Swans, Einstürzende Neubauten og Birthday Party.

Ory Thoroddsen Eggert was born in 1974 in Reykjavik. He lived in a month to eight years of age and moved to Decrease. He B.A. In sociology from the University of Iceland and has worked in music journalism since 1999 at newspaper and elsewhere, including television, radio and vefheimum. His hobbies are music first and last and foremost, he has handled various kinds of sports in recent years, mainly running and cycling. He has published two books in collaboration with others and is currently working on his third, papers based on his writings for Morgunbladid. Ory is also fairly artistic and very nature has an excellent eye for what’s hot and what’s not anything, especially when it comes to pop art. He considered drawing benefits and the time he drove the band Maun who played experimental rock under deep influence of the Swans, Einstürzende Neubauten and the Birthday Party.

Þóranna Dögg Björnsdóttir artist and sound artist /Þráinn Hjálmarsson composer

Kerfi

Thursday 7. june 2012 time 12:15 – 12:45 pm

Reykjavik Art Museum, Hafnarhús – „Independent People“

Hlynur Hallsson & Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdóttir

Þóranna Dögg Björnsdóttir studied music from an early age. She graduated as a classical pianist and moved forward into the study of visual and sound art. She finished a BA degree at the interfaculty of Image&Sound/Art science at the Royal Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague/Holland. Þóranna has worked with various bands and as an independent composer. She works with different medium and realizes her work through film, performances and installations. She has also composed for dance theater and for film. Her work has been featured on the Icelandic national radio RUV1 and at festivals domestically (Extreme chill festival Iceland, Iceland Airwaves) and abroad (e.g Live iXem, Milan, Festival Licences, Brûlures des langues VIII, Paris). She performs live under the name Trouble and her music can be described as acousmatic, where she uses concrete and synthesized sounds. She is corrently working on a release for the Canadian record label Yatra arts. She lives and works in Reykjavik.

Þóranna Dögg Björnsdóttir hefur unnið við tónlist í mörg ár og er menntaður píanóleikari. Hún færði sig yfir í myndlist og hljóðlist og lauk námi í HLjóð & Mynd frá Konunglega Listaháskólanum í den Haag í Hollandi. Þóranna hefur unnið verk byggð á samspili kvikmyndar og lifandi tónlistarflutnings, unnið hljóðskúlptúra, fengist við gjörninga og gert margvíslegar hljóðmyndir m.a fyrir leikhús og útvarp. Hún hefur staðið að einka- og samsýningum á Íslandi og í Evrópu. Þóranna hefur kallað sig hljóðnostrara í gegnum tíðina en gengur undir nafninu Trouble þegar hún kemur fram á tónleikum og hefur spilað á tónlistarhátíðum og fjöldamörgum tónleikum undir því nafni, m.a Extreme chill festival, Iceland Airwaves, Live iXem, Milanó, Festival Licences, Brûlures des langues VIII, Paris. Þóranna vinnur nú að sinni fyrstu útgáfu hjá Kanadíska útgáfufyrirtækinu Yatra Arts. Hún býr og starfar í Reykjavík.

Þráinn Hjálmarsson [Thrainn Hjalmarsson] (b. 1987) studied composition with the composers Atli Ingólfsson, Yannis Kyriakides and Gilius van Bergeijk at the Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík and at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, from 2006-2011. His works have been performed at various places on various occasions worldwide by artists such as Uusinta-ensemble [FI], Ensemble Klang [NL], SKARK string ensemble [IS], Njúton [IS], Athelas-sinfonietta [DK], Duo Harpverk [IS] and Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir [IS]. Currently residing in Reykjavík developing the musical instrument Þránófónn (e. Thranophone), a feedback instrument based on acoustic resonance in various (complex/simple) cavities. Þráinn is a member of the composers collective S.L.Á.T.U.R (Society of artistically obtrusive composers around Reykjavík), LornaLAB and chairmen of the Icelandic committee of UNM (Ung Nordisk Musik)-music festival. Planning the upcoming UNM 2012 – Music Innovation festival, held in Reykjavík, 28th of August – 1st of September 2012, holding seminars parallel to the music festival in collaboration with LornaLAB and the Academy of the Arts in Iceland on new approaches to the role of the composer as such and instrument innovation in music.

Þráinn Hjálmarsson (f. 1987) nam tónsmíðar hjá Atla Ingólfssyni, Yannis Kyriakides og Gilius van Bergeijk við Listaháskóla Íslands og Konunglega tónlistarháskólann í Haag á árunum 2006 til 2011. Verk hans hafa verið flutt víða af tónlistarmönnum á borð við Uusinta-ensemble [FI], Ensemble Klang [NL], strengjasveitina SKARK [IS], tónlistarhópinn Njúton [IS], Ensemble Klang [NL], Athelas-sinfóníettuna [DK], Duo Harpverk [IS] og Tinnu Þorsteinsdóttur. Þráinn er búsettur í Reykjavík og vinnur um þessar mundir að því að þróa hljóðfærið Þránófón, sem er „feedback“ hljóðfæri sem byggir á tíðnisvörun ýmissa (flókinna/einfaldra) rýma. Þráinn er meðlimur tónskáldasamtakanna S.L.Á.T.U.R (samtök listrænt ágengra tónsmiða umhverfis Reykjavík), LornaLAB og formaður Íslandsnefndar tónlistarhátíðarinnar UNM (Ung Nordisk Musik). Sem vinnur nú að skipulagningu hátíðarinnar UNM 2012 – Music Innovation, sem haldin verður í Reykjavík, 28. ágúst til 1. september 2012. Samhliða hátíðinni í ár, verður haldið málþing um nýsmíði hljóðfæra og nýrra hugsjóna í tónlistarstarfi.

Hlynur Helgason, artist and philosopher.

Thursday 14. july 2012 time 12:15 – 12:45 pm

Reykjavik Art Museum, Hafnarhús – „Independent People“

Hlynur Hallsson & Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdóttir

Tinna Grétarsdóttir, anthropologist.

Thursday 9. august 2012 time 12:15 – 12:45 pm

Reykjavik Art Museum, Hafnarhús – „Independent People“

Hlynur Hallsson & Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdóttir

Halldór Úlfarsson, artist and Páll Ivan Pálsson, composer

Thursday 16. august 2012 time 12:15 – 12:45 pm

Reykjavik Art Museum, Hafnarhús – „Independent People“

Hlynur Hallsson & Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdóttir

Organizers Endemi– art journal about icelandic contempoarary art focusing on the art of icelandic women.

Thursday 23. august 2012 time 12:15 – 12:45 pm

Reykjavik Art Museum, Hafnarhús – „Independent People“

Hlynur Hallsson & Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdótti