Ipotesi per una casa esistenziale ed. by E. Crispolti, et al. (review)

Books 265 The report’s main merit lies in its authoritative knowledge of computer technology and, as such, it is a most useful document for those who are engaged in similar fields. It, however, falls into a trap from which, at least in the present stage of development, both computer animation and graphics still suffer. The language employed in the book is highly technical and would be incomprehensible to artists or laymen outside the inner sanctum of computer technology. If the intention was to achieve easier communication between computer experts and artists, this report does not do it. Apart from the language employed, there is the overall target of combining the ‘intelligence’ of digital computers with their retrieval capabilities and the flexibility and manoeuvrability of analogue computers with their hybrid devices. The latter, leading towards ‘real-time film animation’ or ‘instant animation’, would, indeed, be a blessing for the development of the animation industry. Furthermore, if such animation could be achieved without the assistance of hardware engineers and software programmers , that would be even better, for a considerable saving of time and cost of production would result. The contribution of the team at Ohio State University to this objective is quite spectacular even if not unique. A group at the Imperial College at London is also working along the same lines with similar results. The main achievement of Csuri’s group is in the 3-dimensional linear interpolation domain, capable of providing a wide variety of sophisticated shading for an object in motion. The imaginative utilization of hardware, like the PDP11 /45 computer, interfaced with a colour video display system, is another achievement. This provides an easy platform for further useful research. The flexibility of the Graphics Symbiosis System is also quite an achievement but it is not quite what it is made out to be. Others in the field (the Atlas Computer Unit at Harwell, England, for instance) also have developed similar simplified languages. One would wish that there were more liaison between universities and research groups that are carrying out research in the same areas. While the present range of computer languages, if expertly exploited, already can provide some remarkable results, unfortunately, the visual examples chosen for the report hardly bear this out. The graphic quality of figures and shapes is not quite up to the sophisticated technology that brings them into being. This may prove that, even if the technology were available, artists would still be needed to get high quality results. One hopes that eventually the enormous amount of money and effort expended on computer animation will lead to genuine cooperation between computer experts and artists but, once again, DeFanti’s brash remark throws some doubt on this matter. He states in the description of his Graphic Symbiosis System: ‘It appears that the age of abstract computer art is past, and that the true use of computer graphics is in portraying recognizable images.’ I hope that DeFanti will confine his efforts to computer systems, where he is brilliant, and not to art and art criticism. For most artists, non-figurative computer art is still challenging. Several years will be required before artists using computers are given the kind of freedom that, for instance, a violinist has with his instrument. Many of the present computer outputs are like piccolo soundsemanating from a tuba. Artists still must wait for the green light. When it comes ‘ON’, a renaissance in the visual arts may be at hand. Conversationswith Architects. John W. Cook and Heinrich Klotz. Praeger, New York; Lund Humphries, London, 1973. 272 pp., illus. f3.95. Reviewed by Rod Hackney* This book is a collection of interviews of eight prominent *222 Black Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. persons in present-day architecture in the U.S.A. The interviewers have succeeded by means of their questions to obtain highly illuminating and interesting points of view from these influential architects. Louis Kahn, in a rather woolly way, and Paul Rudolph, in great seriousness and good humour, convey their general outlook on their profession. The comments of Robert Venturi and his wife add up to a description of the frustration of not having more of their plans for buildings executed and...