Jack Burnham
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Jack Wesley Burnham Jr. (born New York City, November 13, 1931 – February 25, 2019) was an American writer and theorist of art and technology, who taught art history at
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
and the
University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
. He is one of the main forces behind the emergence of
systems art Systems art is art influenced by cybernetics and systems theory, reflecting on natural systems, social systems, and the social signs of the art world itself. Systems art emerged as part of the first wave of the conceptual art movement in the 19 ...
in the 1960s. Between the years of 1955 and 1965, he created sculptures many of which incorporated light.


Biography

Burnham was in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
from 1949 to 1952, stationed at Fort Belvoir, working in the drafting school. Burnham began his studies in 1953 at the Boston Museum School where he studied design, silversmithing, sculpture and painting. He began a friendship with the Soviet sculptor
Naum Gabo Naum Gabo (born Naum Neemia Pevsner; Russian language, Russian: Наум Борисович Певзнер; Hebrew language, Hebrew: נחום נחמיה פבזנר) (23 August 1977) was an influential sculptor, theorist, and key figure in Russia's ...
who was teaching at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
at the time; he considered Gabo to be his mentor. He took two years off between 1954 and 1956 to study engineering at the
Wentworth Institute of Technology Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) is a private university in Boston, Massachusetts. Wentworth was founded in 1904 and offers career-focused education through 22 bachelor's degree programs as well as 11 master's degrees. History In 1903, B ...
, and received an associates degree in engineering. Burnham received a BFA from the
Yale School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Master of Fine Arts, Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in g ...
in 1959 and a MFA in 1961. From 1955 until 1965 he worked as a sculptor, often created sculptures that included light. In the 1960s he started teaching art history at Northwestern University, and became chairman of their art department. He was the Inaugural Fellow at MIT's
Center for Advanced Visual Studies The MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) has its origins in the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an arts and research center founded in 1967 by artist and teacher György Kepes ...
from 1968 to 1969. During this time he distanced himself from Gabo, and also from
György Kepes György Kepes (; October 4, 1906 – December 29, 2001) was a Hungarian-born painter, photographer, designer, educator, and art theorist. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1937, he taught design at the New Bauhaus (later the School of Design, t ...
notion of the "New Bauhaus", the latter because Kepes failed to embrace advanced technology and the use of computers in art. Burnham aligned himself with
Oliver Selfridge Oliver Gordon Selfridge (10 May 1926 – 3 December 2008) was a mathematician and computer scientist who pioneered the early foundations of modern artificial intelligence. He is mostly known for his 1959 paper, ''Pandemonium: A paradigm for lea ...
and Jack Nolan, who were both computer scientists. In the 1980s he moved to the University of Maryland and again chaired the art and art history departments. Retiring in the 1990s, Burnham lived in
Hyattsville, Maryland Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is an urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States census. History Before Europeans reached the area, the upper Anacostia ...
, immersed in
Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
.


Work as a writer

Jack Burnham worked as a writer, and in the 1960s and 1970s made important contributions as an art theorist, critic and curator in the field of
systems art Systems art is art influenced by cybernetics and systems theory, reflecting on natural systems, social systems, and the social signs of the art world itself. Systems art emerged as part of the first wave of the conceptual art movement in the 19 ...
. In systems art the
concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...
and
idea In philosophy and in common usage, an idea (from the Greek word: ἰδέα (idea), meaning 'a form, or a pattern') is the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophe ...
s of
process A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic. Things called a process include: Business and management * Business process, activities that produce a specific s ...
related
system A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, str ...
s and
systems theory Systems theory is the Transdisciplinarity, transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, de ...
are involved in the work to take precedence over traditional
aesthetic Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...
object related and material concerns. Burnham named Systems art in the 1968
Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...
article "System Esthetics": "He had investigated the effects of science and technology on the sculpture of this century, and saw a dramatic contrast between the handling of the place-oriented ''object sculpture'' and the extreme mobility of Systems sculpture". In 1970, he curated the exhibition at the
Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. Notable Jewish museums include: Albania * Solomon Museum, Berat Australia * Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourn ...
, "Software – Information Technology: Its New Meaning for Art". The exhibition included work by
Agnes Denes Agnes Denes (Dénes Ágnes; born 1931 in Budapest) is a Hungarian-born American conceptual artist based in New York. She is known for works in a wide range of media—from poetry and philosophical writings to extremely detailed drawings, sculpt ...
,
Hans Haacke Hans Haacke (born August 12, 1936) is a German-born artist who lives and works in New York City. Haacke is considered a "leading exponent" of institutional critique, and is considered to be the most harsh and consistent critic of museums among t ...
,
Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a South Korean artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super highway" ...
and others. The exhibition is considered one of the most important on the history of technology and art, and a precursor to contemporary digital art. Burnham was the Associate editor of
Arts Magazine ''Arts Magazine'' was a prominent American monthly magazine devoted to fine art. It was established in 1926 and last published in 1992. History Founding Launched in 1926 and originally titled ''The Art Digest,'' it was printed semi-monthly from ...
between the years 1968 and 1970; he also published many articles in the magazine. From 1971 to 1973 he wrote for ''ARTFORUM'' magazine as a contributing editor. In 1973, Burnham was awarded a fellowship from the
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...
to study the alchemical symbolism used in Marcel Duchamp's art. Following that, he continued to apply Kabbalistic interpretations of art thoroughout his life, and taught it as an art critical method at the University of Maryland. As an art historian Burnham argued that aesthetics must be held to new criteria; for example, he believed that art went beyond pure visual pleasure, or the art object's function in the gallery marketplace. He suggested that art and aesthetics were relavatory, and that art could operate as an "information-processing device", similar to machines or ritual, and that artworks could function as an apparatus between natural phenomena and cultural phenomena.


Work as an artist

While he is best known as a theorist, Burnham was trained as an artist; the art he produced included alchemy-imspired diagramatic drawings, sculptures and works that incorporated light. From 1955 through the 1960s he focused on sculpture, many of which incorporated light or included viewer-activated technology and electro-luminous "ribbons". During a fellowship at
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
, Burnham created a series of sculptures including ''Tape Light'' (1969). The sculptures and light environments were made with
electroluminescent Electroluminescence (EL) is an optical and electrical phenomenon, in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field. This is distinct from black body light emission resulting from ...
Tape-Lite, a material produced by the Sylvania Corporation that was used by the military for safety lights, instrument panels, and helicopter landing markers. Between the years of 1965–1969, he had five solo exhibitions of his work, and from 1957 to 1978, he participated in numerous group shows. To support himself as an artist, he worked various jobs including architectural drafting, sign painter and fabricator, and later as an educator. Burnham was referenced in American artist Mike Kelley catalogue for his exhibition, "Mike Kelley: The Uncanny" at
Tate Liverpool Tate Liverpool is an art gallery in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The gallery was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corporatio ...
. This exhibition featured
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
's '' Andy Warhol Robot.'' Burnham speaks about the manner in which anthropomorphic figures became equivalent to traditional sculpture.


Publications

Burnham wrote several books and dozens of articles in magazines like: ''Art and Artists magazine'', ''Arts and Society'', ''Artforum'' magazine, ''Arts magazine''. His books: * 1968, ''Beyond Modern Sculpture: The Effects of Science and Technology on the Sculpture of This Century'', New York: George Braziller; London: Allen Lane/Penguin Press. * 1969, ''Art in the Marcusean Analysis'', vol 6 of the "Penn State Papers in Art Education", edited by Paul Edmonston (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania State University, 1969). * 1973, ''The Structure of Art'', Revised Edition, Brazillera, . * 1974, ''Great Western Salt Works: Essays on the Meaning of Post-Formalist Art'', New York: George Braziller. 0-8076-0740-1. * 2015, ''Dissolve into Comprehension: Writings and Interviews, 1964–2004'', edited by Melissa Ragain (Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2015), .


About Jack Burnham

* Charlie Gere, ''Art, Time and Technology: Histories of the Disappearing Body'' (2005) Berg, pp. 124–138 * Robert Horvitz (2000–), "A Node for Jack Burnham". * Matthew Rampley (2005). ''Systems Aesthetics: Burnham and Others''. In: ''Vector e-zine''. issue B-12, January 2005. * Corrine Robins (1972). ''Burnham's Burden: Art is Over...Again'' in ''Art in America''. March 1972, pp. 14–15. * Edward A. Shanken (1998). "The House That Jack Built: Jack Burnham's Concept of Software as a Metaphor for Art". In: ''Leonardo Electronic Almanac, Vol''. 6, No. 10 (November 1998). * Edward A. Shanken (2001). "Art in the Information Age: Technology and Conceptual Art" ''SIGGRAPH 2001 Electronic Art and Animation Catalog'', (New York: ACM SIGGRAPH, 2001): 8–15. Expanded in ''Leonardo'' 35:4 (Aug 2002). * Edward A. Shanken (2009). "Reprogramming Systems Aesthetics: A Strategic Historiography". ''Proceedings of the Digital Arts and Culture Conference'', 2009. *
Willoughby Sharp Willoughby Sharp (January 23, 1936 – December 17, 2008) was an American artist, independent curator, independent publisher (he was co-founder and co-editor of Avalanche Magazine with Liza Béar), gallerist, teacher, author, and telecom activi ...
(1970). ''Willoughby Sharp Interviews Jack Burnham'' in Arts magazine. Vol. 45, No. 2, November 1970, pp. 21–23 * Luke Skrebowski (2006). ''All Systems Go: Recovering Jack Burnham's 'Systems Aesthetics''. Tate Papers, Spring 2006 * Luke Skrebowski (2016). ''Jack Burnham Redux'' published in ''Grey Room'' journal, Fall 2016, No. 65 (Fall 2016), pp. 88-113. The MIT Press * Jack Burnham, Hans Haacke, Esthétique de systèmes, Emanuele Quinz (ed.), Dijon, Les presses du réel, 2015


References


External links


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Jack Burnham

by Lutz Dammbeck {{DEFAULTSORT:Burnham, Jack 1931 births 2019 deaths American art critics American art curators American art historians Cultural historians Mass media theorists