Research- Keith Tyson

 Keith Tyson, born in Ulverston, England, is an English artist most commonly known for winning the Turner Prize in 2002. Tyson's works have emerged as something intriguing and familiar to me because of his usage of information and systems, mathematics and science. Tyson's life leading up to his art career made a huge impact on it, he left school at 15 with 0 qualifications and ended up working at a shipyard in Cumbria making submarines for four years, ultimately leaving to pursue a foundation course at the Carlisle College of Art, going on to complete an Art degree at the University of Brighton.

Tyson's unorthodox introduction to art and its educational system allowed him to view his works through a different lens, through the eyes of an engineer; a practice founded in the numerical and the factual, something often forgotten within art. It is this approach to artmaking that is the reason I've looked into the work of Keith Tyson, coming at the art world from a completely different angle and exploring the mathematical, algorithmic intersections within art.

Tyson's earliest works were dominated by a method of making that he called the Art Machine. The Art Machine was a method of creating "physical manifestations of dictations from a system he has programmed. Rather than deciding himself what art to make, Tyson leaves this process up to his machine. A combination of a computer, flow charts and books, the Artmachine randomly selects or performs creative tasks and Tyson then turns its actions into art." in the words of David Zwirner, regarding Tyson's 1996 exhibition. Much like my own current works, Tyson's works are founded in the random and in the computer algorithm making almost all of the decisions.

Via his continued use of the Art Machine Tyson apparently generated around 12,000 proposals for potential artworks, with only a select few turning into actual, realised pieces. These range from a huge 24-foot painting using bathroom sealant to a smaller painting that utilized toothpaste and CD's. The range of concepts the computer is capable of inventing is awe-inspiring and the way Tyson interacts with the machine is far more collaborative than many artists' that utilise these digital counterparts. The collaboration aspect is what inspires me, as time goes on computers and AI will expect more respect as they venture into the territory of becoming transhuman so it is important to think about these things.

Zwirner, D. (Unknown). Keith Tyson Press Release. Available: https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/1996/keith-tyson/press-release.