Cybernetic-Existentialism

A theory of Cybernetic-Existentialism is proposed in the light of
emerging themes within contemporary arts and performance that
appear to relate simultaneously to both fields and to fuse them.
Cybernetic-Existentialist ideas are also increasingly prevalent
within everyday life and popular culture, and the Disney film
Frozen (2013) is examined as an illustration. Case studies are
presented of performances by The Wooster Group, Societas
Raffaello Sanzio, Jennifer Ringley, Paul Sermon, and Steve Dixon,
and analysed with reference to the concepts and innovations of
cyberneticians including Gregory Bateson and Existentialist
philosophers including Jean-Paul Sartre and Gabriel Marcel. A
number of philosophical notions are explored, including Bateson’s
‘the difference that makes a difference’, Marcel’s disponibilité
(availability), and Sartre’s discourses on ‘the look’, Nothingness, and
being-for-others. The argument highlights the complementary and
intersecting concerns of cybernetics and Existentialism and how
fusing knowledge from these fields can throw light on
fundamental issues and developments within arts, culture and
everyday life, including interactivity, telepresence,