Random War, 1967
IBM 7094 and drum plotter | 90” W x 41” H Portfolio Edition, Computer Graphic ICA Exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity, Motif Editions, London
Featured at the opening at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts ICA in 1968, “Cybernetic Serendipity” was one of the first international exhibitions devoted to the relationship between the computer and the arts. Artists, mathematicians, engineers, composers and poets all presented work in what is now seen as a landmark. This revolutionary artwork was one of the first examples of conceptual art and foreshadowed the computer game. It lead Csuri to the continuing theme of randomness, game like playfulness and innovation in his digital art creation. “Random War, arguably one of the most important works of the twentieth century, stands at the convergence of Csuri’s life experiences as a war veteran and the American Social upheaval that predominated at the time of it’s creation,” (Beyond Boundaries, p. 71-73). While the Vietnam War raged in Southeast Asia, antiwar sentiments divided the country. Generations of Americans struggled against each other at unprecedented levels. Csuri’s use of names underscores and personalizes the randomness and chaos of all wars. Some of the notable names used in this random game include Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Robert F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, James Bond, W.R. Rockefeller, Allen Kaprow, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicolas, James Hoffa, Roy Lictenstein, and George Segal.
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“A drawing was made of one toy soldier and this became the data deck. A computer program which generates random numbers is called a pseudorandom number generator. Such a program determined the distribution and position of 400 soldiers on the battlefield. One side is called the “Red” and the other one the “Black”, and the names of real people were given to the program. Another computer program assigned military ranks and army serial numbers at random. The random number generator determined the following information and the computer made this picture with the casualty list: 1) Dead 2) Wounded 3) Missing 4) Survivors 5) One Hero for each side 6) Medals for Valor 7) Good Conduct 8) Efficiency Medals.”
Csuri and Shaffer, 1968, cf. Rosen, 2011, p. 258
Technology was enthusiastically embraced in suburban households and touted by many as the savior of countless social and medical ills. Simultaneously, many perceived it as a demonic force that introduced chaos, depersonalizing and degrading human beings. To many in the art community, creating art with a computer was an act of evil itself. In his essays and articles, Csuri always stressed that art transcends technology, that for him it is a medium to express human experiences, thoughts, and emotions. With his work, Csuri adapted the idea of scientific simulation to reflect on processes that do not appear in physics books but are expressed in aphorisms and haiku. Random War is a paradigmatic example of Csuri’s conception of computer art. Random War 1967 plotter drawing section is featured in The Victoria Albert Museum of London, England, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Zagreb, Hungary, and The Museum of Contemporary Art of Karlsrule, Germany.
Foreshadowing the Computer Game
This revolutionary artwork was one of the first examples of conceptual art and foreshadowed the computer game. In July 1968, a special issue of Studio International featured Csuri’s cutting edge computer artwork Random War 1967.
“Cybernetic Serendipity” 1968 exhibition that featured Random War 1967 was held at London’s Institute of Contemporary Art. This first of it’s kind, futuristic art exhibition drew attention to the inventive ways artists, scientists and technology experts were working together to make computer-generated graphics, animations and music, as well as cybernetic machines and environments. The program created to produce Csuri’s Random War generated battle scenarios, using his drawing of a toy soldier as the data set. Much like today’s strategy-based video games. In Csuri’s commentary on war, each soldier was automatically assigned a name and rank and was randomly placed in a battle outcome as dead, wounded, missing, surviving and medals of valor.
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“Csuri made a drawing of one toy soldier, and this became the data deck. A Computer program which generates random numbers Is called a pseudo-random number generator. Such a program determined the distribution and the position of soldiers on the battlefield. One side is called the 'Red' and the other one the 'Black', and the names of real people were given to each soldier. Their military ranks were assigned by the random number generator. The random number generator also decided who is to die and who is to be wounded. The program also has an automatic control for perspective. A picture 30 x 100 inches in color of the battle was produced by the computer, and the ‘print out’ gave the following Information:
Total number of dead on each side
Total number of wounded on each side
The number of dead and wounded in each of forty sectors of the battlefield
Identification of the dead and wounded in alphabetical order
The survivors in alphabetical order.
Random war is an imaginary war. one with few variables, but it is a short step to a real situation with the introduction of many more variables into the computer. One could introduce military intelligence reports into the program with an estimate of the enemies' capabilities and the tactics they may use. The computer can handle Information about the type of terrain. types and number of weapons. Historical data which involved similar situations. weather conditions. physical condition of the troops and so forth. The battle can be simulated on the computer, and computer- generated movies would give a visual display of the contest. Then more decisions could be made before the event takes place in real time. Once the real battle starts, the computer can predict the outcome and its consequences many hours before the battle ends. It would show motion pictures as the battle progressed. The military computer could process one percent of each of the variables and predict the outcome. much in the same way national television computers have recorded the final results of political elections.”
From “An interview with Charles Csuri” by Arthur Efland in Cybernetic Serendipity: The Computer and the Arts
Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb Croatia Projected Csuri’s Random War 1967 game on the exterior museum walls in 2000.
