ABSTRACT
Following upon the ideology of the individual and the notion of the problem-solution composite as the core of problem-centricity in both art and technology (discussed in chapter 3), we come to the realization that the unit of history making in both these cultures is not the artifact itself but the problem-solution-composite — that is, the artifact in intimate relation with the needs/goals that motivated the production of the artifact. A notable feature of such a composite is that it is a heterogenous symbiosis of a subjective/private/cognitive entity (the needs/goals defining the problem) and an objective/public/cultural entity (the artifact). This is a causally constructed symbiosis: the solution is the postulated outcome of the problem; the problem precedes the solution.
This chapter explores several instances of the problem-solution-composite as units of history-making in art and technology, for example, Claude Monet's work on his ‘Grain Stack’ and ‘Rouen Cathedral’ series of paintings, George Braque's (co-)invention (with Picasso) of Cubism, and the first implementation of the electronic stored program digital computer by Maurice Wilkes and Frederick Williams. A pattern of what we might call the ontogeny of these composites may be discerned:
‘Prime’ problem —> ‘Superior’ problem —> ‘Inferior’ problem —> Solution
For instance, in the case of Monet, the ‘prime’ problem was the publicly and culturally recognized problem to ‘pursue the Impressionistic style’; the ‘superior’ problem which Monet particularized as his general goal was ‘to visually capture environmental effects on external objects’. Monet further instantiated this into multiple ‘inferior’ (sub-)problems: ‘to capture grain stacks in various environmental conditions’; ‘to capture Rouen Cathedral in various environmental conditions’. His series of ‘Grain Stack’ and Rouen Cathedral paintings were solutions to these individual ‘inferior’ problems.
Similar ontogenetic patterns are discernible in the other case studies of Braque's Cubism and the building of automatic digital computers by Wilkes and Williams.
This ontogenetic pattern is thus the seventh bridge between art and technology.
