Turing (1912-1954) is widely acknowledged as a genius. As well as codebreaking during World War II and taking a pioneering role in computer hardware design and software after the War, he also wrote three important foundational papers in the fields of theoretical computer science, artificial intelligence, and mathematical biology. He has been called the father of computer science, but he also admired by mathematicians, philosophers, and perhaps more surprisingly biologists, for his wide-ranging ideas. His influence stretches from scientific to cultural and even political impact. For all these reasons, he was a true polymath. This paper considers the genius of Turing from various angles, both scientific and artistic. The four authors provide position statements on how Turing has influenced and inspired their work, together with short biographies, as a starting point for a panel session and visual music performance.

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It was in his Quartet for the End of Time that Olivier Messiaen began a lifelong process of discovery, not only into his inner world of colour but, also, into a sound world which eliminated conventional notions of musical time. He regarded himself as a composer and rhythmatician and the task he set himself, in his Quartet, was to produce a rhythmic system that could emulate the patterns of nature. The Apocalyptic inference of the Quartet's title was deliberate; it followed directly from the vision Messiaen experienced when he was a prisoner of war, in 1940. My own visual interpretation of Abîme des oiseaux, the 3 rd movement of the Quartet, has been influenced by two key facts. First, Messiaen's ability to see his own music, and that of other composers, in vivid colours. Secondly, the lifelong inspiration that Messiaen gained from the shimmering stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral. Details of just one Rose Window have enabled me to interpret, visually, the extreme conflicts of mood conveyed by Messiaen's music. For the composer, the Angel who announces the End of Time means the dissolution of musical time in a multitude of new rhythmic ways. My aim has been to create a pattern book of images where each of Messiaen's innovative rhythmic patterns has its visual counterpart. To achieve this end, I have explored new techniques and methods for producing Visual Music which seek to give some outward expression to the composer's Apocalyptic vision. Visual mMusic. Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time. Clarinet. Chartres Cathedral.

Cybernetics was a subject that captured the attention of some of the sharpest minds in the USA and UK from the 1940s onwards. For me, in my previous role as an architect and designer, cybernetics played a key part in solving the 'exceedingly complex' problems associated with the way large companies occupy buildings. In the 1960s Roy Ascott predicted that the cybernetic approach would 'assist in the evolution of art, serving to increase its variety and vigour'. This is an attribute exemplified by the behaviourist art of Gordon Pask whose 'Colloquy of Mobiles' took centre stage at Cybernetic Serendipity -an exhibition, held in 1968, which represented the heyday of cybernetics in the UK. But even today, in the arts' world, a bright annulus of cybernetic light continues to shine, a phenomenon that I explain with reference to a piece of Visual Music called SHAPES. We're on the brink of a cybernetic renaissance, which is why I'm issuing a clarion call for the arts' community to turn towards the task of enhancing our chances of survival for the future.Cybernetics. Feedback. Cybernetic Serendipity. Visual Music. Space planning.

Advocates an approach to of gfice design which reflects the complex and shifting needs of office users. Claims that by producing a greater sense of satisfaction at the workplace, design can become an effective instrument of organizational success.