Watch our short film on the story of the ICA’s groundbreaking early electronic music compilation Cybernetic Serendipity Music
The Institute of Contemporary Arts & The Vinyl Factory present Cybernetic Serendipity Music, the world’s first compilation of electronic music.
Reissued on vinyl for the first time since it was originally released as part of the ICA’s groundbreaking robotics exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity in 1968, Cybernetic Serendipity Music marks a crucial moment in the development of modern music, as the world stood on the cusp of a synthesizer-led electronic revolution.
The true breaking point between the mechanical, the analogue and the digital, it was the first record of its kind of bring together pioneers in music, science and the arts, with luminaries like John cage and Ianis Xenakis rubbing shoulders with inventor and composer Peter Zinovieff, whose installation in the exhibition presented computer-generated music to the world for the very first time.
In this short film we explore the influence of this landmark release with Peter Zinovief himself, who tells the story alongside contemporary artist and producer Russell Haswell, artist Yuri Pattison and Juliette Desorges, associate curator at the ICA’s new Reading Room exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity: A Documentation.
Cybernetic Serendipity: A Documentation opens on the 14th October and runs until the 30th November at the ICA in London, with the accompanying reissue released by The Vinyl Factory as a limited edition of 500 copies also available from the 14th October. Faithfully re-produced using original artwork and housed in a Garrod & Lofthouse-style sleeve, you can order your copy here.
More from Machine Music Week:
It’s a woman’s world: Ada’s top 10 techno records
The pioneering women of electronic music – An interactive timeline
Listen to the sound of the internet
The synth that made the music: 10 artists whose sound was defined by the EMS VCS3
