Despite the first word of its title (“Art”) and the emphasis on the machine in its subtitle (“Computer”), this is not just a book on art and technology. Neither is it just an example of art history in the expanded (social, political, ideological, philosophical) space. Lindsay Caplan’s inspiring study is above all a reflection on the notion of freedom, more particularly on the possible conflict between negative freedom (“freedom from”) and positive freedom (“freedom of”). It is also a direct dialogue with very contemporary thinkers on freedom, as illustrated for example in the writings by Antonio Negri and other “autonomists.”
Yet at the same time, Arte Program-mata is also a deeply historical study, in two senses of the word.
First, it helps rediscover a half-forgotten and understudied, as well as superficially situated and largely misunderstood, aspect of the Italian “laboratory” during the years of the economic miracle (late 1950s–early 1960s)...