On George Mallen, Poetry and the Future

This chapter studies the text “Wherever Next?” by George MallenMallen, George published in 1973 and uses it as a lens to consider his approach to computer use in art, particularly the Ecogame project led by him, and the computer-generated poetry of Robin ShirleyShirley, Robin and Peter KilgannonKilgannon, Peter. Mallen reflected upon what a future computer art might look like. After a brief precis of some recent significant changes in the artworld affecting the evolution, production and display of digital art, some aspects of Mallen’s vision found in art today are considered and some conjectures put forward for a possible future role for art involving technology, based on early CAS principles.