Willats started using diagrams in his work during the late 1950s. These developed further through his interest in cybernetics and Black Box theories, where the diagram was employed as a speculative tool for mapping systems. Willats saw this as having the potential to describe social relationships and to offer new philosophical, social and ideological visions.
At Casco a selection of diagrams will be presented alongside a new series of posters that will be distributed around the city of Utrecht. The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated booklet with a new text by Willats that specifically addresses the role of diagrams in his art practice.
The Speculative Diagram
Stephen Willats
Casco’s programme concentrates on the crossovers between the fields of art, design and theory, and the relationships of these fields to wider social, political and cultural contexts. In the early 1960s British artist Stephen Willats began situating his aritstic practice between the fields of art and design, calling himself a ‘conceptual designer’, and also began to take his work out of the gallery and into broader social contexts. For these projects he often employed the diagram as a tool to illustrate dynamic flows of information and relationships within social networks.