School for Designing a Society

Past Instructors

Herbert Brün (1918-2000)

Herbert Brün, born 1918 in Berlin, immigrated to Palestine in 1936; studied at the Jerusalem Conservatory of Music, and with Stefan Wolpe, Eli Friedmann, and Frank Pelleg. Further studies included work at Columbia University, NY, and collaboration in Palestine-Israel with choreographer Noa Eshkol, who later created the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation (one of two notation systems created for dance). In 1955 Brün left Israel for Europe---the political atmosphere and language in Israel reminded Brün too closely of the Germany he had left in 1936.

From 1955-61, in addition to his activities as a composer, he conducted research concerning electro-acoustics and electronic sound production in regard to their possibilities in the field of musical composition: Paris, Cologne, Munich. During this period he also worked as composer and conductor of music for the theater, he gave lectures and seminars emphasizing the function of music in society, and did a series of broadcasts on contemporary music. After having been on a lecture tour through the United States in 1962, Brün was invited by Lejaren Hiller to join the faculty of the University of Illinois in order to research the significance of computer systems on composition, and remained Professor of Composition at UIUC until his death in 2000.

At the University of Illinois, Brün continued his work in the electronic studio and his research on composition with computers, which resulted in pieces for tape and instruments, tape alone, and graphics. Brün collaborated with Heinz von Foerster on several interdisciplinary courses in heuristics and cybernetics at the Biological Computer Laboratory(1968-74) at the U of I, and was an active member and contributor to the American Society for Cybernetics.

Throughout the 1970's, 80's, and 90's Brün collaborated with his students/friends; together, they created the Performers' Workshop Ensemble (PWE), a "group of performing composers and composing performers". From 1980 on, Brün toured and taught extensively with the PWE in the United States and in Europe, creating not only experimental compositions but also experimental formats for the presentation of compositions, in an attempt to address the tendency of language to preempt thought. Composed rehearsals, theatrically designed concerts, Performers' Workshops, House Theaters, and the School for Designing a Society were some of the consequences of this attempt.

Among Herbert Brün's awards and honors: an honorary doctorate from the University of Frankfurt; the SEAMUS AWARD for life-long contribution to the art of electro-acoustic music; Norbert Weiner medal from the American Society of Cybernetics. He was one of two participants from the United States invited by UNESCO to their symposium: Music and Technology. A 4-CD set of Brün's music has been published by Non Sequitur Press, with other recordings available on the Opus One, UI Experimental Studios, Acousmatrix 6, and Centaur Labels.

His publications include Uber Musik und Zum Computer (G. Braun Verlag), my words and where I want them (Princelet Editions); Irresistible Observations and Sighs in Disguise (non sequitur press); When Music Resists Meaning (Wesleyan Press). Copies of Brün's works may be purchased here.

Steve Sloan (1948-2001)

Steve Sloan has been a dedicated connector and creator of the ideas of cybernetics, so that there be cybernetics even in this commercial age. A gifted mathematician and student of Heinz von Foerster, Humberto Maturana, Lou Kauffman, and Herbert Brün, Steve Sloan retarded the decay of ideas by becoming a teacher, active from 1997-2001 as organizer and teacher at the School for Designing a Society. He instigated traveling-cybernetics-performance tours, booklets, collaborative writing ventures, a Sunday night cybernetics group, a cybernetics lab, a self-description project, a mental health group, a care club. His way in teaching was to take each new student out to lunch or dinner, starting the relationship in conversation and food and companionship.

Steve was an editor and collaborator in the book Cybernetics of Cybernetics, the most comprehensive and playful compilation of cybernetic ideas in publication. The booklet Metagames was also created with his work and influence. He had been at work on a new, yet unpublished book of cybernetics, the Con-Textbook.

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