Abraham A. Moles

Abraham A. Moles was an electrical engineer, sociologist and philosopher, who held two doctorates, one in Physics and one in Philosophy. As he was specialized in electroacoustics he worked for the “Laboratoire d’acoustique et de vibrations” [Laboratory of Acoustics and Vibrations] of the “Centre national de la rechereche scientifique” [National Center for Scientific Research] (CNRS) in Marseille. He taught Sociology and Psychology at the Universities of Ulm, Strasbourg, San Diego, Mexico, Compiègne. He was the founder of the Institute of Social Psychology of Communication in Strasbourg.

Moles still is known for his work in Information Aesthetics, as he is one of its pioneers. He developed his ideas in the 1950s, at the time that Bense worked on this topic in Germany. His ideas were strongly influenced by Cybernetics. "In this way, he combined the cybernetic system theory with communication aesthetics, as seen, for example, in his publications: “Théorie de l’information et perception esthétique” (Information Theory and Aesthetic Consciousness, 1958) and “Art and Computer” (1973)." [MediaArtNet, 2004] Different from Bense’s ideas, Moles’ Information Aesthetics took off from the observer and therefore contained also subjective measures.

“Moles (…) has provided a very exhaustive exposition of the possible role of this theory in the analysis of aesthetic phenomena: The essential contribution of information theory to aesthetics is the interpretation of the Gestalt phenomenon, and this interpretation is purely mechanical, that is to say, arbitrary. However, a method emerges from this. This method could be defined as a method of structuring, as a method of simulation.” [Rosen, Margit (ed). A Little-Known Story about a Movement, a Magazine, and the Computer's Arrival in Art: New Tendencies and Bit International, 1961-1973. Cambridge and Karlsruhe: MIT Press and ZKM, 2011.]

(Source: http://dada.compart-bremen.de/item/agent/352)