Stephen Willats – Conscious Unconscious in and out the reality check

The publication of CONSCIOUS – UNCONSCIOUS in and out the reality check was published on the occasion of Stephen Willats’s fourth exhibition at Modern Art Oxford in 2013. Since the mid-1960s Willats has embarked on an investigation into the relationship between art and society, between artworks and the viewer, and between artist and art institution.
In this publication Stephen Willats talks about his new commission The Oxford Community Data Stream. Ute Meta Bauer discusses with Willats the nature of his work with communities, and in particular the example of real-time and real-space social interaction that it offers. Astrid Wege’s insightful essay highlights the multiple and complex methods Willats employs.

Having long been interested in Willats’s work, and with the renewed interest in cybernetics and ‘systems people’ in general it was great to be able to engage with the artists’ work through the texts in this modest, but very relevant book.