Oswald Wiener (1935–2021)

Oswald Wiener was born in Vienna in 1935. In 1953 he joined the Wiener Gruppe (Viennese Group) , a group of experimental writers. In 1956 he entered Vienna University where he studied a variety of subjects, including law, music, African languages and maths. During this period he was also playing jazz trumpet and cornet in jazz bands. In 1956, he started getting interested in cybernetics and went to work for Olivetti. He wrote poetry and other literary works, often experimental, but most of these he later destroyed. In 1969, he published his only novel – Die Verbesserung von Mitteleuropa [The Improvement of Central Europe]. After teaching in Berlin, he went to Dawson City, Canada, where he has lived on and off, alternating with Krefeld in Germany. He continues to teach and produce experimental literature, though he has written extensively on cybernetics and artificial intelligence