Dr. Francis Halsall, an academic, art writer and course director of Art in the Contemporary World at National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Dublin leads a beginners guide to systems theory and cybernetics.

Systems theory argues that no matter how complex or diverse the world, we can always identify underlying types of organising principles or 'systems'. Applying equally to the organic and machine, the physical and the virtual, systems theory most often focuses on complex self-regulating systems that we might term 'cybernetic'.

Halsall will explore the cultural and social effects of these systems of information, control and feedback, which form part of the research for Dennis McNulty's new Liverpool Biennial 2016 commission Homo Gestalt, itself a work of multiple interconnecting and intercommunicating parts - an installation at Bluecoat, a time limited promenade performance and an iPhone app.

For more information view Francis Halsall's research profile online, or visit his blog.