Almost exactly nine years ago, on July 23rd, 2014, Pet Shop Boys with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers performed the world premiere of "A Man From The Future", their musical tribute to computer pioneer and Enigma codebreaker persecuted for his homosexuality Alan Turing, at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The concert was divided into eight sections – "Natural wonders every child should know", "He dreamed of machines", "The Enigma", "Other ranks", "The memory and the control", "The trial", "Only in his death", "A man from the future" – narrated by actress Juliet Stevenson, and featuring the voice of former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown in the last section. Chrissie Hynde also appeared duetting with the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant.
The Pet Shop Boys started working on this project inspired by Alan Turing in 2012 influenced by a television documentary and by Andrew Hodges's biography, "Alan Turing: The Enigma" that inspired the film "The Imitation Game", directed by Morten Tyldum (2014).
Since then Alan Turing was honoured with a tribute on the £50 note (in 2021), but not much else was done in his memory. Then, last week, UK Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace in the House of Commons proposed to dedicate him a statue on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth, a prominent platform known for contemporary art commissions.
The proposal came in response to an independent review concerning LGBTQ+ veterans who served under the pre-2000 ban on homosexuality in the armed forces.
An LGBTQ+ armed forces charity, Fighting With Pride, announced its support of the proposal, highlighting the significance of recognizing Turing's contributions while acknowledging the adversity he faced due to his sexual orientation.
Born in 1912 in London, Turing studied mathematics at King's College, Cambridge, from 1931 to 1934. In 1936 he published a paper entitled "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" (Download Turing_Paper_1936) that laid the foundations for computer science, introducing the concept of a universal machine capable of computing anything that is computable.
After studying mathematics and cryptology at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, Turing returned to Cambridge.
During World War II, Turing worked at Bletchley Park, the GCCS wartime station, where he cracked Germany's secret military communication codes, including the Enigma encrypted signals (with the bombe, an electromechanical device), contributing in this way to the Allied victory.
In the mid-1940s he began collaborating with the National Physical Laboratory, leading the design work for the Automatic Computing Engine, creating a blueprint for store-program computers and addressing the issue of artificial intelligence in a paper written in 1950.
Two years later Turing was arrested, tried and convicted for homosexuality, then a criminal offence. This resulted in the removal of his security clearance and his inability to continue working for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Given a choice between prison and chemical castration he opted for the latter and received hormonal treatment for libido reduction.
He passed away in1954: the official verdict stated he took his own life by biting into an apple dipped in cyanide, possibly a reference to his favorite story, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", but no motive was established for the suicide at the 1954 inquest, and for this reason some believe it was an accidental poisoning.
Turing's contributions to science and technology were later recognized when he received a posthumous royal pardon at the end of 2013, acknowledging the injustice he had faced.
The fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square currently serves as a platform for temporary artistic installations, thanks to the London mayor's Fourth Plinth Commission. The plinth at the moment features a sculpture by Malawi-born artist Samson Kambalu, but previous commissions include Marc Quinn's sculpture of pregnant Alison Lapper, Yinka Shonibare's scaled-down replica of HMS Victory in a glass bottle, and Heather Phillipson's sculpture The End. While this is an important platform for artists, the plinth was originally left empty for a statue of Elizabeth II on horse that should have been commissioned after her death.
The idea of a statue for Turing won support especially following the apology to LGBTQ+ service veterans for historical mistreatment, but also sparked debate because it would mean to lose a platform to show contemporary art on rotation. Yet this platform may be lost all the same to an unnecessary statue of the Queen, so, in the end, if the plinth had to be occupied by a permanent statue, it would actually be more logical to give the space to Turing and commission the statue to an artist from the LGBTQ+ community.
In the age of Artificial Intelligence and in our socially complex times, Turing could be a symbol of technological advancement and a reminder of what happens when individuals are denied their rights and their sexuality.
One track from the Pet Shop Boys' "A Man From The Future" mentions "science and sex" as the two things that allowed Alan Turing to break free from the social constraints of his time.
"Science and sex" offer us two intriguing perspectives to ponder about Turing's pioneering researches, mathematical logic, machine building, and his life.The themes of science, technology, and sexuality present indeed fascinating avenues for contemplation and exploration also for a fashion collection dedicated to the code-breaker.
In the end the Fourth Plinth may or may not be dedicated to Turing, but celebrating his achievements through fashion could also be a great way to honor his immense contributions while paying homage to a brilliant mind that shaped the course of history.