Information Technology Reference
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1962 and 1964 three mathematicians or engineers, who on their jobs had easy and
permanent access to computers, started to use those computers to generate simple
drawings by executing algorithms. As it happened, all three had written algorithms
to generate drawings and, without knowing of each other, decided to publicly exhibit
their drawings in 1965. Those three artists are (below, examples of their works will
be discussed):
•
Georg Nees
of Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany, exhibited in the Aesthetic Sem-
inar, located in rooms of the Studiengalerie of Technische Hochschule Stuttgart,
Germany, from 5 to 19 February, 1965. Max Bense, chairing the institute, had
invited Nees. A small booklet was published as part of the famous
rot
series for
the occasion. It most likely became the first publication ever on visual computer
art (Nees and Bense
1965
).
4
•
A. Michael Noll
of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA showed
his works at Howard Wise Gallery in New York, NY, from 6 to 24 April, 1965
(together with random dot patterns for experiments on visual perception, by Bela
Julesz; the exhibits were mixed with those of a second exhibition).
•
Frieder Nake
from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, displayed his works at
Galerie Wendelin Niedlich in Stuttgart, from 5 to 26 November, 1965 (along with
Georg Nees' graphics from the first show). Max Bense wrote an introductory
essay (but could not come to read it himself).
5
As it happens, there may have been one or two forgotten shows of similar pro-
ductions.
6
But these three shows are usually cited as the start of digital art. The
public appearance and, thereby, the invitation of critique, is the decisive factor if
what you do is to be accepted as art. The artist's creation is one thing, but only a
public reaction and critique can evaluate and judge it. The three shows, the authors,
and the year define the beginning of algorithmic art.
From the point of view of art history, it may be interesting to observe that concep-
tual art and video art had their first manifestations around the same time. Op art had
existed for some while before concrete and constructive art became influential. The
happening—very different in approach—had its first spectacular events in the 1950s,
4
The booklet,
rot 19
, contains the short essay,
Projekte generativer Ästhetik
, by Max Bense. I con-
sider it to be the manifesto of algorithmic art, although it was not expressly called so. It has been
translated into English and published several times. The term
generative aesthetics
was coined
here, directly referring to Chomsky's generative grammar. The brochure contains reproductions of
some of Nees' graphics, along with his explanations of the code.
5
Bense's introductory text, in German, was not published. It is now available on the compArt Dig-
ital Art database at
compart-bremen.de
.
Concerning the three locations of these 1965 exhibitions,
Howard Wise was a well-established New York gallery, dedicated to avant-garde art. Wendelin
Niedlich was a bookstore and gallery with a strong influence in the Southwest of Germany. The
Studiengalerie was an academic (not commercial) institution dedicated to experimental and con-
crete art.
6
Paul Brown recently (2009) discovered that Joan Shogren appears to have displayed computer-
generated drawings for the first time on 6 May 1963 at San Jose State University.
