Computer art

'Computer art' is the generation of aesthetic objects with the aid of software on a digital computer. Its history started in 1965. Three exhibitions took place that year, which are acknowledged as first public presentations of digital art: Georg Nees at the Studiengalerie of the University of Stuttgart (5-19 February 1965); A. Michael Noll and Bela Julesz at Howard Wise Gallery, New York (6-24 April 1965); Frieder Nake and Georg Nees at Galerie Wendelin Niedlich, Stuttgart (5-26 November 1965)... The picture changes slightly, when we closely look at the time when these researcher-artists started their experiments in algorithmic art: Noll in 1962, Nake in 1963, Nees in 1964. All these dates refer to "digital" art and computers. Ben F. Laposky had started to work with analogue equipment in 1952. Herbert W. Franke followed in Austria in 1959, and Kurd Alsleben in Hamburg around 1960."
– Frieder Nake

Artists, writers, events

• José Luis Alexanco
• Kurd Alsleben
• Ars intermedia
• Radu Bagdasar
• Colette Bangert
• Manuel Barbadillo
• Horst Bartnig
• Juraj Bartusz
• Otto Beckmann
• Max Bense
• Vladimir Bonačić
• Martijn van Boven
• Ileana Bratu
• Zdeňka Čechová
• Harold Cohen
• Compos 68
• Computer and Art
• Computer Art in ČSSR and in the World
• Computer grafik
• Computer Graphic
• Computer Graphics Art (Prague, 1982)
• Computer Graphics in Fine Arts
• Computer Technique Group
• Computerkunst - On the Eve of Tomorrow
• Computers and Automation
• Waldemar Cordeiro
• Charles Csuri
• Cybernetic Serendipity
• Stanisław Dróżdż
• Sherban Epuré
• Peter Foldes
• Helmar Frank
• Herbert W. Franke
• Roland K. Fuchshuber
• Aldo Giorgini
• Karl Otto Götz
• John Halas
• Desmond Paul Henry
• Grace C. Hertlein
• Jiří Hůla
• Ideas Before Their Time
• Mihai Jalobeanu
• Jozef Jankovič
• Charlotte Johannesson
• Béla Julesz
• Hiroshi Kawano
• Keiko Kimoto
• Miroslav Klivar
• Ken Knowlton
• Zenon Kulpa
• Ben F. Laposky
• Ruth Leavitt
• Auro Lecci
• Radomír Leszczynski
• Dominic Lopes
• Aaron Marcus
• Solomon Marcus
• Viktor Ernest Maşek
• Catherine Mason
• Florin Maxa
• Leslie Mezei
• Tomislav Mikulić
• Petar Milojević
• Manfred Mohr
• Abraham Moles
• Vera Molnár
• Ivan Moscovich
• Motif Editions
• Mihai Nadin
• Frieder Nake
• Georg Nees
• New Tendencies
• A. Michael Noll
• Jan Pamuła
• Cord Passow
• Alexandru Patatics
• Sergej Pavlin
• Rosen Petkov
• SCAS
• Programmierter Zufall - Computergrafik
• Vladan Radovanović
• Zoran Radović
• Sonya Rapoport
• Lillian F. Schwartz
• Martin Šperka
• Alan Sutcliffe
• Zdeněk Sýkora
• Yasunao Tone
• Jiří Valoch
• Roman Verostko
• Miguel Ángel Vidal
• Visions of the Present
• Tamás Waliczky
• Peter Weibel
• Teresa Wennberg
• Ryszard Winiarski
• XCoAx
• José María Yturralde
• Gerard Zieliński
• Vilko Žiljak
• Stanislav Zippe

Magazines

• rot 19: "Computer-Grafik", eds. Max Bense and Elisabeth Walther, 1968. (German)
• Bit International: teorija informacija i nova estetika, 9 numbers (7 issues), ed. Božo Bek, Zagreb: Galerije Grada Zagreba, 1968-1972. (multiple languages)
• PAGE, London: Computer Arts Society, 1969-1985 & 2004-2011.
• Computer Graphics and Art, 12 issues, ed. Grace C. Hertlein, Chico, CA: Berkeley Enterprises, Feb 1976-Nov 1978.

Group exhibition catalogues

• Arte programmata: arte cinetica, opere moltiplicate, opera aperta [Programmed Art: Kinetic Art, Multiplied Works, Open Works], Milan: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, 1962, 32 pp. Text by Umberto Eco. Works by Bruno Munari, Enzo Mari, Gruppo T, Gruppo N, Getulio Alviani, GRAV, et al. Organised by Bruno Munari and Giorgio Soavi; sponsored by Olivetti. Exh. held in Milan, May 1962; Piazza S. Marco, Venice, Jul-Aug 1962; Genova, 1962; Piazza Barberini, Rome, Oct 1962; Galleria La Cavana, Trieste, 1962; Tokyo, 1962; Goppinger Galerie, Düsseldorf, 1963; Royal College of Art, London, Jul 1964; Loeb Student Center, New York, 1964; and circulated across other venues in the US by the Smithsonian Institution. Video documentation (10 min). [1] (Italian),(French),(English)

• Herstellung von zeichnerischen Darstellungen, Tonfolgen und Texten mit elektronischen Rechenanlagen. Programm-Information PI-21, Darmstadt: Deutsches Rechenzentrum Darmstadt, 1966. (German)

• Computer Graphics, ed. Jiří Valoch, Brno: Dům umění města Brna, 1968, 16 pp. (Czech)

• Cybernetic Serendipidity. The Computer and the Arts: a Studio International Special Issue, ed. Jasia Reichardt, London: Studio International, Jul 1968; 2nd ed., rev., Sep 1968, 103 pp; repr., New York: Praeger, 1969, 101 pp; repr., London: Studio International Foundation, 2018, 101 pp. Exh. catalogue. Features a cover designed by Franciszka Themerson; an introduction by Jasia Reichardt; an overview of cybernetics and its founder, Norbert Wiener; separate sections dedicated to the connections between the computer and music, dance, poetry, painting, film, architecture, and graphics; a glossary; and a bibliography.

• The Magazine of the Institute of Contemporary Arts 5: "Cybernetic Serendipidity", ed. Jasia Reichardt, London: Institute of Contemporary Arts, Aug 1968, 38 pp. With texts by Martin Gardner, Pierre Barbaud, and Charles Csuri.

• The Magazine of the Institute of Contemporary Arts 6: "Cybernetic Serendipidity", ed. Jasia Reichardt, London: Institute of Contemporary Arts, Sep 1968, 38 pp. With texts by Daphne Oram, Max Bense, Petar Milojevic, and Nam June Paik. [2]

• Impulse Computerkunst: Graphik, Plastik, Musik, Film, ed. Herbert W. Franke, Munich: Kunstverein München, 1970, 62 pp. Exh. held at Karl-Ernst-Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Feb 1970; Kunstverein München, Munich, 8 May-7 Jun 1970; Kunsthaus Hamburg, 12 Jun-12 Jul 1970; afterwards at Goethe-Institut internationally (Brussels, Oslo, Madrid, Zürich, Rome, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and elsewhere), 1971-1972. (German)

• Arte y cibernética, ed. Jorge Glusberg, Montevideo: Comision Nacional de Artes Plastica, Jun 1970, [19] pp. Exh. held at Galería Bonino, Buenos Aires, Aug-Sep 1969. [3] (Spanish)

• Tendencije 4 / Tendencies 4: Zagreb, 1968-1969, eds. Boris Kelemen and Radoslav Putar, Zagreb: Galerija suvremene umjetnosti, 1970, [146] pp. Texts and statements by Radoslav Putar, Almir Mavignier, Matko Meštrović, Enzo Mari, Alessandro Carlini, Bernhard Schneider, Alberto Biasi, Gianni Colombo, Milan Dobeš, Herbert W. Franke, Karl Gerstner, Rolf Glasmeier, Rolf Gravenhorst, Hein Gravenhorst, Dieter Hacker, John Gabriel Harries, Gottfried Jäger, Richard Kriesche, Max H. Mahlmann, Marcello Morandini, Zoran Radović, Bernhard Sandfort, Paolo Scheggi, Klaus Staudt, Josef Hermann Stiegler, Jorrit Tornquist, Gabriele de Vecchi, Herman de Vries. (Serbo-Croatian)/(French),(German),(Italian),(English)

• Interactive Sound and Visual Systems, ed. Charles A. Csuri, College of the Arts, Ohio State University, 1970, 31 pp.

• Software: Information Technology: Its New Meaning for Art, New York: Jewish Museum, 1970, 71 pp.

• Computer Art, ed. Laxmi P. Sihare, New Delhi: National Gallery of Modern Art, 1972, 57 pp.

• International Computer Arts Festival, New York: Kitchen, 1973, [7] pp. Program leaflet. Held 1-14 Apr 1973.

• 2nd International Computer Art Festival, New York: The Kitchen, 1974, [10] pp. Held 1-15 Jun 1974. [4]

• Women and Computer Graphics: An Art for the Future, Salem, VA: Roanoke College Art Gallery, 1983, [1] p. Exh. featured the work of more than twenty female artists working with technology: Marilyn Albers, Eliz Stephens-Koesters, Terry Blum, Eudice Feder, Darcy Gerbarg, Colette Bangert, Copper Giloth, Deborah Gorchos, Margot Lovejoy, Alyce Kaprow, Eleanor Kent, Vibeke Sorenson, Bonnie MacDonald, Susan Hamilton, Joan Shafran, Barbara Nessim, Sheila Pinkel, Zsuzanna Molnar, Ruth Leavitt, Joan Truckenbrod, Christa Schubert, Joanne Culver, Sonia Sheridan, Barbara Sykes. [5]

• Cynthia Goodman, Digital Visions: Computers and Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams, and Syracuse, NY: Everson Museum of Art, 1987, 192 pp, IA. Review: Karl Young (Am Book Rev). [6]

• Bilder 43: "Computer-Bilder", Vienna: Fotogalerie Wien, Nov 1988, [12] pp. Works by Graf & Zyx (A), Ingoneu (A), Margot Pilz (A), Helmut Rainer (A), Leo Schatzl (A). [7] (German)

• Počítačové umění v ČSSR a ve světě. 3. celostátní výstava s mezinárodní účastí, ed. Lucie Holá, Prague: Dům techniky, 1989, 27 pp. Exh. held 11-16 Apr 1989. Exhibition. [8] [9] [10] (Czech)

• Počítačová grafika vo výtvarnom umení, ed. Zuzana Bartková and Martin Šperka, Banská Bystrica: Štátna galéria, 1992, [32] pp. (Slovak)

• Computer Graphics in Fine Arts / Počítačová grafika vo výtvarnom umení, ed. Martin Šperka, Bratislava: Academy of Fine Arts, 1993, 8 pp. (English)/(Slovak)

• Ex machina - frühe Computergrafik bis 1979: die Sammlungen Franke und weitere Stiftungen in der Kunsthalle Bremen. Herbert W. Franke zum 80. Geburtstag / Ex Machina: Early Computer Graphics Up to 1979, eds. Wulf Herzogenrath, Barbara Nierhoff-Wielk, and Herbert W. Franke, Bremen: Kunsthalle Bremen, 2007, 503 pp, IA. Exh. held at the Kunsthalle Bremen, 17 Jun-26 Aug 2007. TOC. [11] [12] [13] (German)/(English)

• A Little-Known Story About a Movement, a Magazine, and the Computer's Arrival in Art: New Tendencies and Bit International, 1961-1973, eds. Margit Rosen with Peter Weibel, Darko Fritz, and Marija Gattin, Karlsruhe: ZKM Center for Art and Media, and Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011, 576 pp. (English)

• Computational Arts in Canada 1967-1974, ed. Adam Lauder, London, ON: McIntosh Gallery, 2020, 84 pp. TOC, [14]

• Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing, 1960-1991, ed. Michelle Cotton, Luxembourg: Mudam Luxembourg/Musée d'art moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Vienna: Kunsthalle Wien, and Cologne: Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, 2024, 223 pp. With three new essays by Tina Rivers Ryan, Margit Rosen and Michelle Cotton. "The publication accompanies the exhibition surveying the history of digital art from a feminist perspective, focusing on women who worked with computers as a tool or subject and artists that worked in an inherently computational way. It also features a richly illustrated timeline covering the period between 1613 and 1991 and includes twenty-seven new interviews with artists." Publisher, [15]. Exhibitions: MUDAM Luxembourg, 20 September-2 February 2025; Kunsthalle Wien, 28 February-25 May 2025, Artists & works, [16]. Exh. booklet. Symposium (28 February 2025). Exh. reviews: Emily McDermott (ArtReview), Kathrin Heinrich (Frieze), Marilena Borriello (Burlington), Will Jennings (Wallpaper), Artishock, Marika Kupková (Artalk).
  • Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960–1991, Luxembourg: Mudam Luxembourg/Musée d'art moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Vienna: Kunsthalle Wien, and Cologne: Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, 2024, 224 pp. Publisher, [17]. (German)

Resources

• Database of Digital Art, founded by Frieder Nake
• The Recode Project, An active archive of computer art. A community-driven effort to preserve computer art by translating it into a modern programming language (Processing).
• Early beginnings of (digital) computer art, maintained by Christoph Klütsch
• Selected Works from the Computer Art Festivals (1973-1975), compiled by Electronic Arts Intermix, 2022. [18]
• Computer Art Festivals, organised by Dimitri Devyatkin, 1973-1975.
• How Computer-Generated Animations Were Made, Circa 1964 - AT&T Archives
• The V&A's Computer Art Collections.
• An Historical Timeline of Computer Graphics and Animation, compiled by Wayne E. Carlson, 2003.
• selected works, compiled by Dusan Barok
• Conversations with Interactive Artists by Anna Couey and Judy Malloy, Interactive Art Conference, Arts Wire conferencing system, 1995-1997.

Literature

• H.M. Paynter (ed.), A Palimpsest on the Electronic Analog Art, Boston, 1955, 270 pp.

• J.R. Pierce, "Portrait of the Machine as a Young Artist", Playboy 12:6 (1965), pp 124-5 & 150 & 182 & 184.

• Jasia Reichardt, "Computer Art", Studio International 173:889, May 1967, pp 222-223.

• Jasia Reichardt, "Cybernetic Serendipity'—Getting Rid of Preconceptions", Studio International 176:905, London, Nov 1968, pp 176-177.

• Dick Higgins, Computers for the Arts, Somerville, MA: Abyss Publications, 1970, 17 pp.

• Jasia Reichardt, The Computer in Art, London: Studio Vista, 1971, 96 pp; New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1971, 96 pp. Reviews: Hockey (Comp Hum), Thompson (Leonardo).

• Jasia Reichardt (ed.), Cybernetics, Art and Ideas, London: Studio Vista, 1971, 207 pp. Introduction. Review: Thompson (Leonardo).

• Stewart Kranz, Science & Technology in the Arts: A Tour Through the Realm of Science/Art, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1974, 335 pp, IA.

• Ruth Leavitt (ed.), Artist and Computer, Harmony Books, 1976, 121 pp.

• George Stiny, James Gips, Algorithmic Aesthetics: Computer Models for Criticism and Design in the Arts, University of California Press, 1978, 220 pp.

• Herbert W. Franke, "The New Visual Age: The Influence of Computer Graphics on Art and Society", Leonardo 18:2, 1985, pp 105-107. [19]

• Frank Dietrich, "Visual Intelligence: The First Decade of Computer Art (1965-1975)", Leonardo 19:2, MIT Press, Apr 1986, pp 159-169.

• Art Journal 49(3): "Computers and Art: Issues of Content", Autumn 1990.
  • Copper Giloth, Lynn Pocock-Williams, "A Selected Chronology of Computer Art: Exhibitions, Publications, and Technology", Art Journal, pp 283-297.

• Ivo Janoušek, Slovníček pojmů elektronického a multimediálního umění, Prague: Národní technické muzeum, 1994, 18 pp. (Czech)

• Stuart Mealing (ed.), Computers and Art, Exeter: Intellect, 1997, 188 pp, IA; 2nd ed., Intellect, 2002, 159 pp.

• Nick Lambert, A Critical Examination of “Computer Art”: its History and Application, Oxford University, 2003. DPhil thesis.

• Matthias Weiss, "Was ist Computerkunst? Ein Antwortversuch und Beispiele zur Auslegung", MedienKunstNetz, 2004. (German)
  • "What is Computer Art? An Attempt Towards an Answer and Examples of Interpretation", MediaArtNet, 2004.

• Paul A. Fishwick (ed.), Aesthetic Computing, MIT Press, 2006, 457 pp.

• Arie Altena, Lucas van der Velden (eds.), The Anthology of Computer Art. Sonic Acts XI, Amsterdam: Sonic Acts, 2006, 94 pp. [20] [21]

• Christoph Klütsch, Computergrafik: Ästhetische Experimente zwischen zwei Kulturen. Die Anfänge der Computerkunst in den 1960er Jahren, Springer, 2007, 288 pp. (German)

• Catherine Mason, A Computer in the Art Room: The Origins of British Computer Arts 1950-80, London: Quiller Press, 2008, 250 pp. Reviews: Nick Lambert (Animation), Rhea Myers (Furtherfield).

• Paul Brown, Charlie Gere, Nicholas Lambert, Catherine Mason (eds.), White Heat Cold Logic: British Computer Art 1960-1980, MIT Press (Leonardo), 2008, 464 pp, IA. Introduction; Publisher.

• Frieder Nake, "The Semiotic Engine: Notes on the History of Algorithmic Images in Europe", Art Journal 68:1, 2009, pp 76-89. [22]

• Edward A. Shanken, Art and Electronic Media, London: Phaidon, 2009. Survey essay. [23]

• Dominic Lopes, A Philosophy of Computer Art, Routledge, 2009, 160 pp.

• Honor Beddard, Douglas Dodds, V&A Pattern: Digital Pioneers, London: V&A Publishing, 2009, 78 pp. Catalogue. [24]

• CAT 2010: Ideas Before Their Time: Connecting the Past and Present in Computer Art, eds. Nick Lambert, Jeremy Gardiner and Francesca Franco, BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT, 2010, 192 pp. Conference proceedings.

• Hannah B. Higgins, Douglas Kahn (eds.), Mainframe Experimentalism: Early Computing and the Foundations of the Digital Arts, University of California Press, 2012, xiv+362 pp.

• Thomas Dreher, Geschichte der Computerkunst, Munich, 2012. (German)
  • History of Computer Art, Munich, 2014.

• Grant D. Taylor, When the Machine Made Art: The Troubled History of Computer Art, Bloomsbury, 2014. Based on 2004 PhD dissertation.

• Carolyn L. Kane, Chromatic Algorithms: Synthetic Color, Computer Art, and Aesthetics After Code, University of Chicago Press, 2014, 343 pp.

• Zabel Patterson, Peripheral Vision: Bell Labs, the S-C 4020, and the Origins of Computer Art, MIT Press, 2015, 152 pp, ARG/pdf, ARG/epub. [25]. Review: Neural.

• A. Michael Noll, "The Howard Wise Gallery Show Computer-Generated Pictures (1965): A 50th-Anniversary Memoir", Leonardo 49:3, Jun 2016, pp 232-239. [26] [27]

• Boris Magrini, Confronting the Machine: An Enquiry into the Subversive Drives of Computer-Generated Art, De Gruyter, 2017.

• Wayne E. Carlson, "Computer Artists", ch. 9 in Carlson, Computer Graphics and Computer Animation: A Retrospective Overview, Ohio State University, 2017.

• Lindsay Caplan, "From Collective Creation to Creating Collectives: Arte programmata and the Open Work, 1962", Grey Room 73, Fall 2018, pp 54-81. [28]

• Arts: "The Machine as Artist (for the 21st Century)", eds. Frederic Fol Leymarie and G. W. Smith, 2018-2019; repr. as The Machine as Art / The Machine as Artist, eds. Frederic Fol Leymarie, Juliette Bessette and G.W. Smith, Basel: MDPI, 2020, 302 pp.

• A. Michael Noll, "The VanDerBeek-Knowlton Movies", Leonardo 52:3, Jun 2019, pp 314-319.

• Margaret A. Boden, Ernest A. Edmonds, From Fingers to Digits: An Artificial Aesthetic, MIT Press, 2019, 392 pp. Publisher.

• Leoš Mátl, 60. léta počítačového umění: technické aspekty a otázka autorství, Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2020, 79 pp. Master's thesis. (Czech)

• Patrick Frank, Sharing Code: Art1, Frederick Hammersley, and the Dawn of Computer Art, forew. Joseph Traugott, Museum of New Mexico Press, 2020, 160 pp. Publisher.

• Lindsay Caplan, Arte Programmata: Freedom, Control and the Computer in 1960s Italy, University of Minnesota Press, 2022, 328 pp. Publisher.

• Catherine Mason (ed.), Creative Simulations: George Mallen and the Early Computer Arts Society, Springer, 2024, xiii+201 pp. Publisher.

• Margit Rosen, "In the beginning, there was the analogue. An alternative history of the beginnings of computer art", Artnodes: Journal of Art, Science and Technology 34: "Materiology and Variantology: Invitation to Dialogue", eds. Siegfried Zielinski and Daniel Irrgang, Barcelona: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Jul 2024, 10 pp.

More

• Publications on computer art at Monoskop Log

Bibliography

• Bibliography compiled by Christoph Kluetsch

Recent exhibitions

• Thinking Machines: Art and Design in the Computer Age, 1959–1989, MoMA, New York, 13 Nov 2017-8 Apr 2018.
• Behind the screens. 50 jaar computerkunst, CODA Apeldoorn, 22 Jan-4 Jun 2023.

See also

• Computer art in CEE, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria.
• Further bibliography.

	Visual art
Movements – 1990s – East Central Europe – Writers – Historians – Care – Museums – References. Art and culture, Contents, Index, About.