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Art Ex Machina

Print
1972 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Georg Nees (1926-2016) is considered one of the founders of computer art and graphics. He was also one of the first people to exhibit his computer graphics, at the studio gallery of the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart in February 1965. Nees studied mathematics and physics at the universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Stuttgart. He subsequently worked for Siemens as a software engineer, and was instrumental in their purchasing a 'Zuse Graphomat', a drawing machine operated by computer-generated punched tape. The machine was capable of creating geometric patterns and, although the programming language that Nees used (ALGOL) was designed specifically for scientific computers, Nees used it to create aesthetic images such as this one.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleArt Ex Machina (series title)
Materials and techniques
printer's ink, paper, screenprint
Brief description
Art Ex Machina portfolio proof, silkscreen print after plotter drawing by Georg Nees, 1972
Physical description
Blue and green squares
Dimensions
  • Length: 50.8cm
  • Width: 38.2cm
Production typeArtist's proof
Production
Artist's proof for Art Ex Machina portfolio, published by Gilles Gheerbrant. According to the publisher, the variant prints "were published at the same time but separately and in a much smaller, more limited edition." - letter to the V&A, 17/11/2010
Summary
Georg Nees (1926-2016) is considered one of the founders of computer art and graphics. He was also one of the first people to exhibit his computer graphics, at the studio gallery of the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart in February 1965. Nees studied mathematics and physics at the universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Stuttgart. He subsequently worked for Siemens as a software engineer, and was instrumental in their purchasing a 'Zuse Graphomat', a drawing machine operated by computer-generated punched tape. The machine was capable of creating geometric patterns and, although the programming language that Nees used (ALGOL) was designed specifically for scientific computers, Nees used it to create aesthetic images such as this one.
Collection
Accession number
E.2778-2016

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Record createdMarch 29, 2016
Record URL
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