Art Ex Machina
Print
1972 (made)
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 | |
| Title | Art 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 | Purple and green squares |
| Dimensions |
|
| Production type | Artist's proof |
| Gallery label | Chance and Control: Art in the Age of Computers (2018)
GEORG NEES (1926–2016)
Art from the Machine (Art Ex Machina)
Germany, 1972
Georg Nees was a student of the German philosopher Max Bense and was heavily influenced by his ideas. Nees was inspired by Bense’s theory of information aesthetics, which attempted to establish a scientific model for creating, or understanding, artistic production. He believed that through statistical analysis of images, it was possible to codify the process of creating art and ‘program the beautiful’.
Screenprint, after a computer-generated drawing
Museum no. E.2779-2016(07/07/2018-18/11/2018) |
| 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.2779-2016 |
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| Record created | March 29, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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