Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 4: Digital Era (1960s)
1963
compArt ER 56 series and Random Polygon Move Signal Frieder Nake’s Entrance into Computer Art

1963 marks the year that Nake, the computer art pioneer, began making computer art.
His compArt ER56 series refers to the program created to produce his work from 1963 to 1965.
Random Polygon Move, the earliest catalogued example dating from July 1964, is an early plotter drawing similar in style to Noll’s Gaussian Quadratic with lines connecting points determined by a random number generator.
Listen to Peter Bauman’s interview with A. Michael Noll (transcript).
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random.
Sources
People
Movements
computer art, generative art
Filed under
- Ideas
- generative art, randomness
- Technologies
- computer art, plotter, Plotter Art, random number generator
- People
- A. Michael Noll, Frieder Nake
- Works
- compArt ER56 series, Gaussian Quadratic, Random Polygon Move
- Organisations
- Entrance
Related moments
Echoes across time
- 1985 · Emerging Expressions at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York
- 1985 · Mark Wilson, Skew J17
- 2025 · Frieder Nake Wins 2025 ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art
Le Random editorials
- Frieder Nake on “Machinic” Miracles, Peter Bauman, July 10, 2024
- A. Michael Noll on When It All Started, A. Michael Noll, March 25, 2025
- Gottfried Jäger on a New Kind of Being, Anika Meier, March 2, 2026
- Hans Ulrich Obrist on Exhibitions as Living Organisms, Peter Bauman, September 1, 2025
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt I (1960s) with Dr A Michael Noll — listen with transcript on Le Random (07 Sep 2023, 60 min). Featuring A. Michael Noll. Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Interview with Frieder Nake — listen with transcript on Le Random (16 Jul 2024, 41 min). Featuring Frieder Nake. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 3—Analog Era (1950s) with Georg Bak — listen with transcript on Le Random (10 Aug 2023, 65 min). Transcript mentions Frieder Nake. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt II (1960s) with Michael Spalter — listen with transcript on Le Random (21 Sep 2023, 77 min). Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify