Franke: The Program Is the Art

Event

Black plotter lines form an interlocking, branching dragon-curve pattern on white paper. — Herbert W. Franke, DRAKULA series, 1971, programmed by Josef Vordermaier; reproduced as the frontispiece of the 1985 second edition of Computer Graphics—Computer Art. Artwork: Herbert W. Franke; programming: Josef Vordermaier; Siemens System 4004 and CalComp drum plotter, 1971. Reproduction: Springer-Verlag, 1985. Image source.

Grant Taylor in When the Machine Made Art explains the importance of programming in computer art. Taylor describes how Herbert W. Franke believed that, “it was not the ‘individual productions but the programs that are the real results of creative activity.’”

Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random.

Sources

Taylor WWMA 193

People

Grant Taylor, Herbert W. Franke

Movements

computer art

Filed under

Ideas: authorship
Technologies: computer art, programming
People: Grant Taylor, Herbert W. Franke
Works: When the Machine Made Art

Echoes across time

1953 · Grace Murray Hopper Invents General Programming Languages
2014 · Ten Questions Concerning Generative Computer Art by McCormack et al.
1951 · Edmund C. Berkeley Begins Publishing Computers and Automation

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Timeline Ch 5—Artist-Programmer Era (1970s) with Joan Truckenbrod, Hans Dehlinger & Anika Meier — listen with transcript on Le Random (14 Jan 2024, 65 min). Chapter 5’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify