Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 5: Artist-Programmer Era (1970s)

1971

Kenneth Martin, Chance and Order V, 1971-2

Artwork · Europe

Kenneth Martin's screenprint Chance and Order V (1971–2): bands of blue, red, orange and violet lines drawn between randomly numbered points on a grid, signed by the artist in pencil.
Kenneth Martin's screenprint Chance and Order V (1971–2): bands of blue, red, orange and violet lines drawn between randomly numbered points on a grid, signed by the artist in pencil. Kenneth Martin, Chance and Order V, 1971–2. Tate, London (P04589). © The estate of Kenneth Martin.

Martin stands as an important figure in the material (non-digital) generative art movement, according to Philip Galanter. Beginning in 1949, he incorporated rules and chance into his material practice. His Chance and Order series began in 1971 and many pieces are held at the Tate. The abstract geometric compositions are determined by chance and rules.

Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.

Sources

People

Kenneth Martin, Philip Galanter

Movements

generative art, Material Generative Art

Filed under

Ideas
chance, Chance Art, generative art, Geometric Abstraction, Material Generative Art, rules
People
Kenneth Martin, Philip Galanter
Works
Chance and Order V
Organisations
Tate

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