Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 4: Digital Era (1960s)
1967
Matrix Multiplication Series 31 by Frieder Nake
This colored plotter drawing features four squares with algorithmically assigned colors. An edition of this series is included in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Nake produced the series on a Telefunken TR 4 computer between 1967 and 1968.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
People
Movements
computer art
Filed under
- Ideas
- color, generative art
- Technologies
- algorithms, computer art, plotter, Plotter Art, Telefunken TR 4
- People
- Frieder Nake
- Works
- Matrix Multiplication Series 31, Matrix Multiplications (Matrizenmultiplikation)
- Organisations
- Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A)
Echoes across time
- 1985 · Mark Wilson, Skew J17
- 1985 · Emerging Expressions at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York
- 1983 · Harold Cohen’s Arnolfini Series
Le Random editorials
- Frieder Nake on “Machinic” Miracles, Peter Bauman, July 10, 2024
- 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
- A. Michael Noll on When It All Started, A. Michael Noll, March 25, 2025
Le Random podcast
- 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). Transcript mentions Frieder Nake. Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt I (1960s) with Dr A Michael Noll — listen with transcript on Le Random (07 Sep 2023, 60 min). Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify