Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 4: Digital Era (1960s)
1961
Symbols, Signals, and Noise by John R. Pierce
This book played an important role in the development of cybernetic theory, stating that “art was clearly a communication phenomenon,” according to Grant Taylor. This echoed Abraham Moles, whose Théorie de l’information et perception esthétique (1958, translated 1966) attempted to objectively formalize communication in art. John R. Pierce also collaborated with Max Mathews at Bell Labs on the earliest electronic music, Music from Mathematics.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
- Taylor, Grant D. When the Machine Made Art: The Troubled History of Computer Art, 86. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014.
People
Abraham Moles, Grant Taylor, John R. Pierce, Max Mathews
Movements
computer art, generative art
Filed under
- Ideas
- Electronic Music, generative art, information aesthetics, perception
- Technologies
- computer art, cybernetics, information theory
- People
- Abraham Moles, Grant Taylor, John R. Pierce, Max Mathews
- Works
- Abraham, Music from Mathematics, Symbols, Signals and Noise, Théorie de l'information et perception esthétique
- Exhibitions
- Information
- Organisations
- Bell Labs
Related moments
- 1966 · Information Theory and Esthetic Perception by Abraham Moles
- 1960 · Music from Mathematics, the First Computer Music Issued on Record
- 1958 · Theorie de l’information et perception esthetique (Information Theory and Esthetic Perception) by Abraham A. Moles
Echoes across time
- 1948 · Claude Shannon Develops Information Theory with A Mathematical Theory of Communication
- 2009 · A Philosophy of Computer Art by Dominic Lopes
- 2025 · Frieder Nake Wins 2025 ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art
Le Random editorials
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). Chapter 4’s episode. 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