Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 3: Analog Era (1950s)

1959

Theo Lutz produces Stochastic Texts

Artwork · Europe · Top Moment

Upper section of an aged teleprinter sheet, with blue machine-typed German text, a heading naming the Zuse Z22 and Theo Lutz, and a handwritten Max Bense annotation.
Theo Lutz, Stochastische Texte, 1959. Detail of the original Zuse Z22 teleprinter printout. © Theo Lutz. Photo: © ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. ZKM Collection. Image source.

This key development in the pre-history of computer-generated literature was an early use of a computer to generate text. Lutz’s “stochastic texts” were produced at Stuttgart when Max Bense was there developing Aesthetica. The texts were determined by a syntactical scheme, random generator and frequency criteria on a Z22. Lutz’s usage of stored words provided Bense with ideas for Aesthetica.

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

Sources

People

Max Bense, Theo Lutz

Movements

computer art, generative art, information aesthetics

Filed under

Ideas
Computer Text, generative art, generative literature, language, literature, randomness
Technologies
computer art, computer graphics, Zuse Z22
People
Max Bense, Theo Lutz
Works
Aesthetica, Stochastische Texte
Places
Stuttgart

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