Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 4: Digital Era (1960s)
1967
Untitled (Micro Innovation) by Georg Nees
This work, from Nees’s series exploring the polygon from 1965-1968, investigates the relationship between “order and complexity” and "aesthetic measure.”
These concepts were developed by Abraham Moles and Max Bense in Europe, drawing on George David Birkhoff’s aesthetic measure and on Claude Shannon’s information theory at Bell Labs.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
People
Abraham Moles, Claude Shannon, Georg Nees, George David Birkhoff, Max Bense
Movements
computer art, information aesthetics
Filed under
- Ideas
- complexity, geometry
- Technologies
- Claude, computer art, information theory
- People
- Abraham Moles, Claude Shannon, Georg Nees, George David Birkhoff, Max Bense
- Works
- Abraham, Aesthetic Measure, Untitled (Micro Innovation)
- Organisations
- Bell Labs
- Places
- Europe
Related moments
- 1948 · Claude Shannon Develops Information Theory with A Mathematical Theory of Communication
- 1965 · The Foundational Aesthetica Published by Max Bense is Finished
- 1954 · Max Bense Begins Publishing Aesthetica
- 1958 · Theorie de l’information et perception esthetique (Information Theory and Esthetic Perception) by Abraham A. Moles
- 1933 · George David Birkhoff Proposes the Aesthetic Measure
Echoes across time
- 1948 · Claude Shannon Develops Information Theory with A Mathematical Theory of Communication
- 1933 · George David Birkhoff Proposes the Aesthetic Measure
- 2025 · Frieder Nake Wins 2025 ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art
Le Random editorials
- Gottfried Jäger on a New Kind of Being, Anika Meier, March 2, 2026
- Frieder Nake on “Machinic” Miracles, Peter Bauman, July 10, 2024
- A. Michael Noll on When It All Started, A. Michael Noll, March 25, 2025
- Kate Vass on Rethinking Art Collecting, thefunnyguys, August 9, 2023
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 3—Analog Era (1950s) with Georg Bak — listen with transcript on Le Random (10 Aug 2023, 65 min). Transcript mentions Georg Nees. 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). Transcript mentions Georg Nees. 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). Transcript mentions Georg Nees. Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify