Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 3: Analog Era (1950s)
1959
Vera Molnár Develops Her Machine Imaginaire

Meaning the “imaginary computer,” Molnár’s “machine imaginaire” is the now famous concept that she developed to imagine a computer to expand her creative process. The hypothetical machine allowed her to systematically create works that included all the possible combinations of forms she wished. Now based in Paris, It would take nearly another decade, 1968, before Molnár would gain access to an actual computer.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random.
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People
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generative art
Filed under
- Ideas
- combinatorics, generative art
- People
- Vera Molnár
- Works
- la Machine Imaginaire
- Places
- Paris
Related moments
- 1968 · Vera Molnár Begins her Computer Art Phase with the Interruptions Series
- 1968 · Molnár’s Paris: First Computer Encounter: Bull-GE HQ
Echoes across time
- 1982 · L’Art et l’ordinateur in Paris
- 1726 · Jonathan Swift publishes Gulliver’s Travels and includes a description of the Engine.
- 1666 · Gottfried Leibniz Pioneers Computational Thinking
Le Random editorials
- Molnár's Paris, Peter Bauman, February 26, 2024
- machine rêverie, Elisabeth Sweet, February 20, 2024
- Let the Barbarians In, Peter Bauman, June 24, 2026
- Living Aesthetics: A Grammar of Protocol Art and Worldbuilding, Primavera De Filippi & Peter Bauman, August 24, 2026
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 1—Pre-Modern Era with Marius Watz — listen with transcript on Le Random (06 Jul 2023, 46 min). Transcript mentions Vera Molnár. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 2—Modern Era with Kate Vass — listen with transcript on Le Random (20 Jul 2023, 58 min). Transcript mentions Vera Molnár. 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 Vera Molnár. Chapter 3’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify