Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 5: Artist-Programmer Era (1970s)
1976
Vera Molnár First Solo Exhibition Transformations

Held at the gallery of the Polytechnic of Central London, Molnár’s Transformations is a series of 21 drawings plotted in black ink on white paper on a Benson plotter. Each image depicts a 5x5 grid of closely drawn concentric squares. The first image in the series is perfectly uniform, with crisply drawn concentric squares orderly presented in a perfect grid. Disorder is introduced to each subsequent iteration. Finally, image 21 resembles a scribbled mess with a barely recognizable grid. The entire series is now held in the Tate collection.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random.
Sources
People
Movements
computer art, generative art
Filed under
- Ideas
- generative art, geometry, randomness
- Technologies
- Benson drum plotter, computer art, computer-generated drawings, plotter, Plotter Art
- People
- Vera Molnár
- Works
- Transformations
- Organisations
- Polytechnic of Central London, Tate, Tate Modern
- Places
- England, London
Related moments
Echoes across time
- 2024 · Vera Molnár Survey at Pompidou
- 2023 · Grande Dame Vera Molnár Passes
- 2004 · Twenty-Six Visions of Hildegarde by Roman Verostko
Le Random editorials
- London Digital Art Guide, Le Random & guests, October 13, 2025
- Let the Barbarians In, Peter Bauman, June 24, 2026
- Hans Ulrich Obrist on Exhibitions as Living Organisms, Peter Bauman, September 1, 2025
- Infinite Images, Finite Control, Kevin Buist, July 28, 2025
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. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 5—Artist-Programmer Era (1970s) with Joan Truckenbrod, Hans Dehlinger & Anika Meier — listen with transcript on Le Random (14 Jan 2024, 65 min). Chapter 5’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify