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, fact-checked September 2026.
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