Digital computer art: A view from art history into the early beginnings

Abstract

In 1965 Max Bense published the 'Aesthetica'. Referring to David Birkoff's mathematical aesthetics, Claude Shannons Information theory and Norbert Wieners Cybernetics, Bense developed a new aesthetic based on strict science. The goal was to measure the value of art works by determining the ratio between order and chaos respectively, information and redundancy. What was thought to be a sharp weapon against art historian chatter, was picked up by mathematicians George Nees and Frieder Nake as a tool to program a computer so that it could turn out art by itself. In the same year the first exhibition of computer art by George Nees took place in Stuttgart. In the small exhibition catalog "rot 19" Max Bense published the short text "generative aesthetics", considered by some to be the manifesto for computer art. Colleagues such as Abraham A. Moles and scholars like: Rul Gunzenhäuser, Helmar Frank and Siegfried Maser led to the further development of 'Information aesthetics". After major international exhibitions between 1968 and 1973, early computer art was nearly forgotten and is now experiencing a revival. In 2004 a series of exhibitions began on Frieder Nake and Georg Nees in Bremen and Karlsruhe, Germany, as well as SCRATCH CODE in New York.