Introduction research

Image : Manfred Mohr

I would like to express my hope that someone will write a book on the art of those somewhat romantic beginnings, and try to make the connection between the art of that moment
(it was the time of Escher, Warhol, Op-Art, Liechtenstein, etc.) and the attempt to tame the machine for aesthetic purposes.
cit: Prof. Dr. Dr. Mihai Nadin, 2007, in a review on a book of Christoph Klütsch

This sentence was the beginning of my study of the early computer art. In the 21st century the history of art has to be rewritten. The traditional art histories very seldomly take into account the artworks that have been created with the computer. Although from the 1960s the computer played an important role in the creation of art. In this study for my Mres Art & Technology I want to focus on some artist-scientists who started to work with the computer in the 1960s. Abstract art has been an important influence for those people. I this paper I study the relationships between the abstract art (as defined in the history of art of the art historian Arneson) and the early computer art.

I do not want to make a typical art historical reflection, but want to find connections between the methodologies of the early computerartists and abstract art throughout the 20th century.