Aldo Giorgini

Aldo Giorgini was an artist, engineer, and professor at Purdue University whose pioneering work bridged science and art. Born in 1934 in Voghera, Italy, Giorgini spent several years apprenticing with artists specializing in sculpture, painting, and Futurist styles before pursuing engineering, earning his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering. Though his career was rooted in science, he returned to art in the 1970s with renewed passion, developing FIELDS, a software program written in FORTRAN that served as a visual laboratory for creating computer-generated imagery.

Giorgini was among the first artists who wrote his own code and used pen plotters to produce intricate algorithmic drawings, which he further transformed through hand-applied painting, drawing, and screen-printing. His method was both rigorous and expressive, blending mathematical precision with visual intuition. He distinguished between autonomous computer art and a synergistic approach, favoring the latter for its flexibility and creative control. He rejected the use of randomness as a valid form of creativity, emphasizing instead the importance of intentionality and active artistic intervention in digital art.

Giorgini’s work has been featured in notable exhibitions, including the 2013 retrospective “Aldo Giorgini: Art and Code” at Purdue University and the 2023 group show “Pioneers of Digital Art: At the Source of Artistic Mutation” in Paris. His artworks are early examples of computer-assisted creativity. Beyond his art, he taught courses on mathematics and aesthetics, conducted research in hydromechanics, and has a strong interest in bridges and public works. Giorgini passed away in 1994, and his integration of code, graphics, and traditional artistic techniques make him a foundational figure in the history of digital art.