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German

1922 —2011

Hans Köhler’s Computer Art IBM Edition series of the early 1970s translated computer-generated designs into color lithographs and screenprints, extending his background in printmaking into digital form. The series was first exhibited at Tendencies 5 in Zagreb and later shown in surveys such as bit international at ZKM and Blossom in Rotterdam, placing Köhler’s work within the New Tendencies movement in computer art.

Full Bio

Hans Köhler was born in Germany in 1922 and first trained as a color lithographer before studying applied graphics at the Höhere grafische Fachschule in Stuttgart. He later studied painting and graphics at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart and assisted Max Bense’s lectures on information aesthetics at the Technische Hochschule. After working as an art director for Kodak he became chief design consultant for IBM Germany, a position that gave him access to early computing resources and directly enabled his series Computer Art IBM Edition A01–A08, produced as color lithographs and screenprints on smooth paper in 1972 and 1973. The works measured 60 by 60 centimeters and reflected how his background in lithography and design could be extended into computer generated form. They were first shown at Tendencies 5 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb in 1973 and have since appeared in exhibitions such as bit international at ZKM Karlsruhe in 2008–09 and Blossom at Garage Rotterdam in 2018–19, where they were recognized as part of the New Tendencies movement that established a new graphic language through algorithmic art. Köhler passed away in 2011.