Hiroshi Kawano

Hiroshi Kawano was born in 1925 in Fushun, China, to Japanese parents. In 1935, his family relocated to Japan, where he would later study philosophy and aesthetics at the University of Tokyo. He completed both his undergraduate and graduate degrees there, and eventually earned a Ph.D. from Osaka University. Throughout his academic career, Kawano held teaching positions at institutions such as the Tokyo Metropolitan College of Air Technology and the Tohoku University of Art and Design. Though trained as a philosopher, his interest in aesthetics, semiotics, and emerging technologies laid the foundation for his pioneering experiments with computers.

Kawano’s artistic practice was deeply rooted in philosophy, using computers as collaborators in exploring aesthetics through rigorous programming. Starting in 1964 at the University of Tokyo with the OKITAC 5090A mainframe, he developed and coded complex algorithms via punch cards to generate visual and poetic forms that transcended traditional notions of art-making. His “digital Mondrians” stand out as some of his most important works, precise compositions of axis-aligned rectangles and solid colors that reference Piet Mondrian’s iconic style but are distinctly shaped by algorithmic rules. These pieces reveal a delicate balance between strict mathematical order and the inherent unpredictability of computer-generated randomness, emphasizing Kawano’s interest in information aesthetics and cybernetics. Each work was not simply a fixed image but an output shaped by programmed constraints, allowing for variations beyond direct human control. This approach reflects his philosophical inquiry into the nature of beauty, perception, and the evolving relationship between human creativity and machine autonomy, positioning his art at the intersection of aesthetics and artificial intelligence.

He exhibited widely during his career, including groundbreaking shows such as the 1968 Computer Art Contest in Tokyo, Tendencies 4 in Zagreb, and his first solo exhibition in 1970 at the Plaza DIC in Tokyo. His contributions have been recognized internationally, notably with a major retrospective at the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM) in 2011–2012, which showcased his pioneering role in early computer art. Kawano passed away in 2012.