Kurd Alsleben

Kurd Alsleben was born in 1928 in Neumark, Germany. He studied fine art at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe, where he trained as a painter. After completing his studies, he worked in office organization and workplace design, with an emphasis on the structure and communication of modern work environments. He later held teaching positions at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm and at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg, where he was appointed professor in 1970.

In 1960 and 1961, Alsleben produced some of the earliest computer-generated graphics in Germany in collaboration with physicist Cord Passow at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron in Hamburg. Working with analog computers connected to automatic drafting units, they generated plotted wave forms through the adjustment of technical parameters. A small group of these plotter drawings was later reproduced in his 1962 publication Ästhetische Redundanz. The works were shown in early computer art exhibitions including Cybernetic Serendipity at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1968, Computer-Kunst. On the Eve of Tomorrow in Hannover in 1969, and New Tendencies 4 in Zagreb between 1968 and 1969. In 1969, Alsleben received the Gold Medal for Experimental Aesthetics at the International Congress for Methodology of Aesthetics in San Marino. He passed away in 2019 in Germany.