Monique Nahas

Monique Nahas is a French artist and physicist known for her pioneering work in computer and algorithmic art. Born in 1940, she studied at École Polytechnique de l'Université d'Orsay and obtained a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris. In 1970, she met artist Hervé Huitric at the Centre universitaire de Vincennes, a meeting that marked the start of a long-standing collaboration and partnership. Nahas joined Hervé Huitric in the Groupe Art et Informatique de Vincennes, one of the first collectives that played a pivotal role in France’s early computer art scene, fostering an environment of theoretical and technical experimentation.

Nahas’s work is rooted in early algorithmic aesthetics and shaped by a fascination with how computational logic could generate visual form. She and Huitric used programming languages such as ALGOL and FORTRAN to produce compositions based on calculated color gradations and mathematical continuity. These works, often printed using early plotters and enhanced by hand-applied pigment, merged machine precision with a human sensitivity to color and perception. Drawing on pointillism and their own experiments with algorithmic formulas, their work explores how computation can shape visual composition. Most artworks are jointly signed and titled “untitled” or algorithmically named, reflecting their conceptual stance that the process was primary. Nahas extended her exploration into animation and interactive media, co-creating some of the earliest computer-generated films such as 9600 Bauds from 1983, which combined 3D graphics with narrative intertitles reminiscent of silent cinema. Her pioneering work also included interactive projects like La speakerine de synthèse from 1989 and the innovative interactive opera Comme ça vous chante from 2002, showcasing her commitment to expanding digital art into performance and audience participation.

Nahas exhibited her work in landmark exhibitions such as New Tendencies in Zagreb in 1973 and the 1976 Paris exhibition Ordinateur et création artistique. She was also featured in Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960–1991, an important exhibition that spotlighted women’s foundational roles in the development of digital and computational art, placing her among the leading figures in European computer art. Her work is held in prominent museum collections including the Buffalo AKG Art Museum and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.