Kennedy in a Rectangle

Computer Technique Group (CTG) Masao Kohmura Fujio Niwa

1968

43"x31"

The CTG Collection

Description

The program spreads the coordinates of the Kennedy portrait proportionally until they fill a rectangle. As a result, the oval of the head is pulled toward the corners, warping each feature. Each point is drawn as a small crosshatched cell, denser where the photograph is dark. The Cybernetic Serendipity catalog lists this work as idea by Masao Komura, program by Fujio Niwa.

Niwa, then a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at the University of Tokyo, wrote the program between late 1967 and March 1968. In the Oizumi monograph’s survey of the works he recalled that the square seemed to evoke a funeral memorial portrait of the late president — “but that too is a later rationalization. At first, the idea of what sorts of ways there were to deform a portrait took precedence. In the end we distributed it proportionally within the rectangle. Since we could not write ‘memorial portrait’ in the title, we wrote ‘rectangle.’”

Bijutsu Techo, Issue No. 303, Oct 1968 by Computer Technique Group (CTG), 1968

Bijutsu Techo, Issue No. 303, Oct 1968 Computer Technique Group (CTG)1968 Ephemera

Switched on Bach by Computer Technique Group (CTG), 1968

Switched on Bach Computer Technique Group (CTG)1968 Sound

Kennedy in a Rectangle (Negative) by Computer Technique Group (CTG), 1968

Kennedy in a Rectangle (Negative) Multiple Artists1968 Print

Return to Square (Motif Editions Poster) by Masao Kohmura, 1968

Return to Square (Motif Editions Poster) Multiple Artists1968 Print

CTG works list and group history, written by hand by Masao Kohmura by Masao Kohmura, 1968

CTG works list and group history, written by hand by Masao Kohmura Masao Kohmura1968 Ephemera

Cybernetic Serendipity Music by Peter Schmidt, 1968

Cybernetic Serendipity Music Peter Schmidt1968 Sound

Bijutsu Techō (Issue No. 313, May 5, 1969) by Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, 1969

Bijutsu Techō (Issue No. 313, May 5, 1969) Bijutsu Shuppan-sha1969 Book

Running Cola is Africa (Motif Editions Poster) by Masao Kohmura, 1968

Running Cola is Africa (Motif Editions Poster) Multiple Artists1968 Print