Kennedy in a Rectangle (Negative)

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

Cybernetic Serendipity (portfolio) by Kerry Strand, 1968

Cybernetic Serendipity (portfolio) Multiple Artists1968 Print

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

Return to Square (Motif Editions Poster) Multiple Artists1968 Print

Return to Square (color version) by Computer Technique Group (CTG), 1968

Return to Square (color version) Multiple Artists1968 Print

Miracle Stones by Computer Technique Group (CTG), 1968

Miracle Stones Computer Technique Group (CTG)1968 Print

Computer-Kunst: On the Eve of Tomorrow by Käthe Schröder, 1969

Computer-Kunst: On the Eve of Tomorrow Käthe Schröder1969 Ephemera

Media Transformation through Electronics by Computer Technique Group (CTG), 1968

Media Transformation through Electronics Multiple Artists1968 Print

Graphic Design, Issue No. 33, Spring (March) 1969 by Computer Technique Group (CTG), 1968

Graphic Design, Issue No. 33, Spring (March) 1969 Computer Technique Group (CTG)1968 Ephemera