Eye of the Beholder / Eye II

Eye of the Holder (aka Eye II) exemplifies not only how data was used to create images in early computer art, but also the underappreciated role of programmers in computer art.

For the work’s creation, the program for the artwork mapped 16,384 points (on a 128×128 grid) to individual characters from the saying “One picture is worth a thousand words.” Each point was filled by either a letter or a blank space from the sentence, which was repeated over and over.

The tone/brightness of each character was set by giving the point multiple exposures when the screen was photographed. The SC 4020 microfilm plotter flashed each character/point 1–40 times depending on the tone needed: more flashes made darker pixels, fewer flashes made lighter ones.

The result, when viewed close-up, looks like a blurry text created by a typewriter. But from a distance, the picture resolves into a large human eye. The piece becomes a pun on the proverb.

While this early use of data and patterns is enough to qualify the work as important, the piece also has a complicated background that explores the role of programmers in computer art.

For decades, the artist for this piece (as with many pieces) was cataloged as the designer of the piece, Manfred Schroeder. But as years have passed, more programmers have come forward, demanding co-artist bylines as the people who not only wrote the code that made the artwork possible, but as equal partners in the art with input into the design and aesthetics.

Suzanne Hanauer was a programmer at Bell Labs in the 1960s and the uncredited co-creator of this (and many other) works. After six decades she is finally getting due credit.

Computer art often asks: is the programmer the artist? Or is the designer of the work? Are they co-artists?

These questions have been asked before with examples such as Warhol’s Factory, Rodin’s assistants sculpting marble, and even modern day Chihuly’s “Boathouse” where he directs craftsmen that create the actual works. But with programmers, who are both creating new, groundbreaking methods with novel programs, and also giving significant input into the design and aesthetics of the piece, the question looms larger.

This piece won the 1969 International Computer Art Competition.

Deaccessioned from AT&T, which owned Bell Labs in the 60s.