Random War

In the summer of 1968, Motif Editions published Cybernetic Serendipity: The Computer and the Arts, a print portfolio that presented selected works from the pioneering exhibition of the same name at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts. Conceived to extend the show’s reach, the portfolio offered a curated selection of computer-generated images at a moment when the medium was still new to most audiences.

Each print represented a different approach to early computational image-making. William Fetter’s Human Figure, created at Boeing using an IBM 7094 and a Gerber plotter, visualized pilot ergonomics through studies of movement and proportion. Charles Csuri and James Shaffer’s Random War, developed at Ohio State University, used a random-number generator to construct an imagined battlefield, exploring how data could structure visual composition. Works by Donald K. Robbins and Maughan S. Mason translated mathematical problems into graphic form, while Kerry Strand’s The Snail explored geometric transformation. The portfolio also included two works produced by the Computer Technique Group at the IBM Scientific Data Center in Tokyo (Running Cola is Africa and Return to Square), both generated using Fortran IV on an IBM 7090 and drawn with a Calcomp plotter.

The portfolio was sold for £5, with single prints priced at £1, which placed the work within reach for many. It gave people access to a selection of the experimental practices featured in “Cybernetic Serendipity,” which included algorithmic image-making, sound, and machine processes, drawing on contributions from more than three hundred artists, engineers, and researchers.