Rotmo 1

Tomislav Mikulić began making computer graphics in 1971, as an 18-year-old studying electrical engineering at the University of Zagreb. Two years later, he was one of the youngest artists to exhibit in “Tendencies 5,” the final New Tendencies exhibition in Zagreb that brought together international artists, scientists, and engineers exploring constructive research, computer-based visual research, and conceptual art.

Mikulić programmed his own software on an IBM 1130 computer and produced drawings using an IBM 1627 plotter. The machine worked with ballpoint or ink pens on 12-inch paper rolls, following instructions written in Fortran that defined every coordinate, curve, and line numerically. He later expanded these programs to include looping and rotational transformations, enabling the plotter to produce complex variations generated entirely through code rather than repetition.

Rotmo 1 and Rotmo 2 extend Mikulić’s programmed studies of rotation, their woven lines charting incremental angular shifts across the surface. Each bears an embossed stamp with the artist’s name. Roto Morph 360 continues this inquiry, its continuous loop rendered through tightly plotted lines. Rota 45 features overlapping elliptical lines circling an empty core. The work translates programmed rotation into drawing, using precision and mechanical rhythm to reveal the subtle expressivity of the plotter’s movement.

From spending nights in the lab listening to the plotter and watching his programs unfold, Mikulić learned from the machine itself. As we look at his drawings, we observe lines that register motion and rhythm, tracing coded instructions as they translate the dialogue between artist and machine.