Stochastic Lines Subjected to Constraints #2

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Rolf Wölk

1972

Silkscreen

Portfolio

Description

The MBB Computer Graphics portfolio, the result of a project initiated by the German aerospace manufacturer Messerschmitt- Bölkow-Blohm, is one of the earliest examples of corporate sponsorship of artistic initiatives involving computer technology.

The idea was conceived by Winfried Fischer, head of press at MBB, in 1971. A group was formed consisting of four engineers, programmers and mathematicians at the company—Rolf Wölk, Frank Böttger, Aron Warszawski and Gerold Weiss—as well as one artist, Sylvie Roubaud. Over two years, the group members worked both together and alone to explore the creative possibilities of algorithms and machines. Roubaud, who lacked the others’ technical knowledge, collaborated closely with Weiss to create images based on her ideas and sketches. The programs were written in Fortran IV, run on an IBM 360 Model 50 mainframe and output on a Kongsberg Kingmatic plotter before being reproduced as screenprints.

The resulting works all fit neatly within the trend for geometric abstraction that dominates early computer art, executed with a high level of technical precision. They were presented on several occasions: in an internal exhibition at MBB in 1972; in a coffee-table book, Computer Graphics (1972), by Johann Willsberger; as part of the cultural program of the 1972 Munich Olympics, and at the 1973 exhibition “Tendencies 5” in Zagreb.