Untitled Computer-Generated Choreogramme (for Otto Beckmann)

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Frieder Nake

1966

Plotter Drawing

Description

This work originated in a cross-disciplinary collaboration between Frieder Nake and Austrian artist Otto Beckmann, who was developing experimental “light ballets” animated through ultraviolet projections. Nake generated algorithmic plotter drawings—randomized spiral paths produced on a Graphomat Z64—which Beckmann then transformed into time-based choreogrammes of moving light. The drawing functions as a score: a record of motion translated from computation into performance. By introducing chance operations into the plotted paths, Nake provided Beckmann with structures that resisted predictability while remaining formally coherent. The resulting exchange expanded computer art beyond static images, demonstrating how algorithmic systems could generate trajectories, rhythms, and temporal experiences across media.