3:4 rV (computer generated sculpture)

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Johan Severtson

1966

Sculpture

16.5"x20"x20"
Steel

Historical Firsts Highlights Cybernetic Serendipity

Description

3:4 rV (1966) is one of the earliest (perhaps the earliest) sculptures created with the assistance of a computer. For this piece Severtson used a program designed at the computer center at the University of Chicago not to mill his sculpture, but to create the structure of the sculpture, which he then built himself.

Using Severtson’s program, the computer started with a set number of elements then created variations of a sculpture with varying number, type, and arrangement of the elements. The computer specified the shape of the sculpture, the screened graphic on the sculpture, and where to place the notches so that the pieces could be assembled. It then printed out the many variations so that Severtson could choose the version he liked best.

Severtson saw the computer not as the artist, but as an extension of his own memory and creativity. His process for creating this piece showed that not only could the computer remember and create nearly infinite variations of his ideas, but that a computer could conceive of artwork that a human could not. (An effort that is still in practice (and controversial) today with the use of generative and AI art).