The History of Computer Art: Part One (1950-1969)

A History of Computer Art

A walk through the history of computer art, 1950-today

Computer art is finally getting its due. After decades of derision (starting with outright aversion in the 1960s, to a sort of general ignoring in the 70s, 80s, and 90s) computer art and digital art have become mainstream. Many, if not most, contemporary artists use computers as part of their daily workflow. Computer art tools and software are affordable and ubiquitous. Works sell for millions—the fact that the work was created with the help of a computer is unimportant.

But the world of computer art wasn’t always this way. In the early years, being a computer artist was not just difficult (getting access to a computer, let alone learning to program one, was nearly impossible)—but scorned. That’s not art—it was created by machines, not people. It’s cold. It’s ugly. It’s institutional. It’s everything art is supposed to not be. 

Computer artists who persisted in their work through the 60s, 70s, and even 80s, were singular people, operating alone outside of the art world, pursuing a passion that resulted in no rewards, no recognition, and little income. 

So let's take a journey through the history of those artists and their art. We’ll look at where and how it started. We’ll look at the key artists and their challenges. We’ll see some of the masterpieces. And we’ll ask questions: Is art made with a machine truly art? Can a programmer be an artist? What about works made with AI? Or NFTs? Are they art?

We’ll look at all of these, and more.

Part One: The 1950s & 1960s

We begin our history in the 1950s with a little controversy: electronic art made using oscilloscopes. 

An oscilloscope is an electronic instrument that measures and displays voltage over time. By adding custom circuits to the oscilloscope, artists in the 1950s were able to manipulate the signals into artistic patterns, such as Lissajous figures.

Some collectors and artists say these oscilloscopes with custom circuits are computers, and hence these images made with oscilloscopes are the earliest examples of computer art. 

Some collectors and artists say that oscilloscopes are definitely not computers … and so these images, while important to the history of computer art, are not computer art. It’s an ongoing debate. 

Either way, these oscilloscope works are regarded by collectors and curators as the very first steps of computer art.

Several artists created oscilloscope art around this same time, including Mary Ellen Bute with her Abstronic prints (c. 1951) and Abstronic film (1952), Ben Laposky’s Oscillons/Oscillograms (c. 1952-1953), and Herbert Franke’s Oszillogrammes (c. 1955).

First work of visual computer art

The first known work of visual art created indisputably with the help of a computer was made just a few years later in 1956. The artist was an anonymous IBM programmer who drew a pin-up from an Esquire centerfold on a SAGE: Semi-Automatic Ground Environment air-defense console at Ft. Lee Air Force Station in Virginia.

Although this is the first known work of visual computer art, it was never printed or made publicly available—so it’s regarded as important, but somewhat of a novelty.

Analog Computers

A few years later, in the early 1960s, artists such as Desmond Paul Henry began to use analog computers (machines where physical quantities such as pressure and gears are used to solve problems) to create the first publicly presented works of computer art. 

In Henry’s case, he used repurposed WWII bombsight analog computers to create his famous drawing machines. The computers were originally designed to calculate the exact moment to release a bomb, using aircraft speed and altitude, wind speed and direction, the ballistics trajectory of the specific bomb, and the angle of the aircraft's line as inputs.

Henry modified these computers to draw with a pen, combined their inherent environmental randomness (wind speed, etc) with manual manipulations (lifting the pen, moving the paper), and created a series of complex, beautiful drawings he called "Ideographs."

First works by a digital computer

Around the same time, the first series of works from digital computers was created using the first generation of mainframes.

For most artists, gaining access to a mainframe was difficult. Mainframes were only owned by organizations that could afford to buy, maintain, and house them: governments, universities, and large corporations. And these rare computers were in high demand by scientists. 

To gain access, artists first had to find a way into those organizations and then get permission to use the computers. And even then, after gaining access, they often had to work “off hours” overnight, when no one was awake and the computers were available.

To create art using a mainframe, artists fed stacks of punch cards with instructions (often written in FORTRAN) to the room-sized computers. They then waited for hours (often overnight) to see what the result would be. If there was a mistake in the code, they had to start over. There were no modern monitors or graphic displays that showed the artist’s work in real-time. Artists had to wait for the work to be printed out to see what they had created—which takes us to the next challenge.

Creating hardcopies

Once artists had written and perfected their program, the next challenge was how to print out, or create “hard copies,” of their artwork. Options were limited. 

Impact Printer

Artists could use an impact printer (or line printer) that printed black and white symbols, letters, and numbers (in what would soon be known as ASCII)—such as #, $, @, ^, ., and -.

These symbols could be printed, or even overprinted (printing over the same area multiple times), to create texture and variations in tone.

For example, the work Peace through Understanding (1964/1965). 

Plotters

The other option for artists were plotters: computer-controlled output devices that translated digital data into physical, continuous-line graphics. 

But plotters were designed for engineers, not for artists, and their capabilities (though advanced for the time) were minimal. There were three main types of plotters—and which one the artist had access to dictated what they could create.  

Flatbed Plotters 
Flatbed plotters (such as the Benson 1284) resemble a giant robot hovering over and drawing on a piece of paper. With flatbed plotters, the paper lay flat and stationary on a surface while a pen connected to the plotter arm moved along both the X and Y axes. Flatbed plotters were used by nearly all European computer artists.

Flatbed plotters were able to use a variety of papers, change pen color often, and draw over the same work multiple times, creating layering effects. 

Drum Plotters

Drum plotters (such as the CalComp 565) are similar to the dot matrix printers from the 80s. With a drum plotter, the plotter arm moves back and forth along an X axis while the paper is moved along the Y axis using a drum and sprockets.

Drum plotters used thin, delicate paper (that yellowed quickly). They could not create smooth curves; instead, curves consisted of many very short line segments.

Microfilm Plotters

A microfilm plotter (such as the Stromberg-Carlson SC-4020 used at Bell Labs) looked somewhat like a TV from the 90s. With a microfilm plotter, the computer controlled an electron beam that drew patterns on a cathode ray tube (CRT) while a camera recorded the drawing to 35mm microfilm. Artists could then make prints from the microfilm.

Drawings made with a microfilm plotter are distinctive. They have true curves, have only one color (black), and are small. For larger drawings, artists had to combine several of the microfilms. Artists could also control the darkness/tone of the works by increasing or decreasing the exposure of the electronic beam.

Unfortunately, in all of these cases, relatively few plotter drawings still exist. Drum plotters especially used cheap paper that yellowed quickly and wasn’t meant to last. And many of the works were discarded as experiments, or lost to time. The ones that remain are highly collectable.

The first artists

So who were the first computer artists? They were scientists and artists. They were scientists who became artists. And they were artists who became scientists.

The first computer artists lived, for the most part, either in Europe (such as Georg Nees and Frieder Nake) or in the US (such as Ken Knowlton and Charles Csuri). Some of these first creators were already established artists who were exploring the new technology of computers, though most were the opposite: established scientists who were exploring art.

European Artists

In Europe, computer artists had access to mainframes at universities. This includes artists such as Georg Nees, Frieder Nake, Manfred Mohr, and late in the 60s, Vera Molnár.

Much of the European computer art from this period might be best described as rational. The drawings consist mostly of lines, rectangles, and squares. Part of this aesthetic was limitations of the medium—plotters were really good at drawing straight lines. But part of it also (especially in Europe) was the influence of the philosopher Max Bense.

Max Bense

Max Bense (1910-1990) believed that beauty was a science. That beauty could be explained, analyzed, documented, and importantly, recreated with the right formulas. He believed that a set of rules could be written that if executed correctly, would result in artwork that was aesthetically and intellectually appealing. 

Bense believed an artwork should be a certain percentage order, and a certain percentage disorder. He believed algorithms were the best way to create works. And he believed artists should Think the image, don't make it.

Bense’s Information Aesthetics philosophy from the 1940s and 1950s was in part a strong reaction to the recently defeated Hitler and the Nazi party. Hitler's exceptional ability to use “emotional manipulation that Nazi propaganda had weaponised” led Bense to say that “rationality is humanity’s first defense against fascism.”

Computers came along at just the right time for Bense. They were the perfect way to test and implement his theories. 

Nr. 6

As an example of European computer art in the 1960s, let's look at Nr. 6 (1965), a rare and early plotter drawing from Frieder Nake. Nake was a computer scientist at the University of Stuttgart and a student of Bense.

This work has all the hallmarks of the early computer art that came out of Europe.

• It follows Bense’s philosophy with its formulaic/algorithmic approach to art and balance of order and disorder.
• It is restricted by the medium of plotters.
• And it has one more important attribute: it incorporates randomness—or generative art. 

Generative Art

In generative computer art, the program creating the artwork injects unpredictability or chance into the work, generating a unique final product. For example, in a generative computer work the code might select a random color palette from a set of choices, might determine the radius of a circle using a random number, or might even pick the number of iterations to run (affecting the density of the work) based on the exact time of day that the program is run.

This results in works where the final output isn’t known until the work is created, and where part of the aesthetics of the work is the tension between the order of the mathematical structure (like a grid) and the chaos of randomness.

Generative art has been around for thousands of years, but with its natural fit with computers it has become a staple of computer art that is still broadly used today. 

While the early European computer artists (especially the Germans) tend to get more recognition in the histories because they focused more on the art, most Americans were scientists first. And most of them worked at Bell Labs. 

American Artists

In the US, artists were less influenced by Bense and often more driven by exploring technical possibilities. At Bell Labs, for example, scientists (and artists) were not only making art, but creating the very technology behind the art, challenging themselves to create animated digital films, digitize photos, and discover how sound and voices could be created by computers.

Bell Labs

In the 1960s, Bell Labs was the place to be for scientists. Not only was it the epicenter of computer experimentation and invention in the US, but the culture encouraged scientists to explore their passions and interests, even if those interests had nothing to do with telephones. 

For several of the scientists, these interests included using computers to make art. Pioneer computer artists such as A. Michael Noll, Ken Knowlton, and Leon Harmon were all scientists at Bell Labs.

Bell Labs also encouraged scientists to partner with artists. These tech/art partnerships resulted in much of the lasting artwork from the period—artists wanted access to the new capabilities of the medium but weren’t technical enough to execute their ideas. 

For example, Ken Knowlton is known for his many partnerships with artists over the years, including Lillian Schwartz and Stan VanDerBeek. The excerpt below is from the film Poem Field #7 created by Knowlton and VanDerBeek in 1967. The film features a line from an anti-war poem, “There is no way to peace, peace is the way” and uses John Cage’s 1943 composition Amores as the soundtrack.

These (and other) partnerships bring up the question: when a programmer teams up with an artist, who is the artist? Is it the programmer? Or the designer of the work? Or neither one? Or maybe they are co-artists? 

Traditional art says that only the conceptual designer of the work is the artist. That the programmer is just an (often uncredited) craftsman, as is the case with Warhol’s Factory, Rodin’s assistants sculpting marble, and even modern-day Chihuly’s “Boathouse” where he directs craftsmen that create the actual works. 

But with programmers, who are both creating new, groundbreaking methods with novel programs, and also giving significant input into the design and aesthetics of the piece, the answer isn't as clear. A case can even be made that a computer artist must be both a programmer and artist (as was made by Bell Labs scientist and artist, A. Michael Noll). Any less is just a programmer or a designer. 

Charles Csuri

Not all American computer artists were scientists at Bell Labs, of course. One of the most impactful computer artists of the time, Charles Csuri, worked and taught in the Art Department at Ohio State University. 

Csuri is the father of computer animation and 3D art. His pioneering works include the computer animation Hummingbird (1967), which was the first computer artwork to be acquired by a major museum (MOMA), and his Real Time Art Object, which is the foundation of today's 3D computer effects. 

Csuri was also one of the very first to step outside of the calculated geometry of Bense and create figurative works with computers. His well-known works from the 1960s include his Bearded Man series which explored movement and dimensions in plotted drawings.

Csuri was not just a pioneering generative and 3D artist, but also an accomplished professor, scientist, WWII war hero, and football star.

Another American artist, Lloyd Sumner, was one of the first artists to make computer art a full-time career, selling his works via mail and in-person to fund his around-the-world bicycle trip. He also created the first book of computer art, Computer Art and Human Response (1968).

The rest of the world

There were artists experimenting with computer art in other areas of the world as well.

Zdeněk Sýkora, for example, used one of Czechoslovakia's first computers (the LGP-30) to generate the exact placement and relationship of elements in his Red-Blue Structure.

In Japan, Hiroshi Kawano was unique among the early practitioners as he wasn’t an artist or a scientist, but a philosopher. His works, such as his digital Mondrian series, were created at the University of Tokyo using an OKITAC 5090A mainframe. 

Kawano wrote algorithms that determined the color and placement of elements in the work, which he then printed out using an impact printer and hand-colored to match the computer’s instructions. 

Kawano's works are some of the most sought-after computer artworks...and are nearly impossible to find. 

The Cateogories of Computer Art

Most early computer artists created visual art. But other forms of computer art also saw their beginnings in the 1960s. 

Music

In 1960, Bell Labs released the LP box set Music from Mathematics, spearheaded by Max Mathews, the “father of computer music.” This limited release was the first time the public heard a computer talk, sing, play, and even compose music.  The pivotal release paved the way for much of today’s music.

Early music releases also include Bell Labs' Computer Speech – Hee Saw Dhuh Kaeta (1963). One track on the release features a computer singing "Daisy Bell," a recording that inspired Stanley Kubrick's famous dying computer scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

Film

John Stehura’s Cibernetik 5.3 was one of the (maybe the) earliest films made with a computer. Stehura used computer-generated animation, live-action cinematography, and early forms of artificial intelligence to create his psychedelic and groundbreaking film as a student working in the basement of Santa Monica College and UCLA’s Boelter Hall. 

Stehura created the film over thousands of hours, frame by frame, using punch cards. While most early computer art films are aesthetically of their time, Cibernetik 5.3, with its pulsing electronic beat and complex patterns, stands alone in its artistry and feels as if it could have been created today.

Other early films of the time include works by A. Michael Noll, Ken Knowlton, Béla Julesz, and John Whitney. 

Prose

Poets and writers, too, made their debut with computers in the 1960s. 

One of the first computer-generated texts was Theo Lutz’s Stochastische Texte (published in augenblick 1'4, 1959). In this work, Lutz (also a student of Bense) used a computer to generate sentences by recombining 16 adjectives and 16 nouns from Franz Kafka’s 1926 novel The Castle, as well as 4 conjunctions and 4 pronouns, all put together according to pre-set grammatical patterns.

“EIN SCHLOS IST FREI UND JEDER BAUER IST FERN.” 

(A castle is free and every farmer is distant.)

Alison Knowles’ House of Dust is another example of early computer-generated prose. Knowles (assisted by programmer James Tenney) created a computer program that assembled quatrains according to a predetermined set of rules: 

• First, the phrase “a house of”
• Followed by a random material of manufacture
• Then a location
• Then a light source
• And finally, the inhabitants.

In 1968, Knowles even built a physical house in Chelsea, New York, representing one of the quatrains.

"A house of plastic / in a metropolis / using natural light / inhabited by people from all walks of life"

Sculpture

Although artist Robert Mallary is often given credit for creating the first computer sculpture, the actual first could be Johan Severtson, who as early as 1966 used programs written at the computer center at the University of Chicago to design his sculptures. 

Severtson didn't use the computer to physically create the work, however. Rather, the program told Severtson how the structure of the work should look: how many pieces of material, what angles to combine them, etc. Severtson then constructed the work himself. 

Other artists, such as the already mentioned Robert Mallary and Charles Csuri, also created computer art sculptures, using computers to drive milling machines to actually create the work, not just design it. 

Exhibits

Once these early artists had created their works, they of course looked for ways to exhibit them.

This exhibit was followed shortly by more mainstream exhibits in 1965. In Europe both Georg Nees and Frieder Nake showed works, and in the US A. Michael Noll and Béla Julesz held a show at the famous Howard Wise gallery in New York City (where none of the works sold).

Other larger exhibits followed, such as Cybernetic Serendipity: The Computer and the Arts, perhaps the most famous of the early exhibitions. Cybernetic Serendipity was the first large-scale exhibition of computer art, featuring over 130 artists and visited by tens of thousands of people. It opened at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in August, 1968. 

A portfolio of works was published alongside the exhibition.

Computer art was not appreciated

By the end of the 1960s, computer art had made its entrance. But the art world, in general, was not happy. Computer art (and its artists) were dismissed, seen as not “real art,” and reviews were poor. No one, it seemed, wanted artwork made by these new machines. It was a novelty, at best an experiment. Why?

• Computers were giant machines of war and government. Only large corporations, government agencies, and the occasional university could afford them. During the tumultuous sixties, computers were seen as agents of everything the counterculture rebelled against: war, money, institutions.
• Most (not all, but most) computer artists were scientists first, not artists. They weren’t respected by the art community, weren’t seen as real artists, and didn’t play by the rules of the art scene.
• It was incredibly difficult to gain access to a computer. And even when an artist did, knowing how to use one was even more difficult. Very few artists had the ability to use the new medium. And so very few artists advocated for the new medium.
• The art that was produced was seen as created by a machine, not an artist. Aesthetically it was derided as cold, a poor imitation of real art, derivative, and boring.

Into the 70s

Yet the artists persisted. They continued to create works even if the process was difficult and even if no one wanted the results. Exhibits continued to be held and continued to be panned by critics. Works continued to sit, unsold. 

But as we enter the 70s, we start to see more coordinated efforts to legitimize computer art, such as the Art Ex Machina (1972) portfolio. We see computers become more accessible and more options become available for creating hard copies. We see more pure artists start to use the medium, such as Colette Bangert, Grace Hertlein, David Em, Aldo Giorgini, and the father of AI art, Harold Cohen. And we see computers used as an artistic tool, not just a medium.