Franke’s book as a basis for the artist selection
Group Exhibition “Computer-Grafik 1984“
April 4th – May 31st, 2025
Vernissage April 3rd, 6 – 8 p,
DAM Projects | Horstweg 35 | 14059 Berlin
In the foreword to the book of the same name by Herbert W. Franke, published in 1984, he explains that it has not yet succeeded in penetrating the art market. At the same time, he also notes that the artists were not orientated towards financial success, as this was not to be expected, but were completely free to develop their own art. This was certainly an advantage and characterizes most of the artists of the first 40 years, making them particularly valuable!
The exhibition uses the book Computer-Grafik Galerie – Bilder nach Programm – Kunst im elektronischen Zeitalter published by DuMont Verlag in 1984 as the basis for the artists of this genre shown. It introduces early computer artists in short contributions as a basis for the artists of this genre shown. The manuscript of Computergrafik-Galerie was based on a series of articles in the journal Angewandte Informatik – applied informatics. From 1979 to 82, Franke presented one pioneer of computer art in each of the twelve issues per year.
The artists of the exhibition:
Horst Bartnig (Germany), Peter Beyls (Belgium), Herbert W. Franke (Austria), G. F. Kammerer-Luka (Germany), Robert Mallary (USA), Manfred Mohr (Germany), Vera Molnar (France) and Roger Vilder (Lebanon).
Franke’s vintage photo series in this exhibition was printed in the book, but was never shown in an exhibition before. The digital works were created on a computer system in the Siemens research labs in 1974. It was used to record a real-time film Rotationen /Projektionen with a film camera. Franke photographed some of the motifs as stills from the monitorfor a photo enlargement. A set of four motifs and a single motif will be on display in the exhibition.