It is not possible to document the numerous historical press reviews that have paid tribute to Franke’s extensive work in literature and the visual arts since the 1950s. Here are some historical excerpts from the 19th century and mor recent links – a few of them in English
The most important obituaries for Herbert W. Franke on the occasion of his death on July 16, 2022
Frankfurter Allgemeine: Dietmar Dath: Kenner des gesamten Kosmos
Der Spiegel: “Dinosaurier” der Computerkunst gestorben
Die Zeit ONLINE: Zwischen Computer und Kunst: Herbert W. Franke ist tot
Der Standard Wien: Medienpionier Herbert W. Franke im Alter von 95 Jahren gestorben
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Erbe eines Zukunftsforschers
Art News: Herbert W. Franke, Pioneering Digital Artist, Whose Abstractions Where Made By Algorithms, Dies At 95 (in english)
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Erbe eines Zukunftsforschers
Two very personal tributes from long-standing friends
Blog Jürgen vom Scheidt: Herbert W. Franke: Der GEDANKENverNETZer (1927-2022)
Thomas Franke auf p.machinery: Traurige Gedanken
2.7.2022 | Süddeutsche Zeitung | about Franke’s live work
In Süddeutsche Zeitung, Claudia Köstler writes about Franke as a world wanderer and pioneer of the future, as well as his entry into the world of crypto art and NFTs.
September 2022 | Zhuangshi Chinese Journal of Design | Tsinghua University | for Franke’ 95th birthday (english/chinese)
The design journal of Beijing’s Nobel University Tsinghua published Herbert W. Franke, Visionary: An Eulogy on Occasion of His 95th Birthday – a tribute to Franke’s life’s work, written by the art historian Heike Piehler.
13.6.2022 | The Brooklyn Rail | about Herber W. Franke (english)
The art historian Charlotte Kent interviewt Herbert W. Franke writes in art magazine BrooklynRail about Franke’s über dessen Vorstellungswelt zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft, über die Anfänge der elektronischen Kunst in den fünfziger Jahren und die Entwicklung der Computerkunst in den sechziher Jahren, die Franke rasch zu einer rational begründeten Ästhetik führte.
25.5.2022 | Elephant | about Herbert W. Franke (english)
The online art magazine Elephant reports about “Code Breaker: Meet the Man Who Virtually Invented Computer Art”. The interview did Casey Reas, one of the world wide reknown artists of the Crypto szene, who came to art from the wolrd of science like Herbert W. Franke.
7.5.2022 | Golem | interview
Golem‘s editor Martin Wolf publsiched an interview with Herbert W. Franke in “Die Welt wird anders, aber nicht besser” . Subjects: Relations between science and art, the development of virtual worlds and technological perfection of a surveillance state.
23.4.22 | Telepolis | interview
Under the title “Ich hatte nie die Absicht, die Welt zu verändern. Ich wollte Probleme andeuten”, Herbert W. Franke talks to Dominik Irtenkauf about how the author came to science fiction and the role of this literature in society.
14.4.2022 | Right Click Save | interview (english)
Interview with Herbert W. Franke by Georg Bak talking about future development of computer art up to the Metaverse.
11.4.2022 | artmagazine | about exhibition “Herbert W. Franke: VISIONARY“
The Art Magazine reports about Herbert W. Franke – Visionär: Der fantastische Rationalist about the opening ceremony in Linz.
4.4.2022 | Kurier Österreich | about exhibition “Herbert W. Franke: VISIONARY“R
Den Neugierigen gehört die Welt, says Der Kurier in Vienna reporting about Franke’s latest exhibition.
29.3.2022 | Krone-Zeitung Österreich | about exhibition “Herbert W. Franke: VISIONARY“
A report about the opening ceremony of “HERBERT W. Franke: VISIONÄR” im Francisco Carolinum in Linz unter der Headline Herbert W. Franke: Vom Höhlenforscher zum Visionär
28.3.2022 | Blog elementum.art | about exhibition “Herbert W. Franke: VISIONARY“ (english)
The Blog of the NFT-Plattform elementum reports in Exhibition | “Herbert W. Franke: VISIONARY” about the opening ceremony and the panel discussion in Francisco Carolinum, famous art museum in Linz.
28.3.2022 | Volksblatt Österreich | about exhibition “Herbert W. Franke: VISIONARY“R
Statement from Die Maschinen machen die Kunst: »Franke anticipated many things that are common in everyday life and on the market today. Franke came up with the Metaverse – a common name for the “other”, virtual reality – long before Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg. All images are created by machines, visitors can enjoy their aesthetics. Dive deeper into Franke’s world of thoughts? That would take time, but this exhibition provides a strong incentive for that.«
23.7.2021 | Süddeutsche Zeitung | about Quadrate, reloaded!
In Kunst im Quadrat Kathrin Müller-Lancé writes: »Franke, as this colorfully mixed facility bears witness, is a creative jack of all trades, one could also say: a universal genius.«
6.10.2019 | Süddeutsche Zeitung | about performance Astropoeticon
Der SZ-Kulturtipp für die Aufführung Astropoeticon im Planetarium von Bad Tölz
29.10.2017 | Süddeutsche Zeitung | about performance of the marionette theatre Der Kristallplanet
The Süddeutsche published a review of the performance Der Kristallplanet under the title Auf der Suche nach reiner Intelligenz. It says: “It is a fascinating journey into a dark, alien universe – and at the same time a bold intellectual experiment: Is intelligence tied to us humans, or can it exist on its own, in crystalline form, timelessly, peacefully and meaningfully?”
22.6.2017 | Zhuangshi Chinese Journal of Design | Tsinghua University | for Franke’s 90th birthday (english/chinese)
“On occasion of Herbert W. Franke’s 90th birthday — Even a futurologist loves to look back” – a tribute to Franke’s life’s work appeared in the design journal of Beijing’s Nobel University Tsinghua written by the art historian Heike Piehler.
14.5.2017 | Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | about the SciFi novel Flucht zum Mars
On his ninetieth birthday, Dietmar Dath wrote in his article Die Stimme des Unbekannten, among other things: “The wide-open metaphorical screen of his descriptions of the Martian landscape is reminiscent of the optics of his investigations into the fantastic in the visual arts…; The wanderings through cave systems, echoing with uncertain footsteps, betray the speleologist. Ideas on questions of simulation theory and computer reliability scattered with a light hand throughout the text clearly come from the author of the great treatise on “The P Principle: Natural Laws in Computational Space” (1995), and the laconicism with which states of anxiety and hidden longings intermittently appear in fleeting dream images are encapsulated, is reminiscent of the master of the concise form, who in 1964 in the volume “The Green Comet” put together a good three dozen short stories to form a plausible overall picture of a possible human future.«
25.4.2017 | Abendzeitung München | about the artist and his work
The AZ greets Franke on his upcoming 90th birthday and reports on his “three lives” in Herbert W. Franke – 90 Jahre .
18.3.2017 | Süddeutsche Zeitung | Üabout the artist and his work
The SZ reports on Herbert W. Franke as a writer and computer artist in Wie der “Großmeister der Science Fiction” die Zukunft sieht.
6.5.2016 | Der Standard Wien | about the artist and his work
A supplement was completely illustrated with Franke’s works in the Austrian daily newspaper Standard. His works were discussed in two articles. In Eingebungen durch Eingaben (Inspirations through Input), the focus is on computer graphic works, while the second article, Mit der Schreibmaschine in die Matrix (With the Typewriter into the Matrix), introduces the author of utopian works.
Die Zeit | Zum Buch Sphinx_2
»Herbert W. Franke is the most prominent of the SciFi authors writing in German. A natural scientist by training, he has developed a theory of science fiction that, in its pedagogical seriousness, differs greatly from other, more playful interpretations.«
Börsenblatt | about the SciFi novel Zone Null
»Herbert W. Franke has been the best-known and most respected SF author abroad for years. With his early works, he managed to remove SciFi from the odor of the minority and to raise it to a place within literature that was appropriate for it.«
Darmstädter Echo | about the SciFi novel Auf der Spur des Engels
»One of the most important science fiction authors for decades: With his novels, Herbert W. Franke has always represented a form of SciFi that also asks about the social responsibility of scientific progress.«
23.8.1958 | Münchner Merkur | about the book Kunst und Konstruktion (Art and Construction)
Excerpt from the historic book review: »To say exactly what has actually been achieved with this book would – as you can already see in the title – undoubtedly not be easy, even impossible, for the author himself, but that is precisely what is proof of what is actually new and what makes the book so fascinating … Adventures of appearance one could call all these exquisitely reproduced results of the most complicated photographic processes, these ultraphotos, aerograms, microphotographs, electron micrographs, crystal graphics, oscillograms, etc.; they create an optical fear of the “relativity of our optical world view”, the “law of disorder”, beauty and monumentality, that prevails in the micro-events around us. The author, a great photographic experimenter, is a mathematician and knows how to wield the magic wand of formulas excellently… when he is looking for the “key to the elegance of abstract structures and wants to find “further methods of abstract image design” when he speaks of the possibilities of abstract poetry … Franke’s book is a remarkable confrontation of abstract art with precise mathematical thinking and discoveries of the lens.«
4.6.1960 | Welt am Sonntag | about the SciFi anthology “Der grüne Komet”
Excerpt from an historic book review of Franke’s first SciFi publication: “Very concise, sparkling stories, almost each of which contains more ideas than an entire book by Asimov. Many of them make the reader think because, given the current state of science, they are incredibly bold, but cannot be refuted .”
