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“Quadrate” (Squares – 1967/69)

The Quadrate program was first created in 1967 on an IBM 1130 computer using the Fortran programming language. The system, developed and built 1967 by the Technical University of Munich for the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry for use in brain research, was equipped with a plotter, among other things, via an interface. The project manager at the MPI was Prof. Dr. Otto D. Creutzfeldt, while Dr. Georg Färber, then scientific assistant at the Institute of Communications Engineering at the Technical University of Munich and later professor of real-time computer systems there for many decades, was responsible for the information technology of the computer. He enabled Franke to use the system under construction for artistic experiments and also wrote the code in Fortran.

Franke’s basic concept for the squares was simple: they were placed in three planes. The distribution, size and number of squares was determined independently for each level by a pseudo-random generator within a previously defined size grid for each plane. The relatively simple pseudo-random generator used was offered in the 1130 Fortran library. Already during the development of his first digital computer graphics, Franke was fascinated by the possibilities of the creative interplay of mathematically based structures with random generators from the computer. It became a “leitmotif” of his work as a visual artist, which he later also used for his partly interactive and moving programs on PCs. The number of elements in each of the three elements groups was based on the latest findings in information aesthetics. This showed which group is worth the most attention: the one with the fewest large elements. However, the elements of medium size are perceived as the predominant element of the picture. The smallest elements, on the other hand, form the background, so to speak, and are perceived the least.

The three layers of the program were drawn as original plotter graphics – in black and white or, with a very limited choice of colors, one after the other in red-blue-black.

Quadrate x 3: Original Plot from1967 (left), serigraph for Biennale Venice 1970 (in the middle), right a reconstruction vfrom ZKM Karlsruhe in 2021

In 1969, Werkstatt-Edition Kroll approached Franke and wanted to produce a serigraph of different works. For the serigraph of eight sheets, a graphic from the Quadrate program was also to be included – as the only color motif. For this purpose, the original Quadrate program was slightly expanded on a Siemens 4004. A sub-grid randomly filled with squares for each layer was then superimposed over the page in different orientations using an algorithm. Franke also decided to select his own color composition of the three layers for this serigraphy, which was not based on the extremely limited possibilities of the plotter then used, but instead drew on the entire color spectrum of analog printing processes. He opted for a neon color scheme in orange-pink-black. Werkstatt-Edition Kroll even succeeded in placing the serigraph in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1970.

On the rightside here and below are the other seven motifs of the Biennale serigraph: works form the analog computer series from the 1950s (Oscillograms and Dance of Electrons series) as well as two motifs from the second digital series KAES, coded 1969.

In 2021, the ZKM reconstructed the unfortunately lost original code.