Georg Nees: Computer Art and Graphics

Jul 8

Georg Nees (1926 - 2016) is considered one of the founders of computer art and graphics. He was also one of the first people to exhibit his computer graphics, at the studio gallery of the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart in February 1965.

Lithograph in black ink from a computer-generated graphic, 'Schotter', 1968-1970, by Georg Nees. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Nees studied mathematics and physics at the universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Stuttgart. He subsequently worked for Siemens as a software engineer, and was instrumental in their purchasing a 'Zuse Graphomat', a drawing machine operated by computer-generated punched tape. The machine was capable of creating geometric patterns and, although the programming language that Nees used (ALGOL) was designed specifically for scientific computers, Nees used it to create aesthetic images such as this one.

In 1969 he received his doctorate on the subject of Generative Computer Graphics under Max Bense, the German philosopher and writer.

Along with a number of other practitioners working at this time, Nees was interested in the relationship between order and disorder in picture composition. Here he introduced random variables into the computer program, causing the orderly squares to descend into chaos. (source: Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Last year we had the great pleasure to exhibit one of Georg Nees works in our ‘Automat und Mensch - A History of AI and Generative Art’ exhibition.

‘Automat und Mensch’ exhibition on the history of generative art at Kate Vass Galerie, 2019
© Copyright Kate Vass Galerie. All rights reserved

Georg Nees
Variation der ART EX MACHINA Drucke, 1972
Siebdruck, 45 Exemplare, A/P
49 x 62,5 cm
Exhibited at Kate Vass Galerie show ‘Automat und Mensch’ in 2019 and sold to swiss private collection

Kate Vass

Georg Nees: Computer Art and Graphics

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