[POST-DIGITAL BOOK ? COMPUTER ART ? COLLABORATION BETWEEN IBM AND ARTISTS] Computed Art. Beraeknad konst

Johannesson, Sture and Sten Kallin

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Very rare edition (with the seal still closed) of the results on the project ?Intra Secus?, which the freelance artist Sture Johannesson and the IBM programmer Sten Kallin carried out in close collaboration for four years. It all began when Sture Johannesson approached IBM in Sweden in 1969 to find out more about the technical possibilities that computers offered for art. Johannesson had heard from Max Bense's circle, for example, that computers were beginning to draw pictures. The request landed on Sten Kallin's desk because, according to his reputation among colleagues, he had ?some strange ideas and projects going on? (as Kallin recalled in an interview with art historian Anna Orrghen). Kallin was a lecturer in programming languages, program design, and program development, and a ?systems engineer? He spent many evenings and weekends experimenting with the interaction between computer and plotter out of curiosity. There were still no graphical user interfaces that made it possible to visualize what the computer was doing. The self-taught Johannesson had previously worked with various techniques such as painting, drawing, screen printing and clay. The subject of his pictures was a self-developed ?alphabet? consisting of various symbols (icons), such as keys, hearts, and chess pieces. In the issue presented here, it is a paragraph sign in a decisive position. The template was drawn by a plotter and printed here on an adhesive label that has to be torn or cut open in order to open the leporello and see the colorful computer graphics. The law has to be opened, as it were, and even torn in two. Johannesson and Kallin worked with Intra at IBM in Stockholm, where they used an IBM 1130 computer to process graphic images constructed from mathematical curves. Symbols were not the only subject, however, but rather different graphic, abstract structures. The two also used the mechanical features of the plotter to achieve certain effects. For example, the plotter's pen drew jagged lines because the pen holder vibrated slightly as it moved. This property was in turn used when programming the images to achieve a lively visual impression, for example through moir? effects using repeating mathematical lines and curves. Even if this collaboration between the hippie-like artist on the one hand and the serious programmer on the other did not bring any immediate benefit for IBM, the artistic-technical research was promoted. One of the graphic results was then used by IBM to decorate the boxes of chocolates that employees received as an annual Christmas gift from the company. But the attention was not limited to IBM Sweden. The graphics were also exhibited in Zagreb in 1973 as part of the ?Computer Visual Research? section. The large gathering of the avant-garde of computer art was organized by the group ?New Tendencies?, which also published the journal ?Bit international? (Cf. Anna Orrghen, The Avant-Garde and the Computer Industry ? Art and Technology Collaborations at Datasaab and IBM Sweden from the late 1960s to the 1990s, in: A Cultural History of the Avant-Garde in the Nordic Countries Since 1975, Leiden 2022, pp. 150?167) As of April 2025, OCLC lists only one copy worldwide, in Sweden, and none in North America. Very rare edition (with the seal still closed) of the results on the project ?Intra Secus?, which the freelance artist Sture Johannesson and the IBM programmer Sten Kallin carried out in close collaboration for four years. It all began when Sture Johannesson approached IBM in Sweden in 1969 to find out more about the technical possibilities that computers offered for art. Johannesson had heard from Max Bense's circle, for example, that computers were beginning to draw pictures. The request landed on Sten Kallin's desk because, according to his reputation among colleagues, he had ?some strange ideas and projects going on? (as Kallin recalled in an interview with art historian Anna Orrghen). Kallin was a lecturer in programming la. Seller Inventory # 54943

Bibliographic Details

Title: [POST-DIGITAL BOOK ? COMPUTER ART ? ...
Binding: Soft cover