Manfred Mohr: Pioneer of Algorithmic Art
Closing Reception
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Simons Center Gallery, Simons Center for Geometry and Physics
Wine and cheese reception, 5:00 – 5:45 pm
Manfred Mohr is considered a pioneer of digital art. After discovering Max Bense’s information aesthetics in the early 1960’s, Mohr’s artistic thinking was radically changed. Within a few years, his art transformed from abstract expressionism to computer generated algorithmic geometry. Encouraged by the computer music composer Pierre Barbaud whom he met in 1967, Mohr programmed his first computer drawings in 1969. Some of this artwork, which was printed at Long Island’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, is currently on view in the Simons Center Gallery.
Speaker’s Bios:
Michael Spalter is Chair of the Board of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and one of the world’s preeminent digital art collectors. Michael and his wife Anne Morgan Spalter created one of the world’s largest private digital art collections and loan works to venues such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In addition, he is a member of the Chairman’s Circle of American Friends of the Louvre, which raises awareness of the Louvre Museum’s collections expertise and makes its exhibitions and permanent collections more accessible. He is also a trustee of Boston Cyberarts, which hosted the first new media festival in the United States. Michael has been a visiting scholar at Brown University, where he cofounded the Entrepreneurship Forum to bring successful entrepreneurs to campus to share their experiences with students and alumni. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Brown University and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
Anne Morgan Spalter, an artist and teacher, is the author of the widely used text The Computer in the Visual Arts (Addison-Wesley 1999). Her art, writing, and teaching all reflect her long-standing goal of integrating art and technology. Anne’s artwork explores the concept of the “modern landscape” through both the subject matter and the processes used to create the work. She draws on her own travels and digital photographic and video database to create both traditional works as well as new media still and moving images. Anne is particularly interested in combining traditional strategies with computational processes possible only with the computer. She exhibits internationally and her work is included in leading contemporary art collections in the US, Europe and the Middle East. Anne graduated from Brown University with degrees in mathematics and visual arts, and received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design.
