Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

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clair

Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

in Share your Work • 1 month ago

I hope there are some folks on here old enough to have been there and done that! But here is a shot of my very earliest algorithmic art work. The computer: a Timex-Sinclair. (Which I still have.)

I put this here because there seemed to be no obvious place for this. I apologize if it is the wrong thing to do.

Replies(10)

Chrisir

Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

thank you so much for sharing!

Great!

Basic and dot matrix printer.... good ol' times.

I even have a book about computer graphics from that time

Greetings, Chrisir

dangries

Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

I love it!

Actually, I think if you were to recreate these on a modern computer, without changing the graphics, people would really love the retrospective aspect of them.

By the way, this reminds me of when I plotted a Mandelbrot set on a Commodore 64 using BASIC, sometime in the late 80s. There were already better computers by then, but I didn't own one. The program took forever to run, and I printed the set out in ASCII characters on a dot matrix printer.

I'd love to see your images a little more up close!

clair

Re: Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

Hi dangries --

I programmed my fractal program in C and at the time it took 3 days to draw one. Next computer 1.5 days, next one, a couple of hours. But by then there was fractal software for sale. I still liked mine the best though! lol

Those were the barnstorming days for sure! If you wanted to do "it" you had to write "it".

clair

Re: Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

Thanks Dan --
my recent art life has taken a very long time to evolve and at times life intervened considerably.

But I am confident that I am in the right place now. I intend to make the most of it as fast as I possibly can.

Looking at your site was a pleasure! Thank you for that.

Clair

PhiLho

Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

Even if it is not directly related to Processing, you share your work about programming, so for me, it is fine here. Just remember to change the topic type to Discussion, since you don't ask questions.

Indeed, I have such memory... And I too have some programming books of this era.
My first computer, a Commodore PET 4016, had only 16 KB memory (hence the name) with a 1 MHz (mega, not giga) CPU, and to my despair, only semi-graphics display, ie. displaying predefined characters only, some of them being geometric. So with some algorithmic mixing chars with their quadrants being black successfully, I could draw graphics with a stunning resolution of 80x50 out of a display of 40x25! Black & white, of course.

Somebody even made animated 3D graphics à la Star War (view from a Tie Fighter) in this mode!

clair

Re: Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

Hi PhiLo --
We were just starved for graphics then.

Even before the TS, I wrote at least one article in DEC Professional (for which I was handsomely paid!) on using a dot matrix printer to make intricate typographical borders (the kind that were used in the '20s and '30s in fine printing) and symbols.

We can honestly say, those were the days. Computing by the seat of your pants and no maps! Of course no maps; it was a new world.

[I checked, but couldn't find a way, now, to change this to Discussion. I will be sure to look before I do another post. Thanks.]

Jeff Tsuk..

Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

Oh this is wonderful! Always great to hear about the process. I had an apple that was programmed to bits when younger, but colour is a little limited on a monochrome screen. I think prints are the way to go really unless it's something really kinetic.

You've probably seen James Whitney and his works..... At the moment they're serving as my inspiration and muse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzniaKxMr2g

really exciting stuff, and very relevant to some of the things I'm seeing on some sketches.

clair

Re: Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

Jeff -- stunning. Thank you. I did not know about this.

I think about people now accustomed to the swirls on, is it Microsoft's Media Player?? and yawning at Lapis. I am so glad I am my age now. Because I can be wholly awed by Lapis not just for what it is, but for when it was.

And, for others who might be curious -- here is a nice article on the Whitneys:

http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/PDF_ExpandedCinema/part4.pdf

The part about the Whitneys starts around p. 29.

AND here's another work by him: Arabesque

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7h0ppnUQhE&NR=1

He drew these things by shining organized light directly onto film. As a photographer who started way before digital, this is really something for me to see. Thanks, again, Jeff.

Jeff Tsuk..

Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

Youth is wasted on the young. I am very appreciative of this nugget now.

I was trawling youtube, looking for this experimental film maker that inspired the light saber trails in that george lucas movie, and the whitney's popped up. Stunning isn't it? It takes a certain combination of money,talent, and access to a sitar player to come up with that one. The 90s and early 2000s for me seemed to be the excision of the human element, or as one might consider --- errors --- from the different forms of mediums of expression. So it was amazing to have come across this, especially since it's not something a person would usually encounter except in a film school. You might also like Stan Brakhage as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8r9t135_xY

clair

Re: Re: Work from my very distant past -- algorithmic art from the mid-1980s

1 month ago

That's a bit late for what we've been watching -- but interesting none the less. I think he might have been fascinated by oil in puddles.

And, here's the earliest of this artist (Mary Ellen Bute) that's available on youtube - her earlier ones have been taken down. The earliest seems to have been 1934 .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRmu-GcClls

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