Pioneer Work: Georg Nees
The »Computergrafik Computerplastik« portfolio.
---
virtual exhibit
June 2013 / May 2026
---
Among the earliest virtual exhibitions on this website were the exhibits on pioneers of computer art.
The first exhibition dedicated to a pioneer focused on Georg Nees (1926–2016) and presented a selection of works he created between 1965 and 1970.
These works included the portfolio »Computergrafik—Computerplastik,« which offers a wonderful overview of the artist's early computer graphics.
Computergrafik—Computerplastik
The ten works in the 1970 Computergrafik—Computerplastik portfolio:
No titles are provided for the images in the portfolio, but the German titles can be found in books (1):
Above:
Plastik 1 (Sculpture 1), Plastik 2 (Sculpture 2), Palast des Midas or Generative Computergraphik (Palace of Midas or Generative Computer Graphics), Überlagerte Polygone or Flächenornament (Overlapping Polygons or Surface Ornament), 58 Sextantenkugeln (58 Sextant Spheres)
Below:
Irrwege (Meanders), Tetraeder or Falterschwarm (Tetrahedrons or Swarm of Butterflies), Flur (Hall or Corridor), Kugel in der Kugel (Sphere in a Sphere), Farbige Computergraphik (Color Computer Graphics)
On the Hardware
The offset prints of the two computer sculptures were made after photographs of the sculptures, originally produced with a computerized Sinumerik milling machine.
Nees had started to work on sculptures in 1968 on a Siemens mainframe, programming the information in EXAP-1 to produce a punched card for a Sinumerik milling machine.
The two sculptures, milled from wooden panels, had been finished with paint (black/silver and red) and were publicized in Georg Nees: Generative Computergraphik, 1969.
The offset print of the Color Computer Graphics and the serigraphs of the other graphics were printed after plotter drawings based on programs ranging from 1964 to 1970, and graphics generated on a Siemens mainframe.
Although the Computergrafik—Computerplastik portfolio attributes all works to the Siemens-System 4004, some of the motifs had already been generated before on a Siemens-System 2002, and their machine drawings had been publicized in the 1969 book Generative Computergraphik.
Artist's Profile
Georg Nees (1926-2016)
Born 1926 in Nuremberg, Germany, studied mathematics, physics and philosophy in Erlangen and in Stuttgart, Germany. As a student with Max Bense he had his first computer art exhibition 1965. As research is ongoing, also on a kind of exhibition-ranking (that also depends on definitions), it actually can be ranked as the first exhibition of Digital Art in Germany—and Europe—and probably far beyond.
In 1969 Georg Nees earned his Ph.D. with his artistic and computer scientific research thesis »Generative Computergraphik«.
His »pioneer works« have been on display in major computer art exhibitions, e.g. in:
Cybernetic Serendipity, London, 1968
Tendencies 4, Zagreb, 1969
XXXV. Venice Biennale: Special Exhibition—Art and Technology, 1970
Tendencies 5. Computer Visual Research, Zagreb, 1973
Georg Nees – The Great Temptation. Early generative computer graphics. ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany, 2006
»Ex Machina – Frühe Computergrafik bis 1979« Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany, 2007
»bit international. [Nove] tendencije. Computer und visuelle Forschung Zagreb 1961-1973« Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Austria, 2007
»bit international« ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany, 2008-2009
»Programmierte Kunst. Frühe Computergraphik.« Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany, 2018
»Chance and Control: Art in the Age of Computers« Victoria and Albert Museum, London, GB, 2018
Watch on You Tube: Georg Nees at ZKM (in German) and an interview with Nees and other pioneers.
On Wikipedia: Georg Nees
This is an edited and shortened version of the virtual exhibit first presented in 2013.
The books used to find the titles:
Nees, Georg: Generative Computergraphik. Berlin/Munich: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, 1969.
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (ed.): Grenzgebiete der Bildenden Kunst. Konkrete Poesie, Bild Text Textbilder. Computerkunst. Musikalische Graphik. Stuttgart: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1972.