HOME     ABOUT

Pioneer Work: Frieder Nake
Two remarkable works from two drawing machine series.

Heike Werner
Spring 2014 / May 2026

Among the earliest virtual exhibitions on this website were the exhibits on pioneers of Computer Art.
This is a shortened version of the »pioneer« exhibit dedicated to Frieder Nake (1938), featuring two very special works of the artist:

25/2/65 No.14 (Rectangular Random Polygon)

The basic motif of this early machine drawing »25/2/65« (below left) was generated on February 25, 1965 as number 14 from a series of programs.
The artist's intention was to generate a series of similar but still individual motifs from programs such as »25/2/65«. The random number generator integrated into the program made it possible to—theoretically—create a very large number of variations of a particular style or motif with the ER56 (Standard Elektrik Lorenz) mainframe—as unique drawings. In fact, 150 unique drawings were realized with the Zuse-Graphomat 64, as an edition for the collector and art dealer Carl Laszlo from Basel, Switzerland.

below left
Frieder Nake: 25/2/65 No. 14 Achsenparalleler Polygonzug (Rectangular Random Polygon)
machine drawing, 22.5 x 26.5
Edition: 150 unique drawings
Program: 25/2/65 No.14
mainframe: ER56 - Standard Elektrik Lorenz
drawing machine: Zuse-Graphomat 64

above right
Frieder Nake: Hommage à Paul Klee (Variation for Wendelin Niedlich)
plotter drawing: ZUSE Graphomat Z 64, 1966
black ink on white paper, 28 x 20 cm
edition: 100
verso numbered and signed
Program: 1965 (13/9/65 Nr. 2)

Hommage à Paul Klee (13/9/65 Nr. 2)
»Hommage à Paul Klee« is probably Nake s most prominent work. Inspired by Paul Klee s painting »Highway and Byways«, Nake wrote an image program for the mainframe Standard Elektrik Lorenz ER56.

A lesser known motif from the program »Hommage à Paul Klee» is the variation for Wendelin Niedlich (above right), Nake produced 100 machine drawings of this motif with the Z64 as an edition for the book and art dealer in Stuttgart, Germany.
Although all the drawings feature the same motif, each one differs slightly from the others due to individual variations in the machine execution.
The question of the uniqueness of each individual drawing may be debatable.
However, there are good arguments for considering every drawing in the edition as unique.

Artist's Profile
Frieder Nake (born 1938)
In the 1960s Frieder Nake studied mathematics in Stuttgart, Germany, and became part of the experimental circle around Max Bense, who had formed the theoretical fundament for early computer art with his information aesthetics.
Frieder Nake held his first exhibition together with Georg Nees in November 1965 at the Wendelin Niedlich Gallery, Stuttgart. He participated in the groundbreaking computer art exhibitions: Cybernetic Serendipity, London 1968, the Tendencies 4 Colloquium Computers and visual research, Zagreb 1968, and Tendencies 4, Zagreb 1969.
From 2005 to 2024 Frieder Nake was a professor at the Digital Media section of the art college (Hochschule für Künste) in Bremen, Germany. He is an active digital artist and lives in Bremen.

This is an edited and shortened version of the virtual exhibit first presented in 2014.

For Paul Klee's 1929 painting »Highway and Byroads« at Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, see Wikipedia.

   imprint / contact    privacy