Basic Information
Title: Altamira
Artist(s):
Otto Beckmann
Oskar Beckmann
Date Created: 1971
Unframed Dimensions: 13 x 18.25 in.
Medium: offset phototype print in ink on aluminum printing plate
Inventory ID: Beckmann/Beckmann-1971-03
Description
signature etched into plate lower right
title etched into plate lower left
handwritten notes lower right corner in graphite
artist’s copyright stamp in ink on the reverse of the plate
hardware: A.I. 70 Hybrid Computer
output machine: Tektronix 564B Storage Oscilloscope
Produced at Institute of Low-Frequency Engineering at the Technical University, Vienna
Through the possibilities offered by the oscilloscope for variation, the various modes of expression are simultaneously available in one and the same stochastic process. These variation possibilities include the adjustability of the amplitudes assigned to the states of the process, regulation of the brightness, setting of the time base, and so on. This allows the artist to intervene creatively in the process running. One also gets laminar structures, whereas the corresponding graphic of the Graphomat would have a more linear character.
Compared to the methods for generating computer graphics so far, this results in two main innovations:
1. The use of a noise generator as a source of true randomness.
2. The use of an oscilloscope to make the desired processes visible.
Using reprographic processes, the screenshot of the image on the monitor was transferred to aluminum panels; for works in color ColorKey film was used