P-018/mf6-10 Random Walk

Basic Information

Title: P-018/mf6-10 Random Walk
Artist(s): Manfred Mohr
Date Created: 1969
Framed Dimensions: 14 x 40 in.
Unframed Dimensions: 5 x 5 in.
Medium: serigraph on paper
Inventory ID: Mohr-1969-02

Description

a group of five screen prints after original unique computer-generated high resolution light beam plotter drawings

signed and dated 6/2/2011 on accompanying certificate of authenticity attached to the back of the frame

drawings featured left to right:
P-018/mf6, P-018/mf7, P-018/mf8, P-018/mf9, P-018/mf10

original drawings were programed by the artist in 1969
original drawings were printed by Dr. Peter Kemmey at Brookhaven National Lab, NY in 1969

software: FORTRAN IV
hardware: CDC supercomputer
output machine: Computer Output Microfilm plotter (COM)

artist’s statement attached to the back of the frame:
In the fall of 1969, Dr. Peter Kemmey, a friend of my wife Estarose from Brookhaven National Lab, NY, visited us in Paris and got so excited when he saw the results of my first programs I had just written in FORTRAN IV. He promised, that on his return to New York, he would run my program on their super computer which had a high resolution computer output microfilm plotter (COM) attached. It could instantly draw images with a light beam on light sensitive glossy photo paper (12cm x 12cm) in black on white. He generously ran my program and sent me some 30 fantastic results. For the first time in my life I saw something that had never been experienced in an artistic environment: I could look at multiple results generated from one and the same logic.