Checking Creativity. Machines, Media and Mathematics in Early Computer, Serial and Conceptual Art

Abstract

Around 1960 digitalisation and computers started to spreadthroughAmerican society and in their wake camea reappraisal of machines: from a productionmethodto a means of innovation. This art historical case study aimsto show that mathematical machines were usedin early computer, serial and conceptual art not only to explore their aesthetic potential and the mediainvolved. Machines in art of the periodalso conjuredthe interplay of the human and machine in creative processes and thus examinedcreativity itself within human-machinenetworks. Comparison of these art formsde-liversa surprising insight: although one can assumefor all three art movements affinity for the idea and thinking, one encountersambivalence and criticism concerning logical machines and their cre-ative potential. Paradoxicallyput, with mathematical machines and critical algorithmic practices,some artists turnedagainst a kind of “machine thinking”.