ElegantMedia

PreComputationalGenerativeSystemsInArt

• Underweysung der Messung, mit dem Zirckel und Richtscheyt, in Linien,
  Ebenen unnd gantzen corporen
  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Underweysung_der_Messung
  http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Underweysung_der_Messung,_mit_dem_Zirckel_und_Richtscheyt,_in_Linien,_Ebenen_unnd_gantzen_corporen

• the "plan for a concept art book", and La Monte Young's
  "composition 1961", and Tristan Tzara's instructions for writing Dada
  poems…

• Another 1961 piece: Brecht's "Two Vehicle Events" (start and stop).
  Roman Verostko's notes on algorithmic art and some
  non-computational "algorists" here:
  http://www.verostko.com/algorithm.html
  http://www.verostko.com/algorist.html

• Albrecht Dürer did some quite insane geometry tutorials in 1525.

• There were many musical games/toys. Mozart did one; you rolled dice.
  Here's another example in the British Museum, pretty:
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/85009674@N00/3037607129/

• And the Aolian harp, beloved of all Romantic poets.

• Do Ouija boards count?

• Look for "Mechanical Turks", too. Does being racist/fraudulent/containing a
  small person disqualify?

• Is 3-point perspective generative? Lots of rules...

• richard paul lohse and max bill

• Duchamp springs to mind ofc
  http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=79600
  http://www.toutfait.com/issues/issue_1/News/stoppages.html

• steve reich might be useful too
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum_Music

• in music:
  guido d'arezzo: guidos method (11th century), a method to generate a

melody from a text
athanasius kircher: arca musirithmica (1660)
dietrich nikolaus winkel: componium (1821)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Componium
or some musical card games:
kaleidacousticon system (1822)
quadrille melodist (1865)

• in literature:
  Georg Philipp Harsdörffer: "Fünffacher Denckring der Teutschen Sprache"
  (1651) a permutative scheme for generating poetry
  the methods of the Oulipo. harry matthews "oulipo compendium" is quite a
  good resource for that.
  for example: george perec: la vie mode d'emploi
  or: Raymond Queneau – Un conte à votre façon

• Philip Galanter has written about pre-computer generative art strategies:
  http://www.philipgalanter.com/academia/index.html
  Also you might also find something useful in Holtzman's book "Digital Mantras".

• "Logical Conclusions: 40 Years of Rule Based Art", it's an excellent catalogue of pre-computational and non-computational strategies. There are some copies for sale on AbeBooks.
  if you include random to generative there are a lot of works from the dadaists: hans (jean) arp, marcel duchamp, man ray (Le retour à la raison), etc.
  here you find a list of artists who used mathematic to create art works:
  http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konkrete_Kunst
  pre twelve-tone music composer
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Matthias_Hauer