Sylvia Roubaud courtesy of the artist
Sylvia Roubaud
Sylvia Roubaud (b. 1941, Munich, Germany) is a German painter and pioneer of early computer art whose practice bridges abstract painting, printmaking, and algorithmic image-making. Her work explores the relationship between intuitive artistic expression and systematic visual structure, making her one of the few artists to successfully unite geometric abstraction with the emerging language of computer-generated art. Roubaud began her artistic training in the 1960s as a Meisterschülerin of the Italian Informel painter Emilio Vedova (1966–1969), overlapping her enrollment at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, where she studied painting and graphic arts under Günter Fruhtrunk, a leading figure in geometric abstraction. She completed her diploma in painting in 1974 and subsequently operated a gallery for abstract painting in Munich for more than two decades while maintaining an active studio practice. Between 1971 and 1972, Roubaud became the only professional artist in the pioneering MBB Computer Graphics project at the German aerospace company Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), a group initiated by Winfried Fischer, whom she later married. Working in close collaboration with mathematician and programmer Gerold Weiss, she developed visual concepts and hand-drawn sketches that Weiss translated into algorithms using FORTRAN IV on an IBM 360/50 mainframe computer. The resulting images were produced on a Kongsberg Kingmatic plotter, with Roubaud often intervening during the plotting process to influence the final composition. This unique collaboration produced works such as Explosion of Ordered Structures and Connection of Points by Arc Sequences, which stand among the earliest and most sophisticated examples of computer-generated art in Europe. Alongside her work with computers, Roubaud has continued to develop an independent painting practice characterized by layered surfaces, subtle textures, and a dynamic interplay between gesture and order. Working with acrylic, ink, collage, and printmaking techniques, she explores themes of light, movement, energy, and transformation. Music—particularly the compositions of Arnold Schoenberg and Olivier Messiaen—has long informed her creative process, inspiring visual rhythms that balance structure with spontaneity. Roubaud's work has been exhibited internationally since the early 1970s. Her computer graphics were first presented as part of the cultural programme of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and at the landmark Tendencies 5 exhibition in Zagreb (1973), helping establish computer graphics as a significant artistic medium. More recently, her work has been featured in major museum exhibitions including bit international at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Ghosts in the Machine at the New Museum, New York, Ex Machina – Frühe Computergrafik bis 1979 at Kunsthalle Bremen, and Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960–1991 at Mudam Luxembourg. She has received the Honorary Prize of the City of Salzburg for etching (Radierung) and support from the Bavarian State Ministry for Science, Research and Art. Her work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the Bavarian State Library, Deutsche Bank, BMW, the ZKM Collection, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. Roubaud continues to live and work between Munich and Italy.
Artist's website (roubaud.de) ↗
1 physical work
