Computers and Automation, Vol. 13 No. 8 (August 1964) — Second Annual Computer Art Contest

Notes

Berkeley Enterprises, Newtonville MA, August 1964. 52 pp., OCR'd scan from bitsavers.org (Computers_And_Automation/196408.pdf), the source link. Annual Computer Art Contest: pp. front cover and 5 (contents–page note); related article 12-15. Cover: A dense sheaf of fine curved lines forming a swept, sail-like shape with a tall peak and a fanned base - trajectories of a ricocheting projectile (range vs. altitude) from the U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen, Maryland, drawn on an Electronic Associates' Dataplotter - labelled 'Computer Art Contest First Prize'. The second contest is the thinnest of the series: there is no contest article. The result is a five-line note atop the contents page: 'The winner of our Annual Computer Art Contest is again the U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen, Maryland, using an Electronic Associates' Dataplotter. The front cover drawing shows trajectories of a ricocheting projectile (range vs. altitude).' The cover, labelled 'Computer Art Contest First Prize', is a sheaf of fine ballistic arcs whose envelope forms a tall sail-like figure. No other entries, honorable mentions, names or entry count appear; the word 'again' retroactively identifies the Aberdeen laboratory as the 1963 winner. The issue's real art content is L. Mezei's 'Artistic Design by Computer' (pp. 12-15), from a paper to the Computing and Data Processing Society of Canada (Ottawa, May 1964). Mezei (Confederation Life, Toronto) asks why so little computer design exists compared with computer music, proposes a Turing-style test mixing computer and hand-made abstracts, surveys G. D. Birkhoff's 'Aesthetic Measure' (order divided by complexity) and describes a project with designer Arnold Rockman on an IBM 705 line printer in FORTRAN, distorting a circle with controlled randomness in a 120-by-120 character field. His Chart 1 of 'Events and References' lists A. P. Rich's loom designs (1958), MIT's Sketchpad, both C&A covers, A. M. Noll's 1963 microfilm experiments at Bell Telephone Laboratories and K. C. Knowlton's movie language: an early bibliography of the field. First prize: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen, Maryland - untitled drawing showing trajectories of a ricocheting projectile (range vs. altitude) - Electronic Associates' Dataplotter. Artists and works as credited: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratories - Aberdeen, Maryland - untitled cover drawing: trajectories of a ricocheting projectile (range vs. altitude) - Electronic Associates' Dataplotter (first prize). Rest of the issue: Articles: 'Artistic Design by Computer' by L. Mezei (p. 12); 'The Composer of Music and the Computer' by Albert Seay (p. 16); 'A Computer Sharing Plan at Work' by Patrick A. McKeown (p. 20); 'The Computer Personnel Revolution' by Dick H. Brandon (p. 22); 'GE Compatibles-600' by Patrick J. McGovern (p. 26). Editorial 'People Who Do Not Work' (p. 7); social-implications forum with R. W. Retterer and U Thant (pp. 8-9); editor's scratchpad 'Who Will Take the "Ultra-Computer Builder" Title?' (p. 11); 'Computerized Commencement' (p. 18); Newsletter (p. 31); Computer Census (p. 46); New Patents by Raymond R. Skolnick (p. 50).