Computers and Automation, Vol. 16 No. 8 (August 1967) — Fifth Annual Computer Art Contest

Notes

Berkeley Enterprises, Newtonville MA, August 1967. 60 pp., OCR'd scan from bitsavers.org (Computers_And_Automation/196708.pdf), the source link. Fifth Annual Computer Art Contest: pp. 8–21 (plus editorial 'Computer Art: Turning Point', p. 7). Cover: 'Sine Curve Man, 1967, by Charles Csuri, Artist and James Shaffer, Programmer' - a man's head and shoulders built from horizontal line traces that are progressively displaced by a sine function so the face ripples and smears - labelled 'Computer Art Contest: First Prize'. The Fifth Annual Computer Art Contest fills pp. 8-21, prefaced by Berkeley's editorial 'Computer Art: Turning Point'. He reports 'far more entries from far more people than ever before', notes the McGill Computer Club exhibition in Montreal (12,000 visitors) and predicts that 'Art in the future will be as profoundly influenced by the computer as by any other medium for expression'. First prize goes to Charles Csuri (Professor, School of Art) and James Shaffer (Programmer), Ohio State University, for 'Sine Curve Man, 1967': 'A picture of a man was placed in the memory of an IBM 7094' and replotted from Y' = Y + C * SIN(X) with C increased each image. Seven more Csuri-Shaffer entries follow, among them 'Random War, 1967', a 30 by 100 inch colour battle in which a random-number generator 'decided who is to die and who is to be wounded'. All other work receives honorable mention; entries closed July 2. The field is now international: L. Mezei's 'Girl' and 'Girl Shook Up' (Toronto); Petar Milojevic (McGill); Darel Eschbach's 'Boxes' (IBM 1620, 1627 plotter); Stanley Vanderbeek and Kenneth Knowlton's Expo 67 film 'Man and His World' (Stromberg-Carlson 4020, Bell Telephone Laboratories); Donald K. Robbins's 'Verifying Star' (Sandia, Gerber flatbed plotter); Adage Inc.'s CRT 'Cylinders'; Lloyd Sumner's 'Snowflakes' and 'Friendly Flowers of Space and Time'; Frieder Nake's 'Labyrinth'; D. J. DiLeonardo's reactor plot (Philco 2000); M. S. Mason's 'Infinity', 'drawn by computer plus man'; and Craig Sullivan's 'The Artichoke' (CalComp). A Sixth Annual contest is announced for 1968. First prize: Charles Csuri, Professor in the School of Art, and James Shaffer, Programmer, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio - 'Sine Curve Man, 1967' - IBM 7094 (plotted from X' = X, Y' = Y + C * SIN(X)). Also: Honorable mention (all other computer art in the issue): 'Girl - and Girl Shook Up' by L. Mezei, University of Toronto (p. 9); 'Picture of an Old Woman' by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer (p. 9); 'Seeing Stars' by Petar Milojevic, McGill University (p. 10); 'Boxes' by Darel Eschbach, Jr., The University of Toledo (p. 11); 'Man and His World' by Stanley Vanderbeek and Kenneth Knowlton, Bell Telephone Laboratories (p. 11); 'Chaos to Order' by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer (p. 12); 'Verifying Star' by Donald K. Robbins, Sandia Corporation (p. 12); 'Angels and Devils' by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer (p. 13); 'Faces in Random Light and Shadow' by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer (p. 14); 'Cylinders' by Adage Inc., Boston (p. 15); 'Bird in a Circle' by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer (p. 15); 'Snowflakes' and 'Friendly Flowers of Space and Time' by Lloyd Sumner, University of Virginia (p. 16); 'Labyrinth' by Frieder Nake, Stuttgart (p. 17); 'Random War, 1967' by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer (p. 18); 'Power Oscillation Perspective' by D. J. DiLeonardo, Westinghouse Electric Corp. (p. 18); 'Flies Transformed' by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer (p. 19); 'Infinity' by M. S. Mason, Huntsville, Ala. (p. 20); 'Shattered Glass' by Petar Milojevic, McGill University (p. 20); 'The Artichoke' by Craig Sullivan, California Computer Products Inc. (p. 21). Artists and works as credited: Charles Csuri (Professor, School of Art) and James Shaffer (Programmer) - The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 - 'Sine Curve Man, 1967' (first prize, cover); 'Picture of an Old Woman'; 'Chaos to Order'; 'Angels and Devils'; 'Faces in Random Light and Shadow'; 'Bird in a Circle'; 'Random War, 1967'; 'Flies Transformed' - IBM 7094 (stated for the first two) · L. Mezei - Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada - 'Girl' (programmed as 700 points by Gordon Deecker) and 'Girl Shook Up' (programmed by Michael Wharton) - CalComp 565 plotter offline from an IBM 7094/II · Petar Milojevic - McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - 'Seeing Stars'; 'Shattered Glass' - machine not stated · Darel Eschbach, Jr. - The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606 - 'Boxes' - IBM 1620 with a 1627 plotter, programmed in FORTRAN · Stanley Vanderbeek and Kenneth Knowlton - Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J. 07971 - 'Man and His World' (frames from a 16mm film made for Expo 67) - macro-extended BELFIX language (written in macro FAP), 252-by-184 array of Charactron characters on the Stromberg-Carlson 4020 · Donald K. Robbins - Organization 9424, Sandia Corporation, Albuquerque, N.M. 87115 - 'Verifying Star' - large Gerber flatbed plotter · Adage Inc. - Boston, Mass. 02215 - 'Cylinders' - image from the Ambilog 200 computer memory displayed on a cathode ray tube at 40 frames per second · Lloyd Sumner - Artist in Residence, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. 22903 - 'Snowflakes'; 'Friendly Flowers of Space and Time' - extended ALGOL on a Burroughs B5500, CalComp 565 plotter · Frieder Nake - Herdweg 57, Stuttgart, Germany - 'Labyrinth' - machine not stated · D. J. DiLeonardo - Westinghouse Electric Corp., West Mifflin, Pa. 15122 - 'Power Oscillation Perspective' - FORTRAN program on the Philco 2000, CalComp plotter · M. S. Mason - 4008 Dobbs Drive S.E., Huntsville, Ala. 35802 - 'Infinity' ('drawn by computer plus man'; signed M S Mason © 1966) - machine not stated · Craig Sullivan - California Computer Products Inc., Anaheim, Calif. 92803 - 'The Artichoke' - machine not stated. Rest of the issue: Articles: 'Business Systems Analysis - An Orderly Approach' by John J. Mason (p. 26); 'Digital Plotter Industry Growing Markedly' by Michel Feuche, doubling as the market report (p. 32); 'Computerized Intelligence Network in South Vietnam' by Frederick Taylor (p. 34). Editorial 'Computer Art: Turning Point' by Edmund C. Berkeley (p. 7); world report on Great Britain by Ted Schoeters (p. 36); multi-access forum led by George Sadowsky on the National Data Center controversy (p. 22); c&a problem corner by Walter Penney, C.D.P. (p. 25); Newsletter (p. 39); new contracts and installations (pp. 50-51); Computer Census (p. 52); new patents by Raymond R. Skolnick (p. 56).