Driven by Visualization : Sten Kallin’s collaborations with Astrid Sampe, Sture Johannesson and Mats Amundin as explorations of computer technology

• During the late 1960s and early 1970s a newtype of collaboration between artists, scientists,and engineers developed alongside the emergingfield of computer art. This was an erawhen the computers, much larger than today,were rarely screen-based, and were almostimpossible to gain access to unless it wasthrough collaboration. In Sweden, the IBMemployee and computing expert Sten Kallinentered into collaborations with a number ofartists and scientists. In this article, I investigatehis collaborations with the textile designerAstrid Sampe, the artist Sture Johannesson,and the zoologist Mats Amundin. The perspectiveof this article differs from the morehabitual focus on artistic motivations, as Iinstead approach these efforts from the collaboratingcomputer experts’ point of view,rather than the established artist collaborators.I argue that Kallin’s interest in visualizationwas one of the driving forces that made himparticipate in these collaborations. I furthersuggest that their experimental approachestoward computing not only characterized thework of Kallin but was significant to othercomputer art practitioners during this era.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Konstvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Art History (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

art

science and technology

collaborations

visualization

mainframe computers

Sweden

20th century

Sten Kallin

IBM

IBM 1130

Calcomp drumplotter

computer art

Sture Johannesson

Astrid Sampe

Mats Amundin

Konstvetenskap

History of Art

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)