Difference between revisions of "Vera Molnár"

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'''Vera Molnár''' (1924, Budapest) is an artist.
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[[Image:Vera_Molnar_1961.webp|thumb|350px|Vera Molnár, 1961.]]
  
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She moved to [[Paris]] in 1947 after completing her studies at the School of Fine Arts in Budapest (1942-47). Started painting at the age of twelve, her first subject matter, nymphs and trees, inspired by an uncle. Soon progressed to more geometrical themes, and in [[1968]] started working with computers. Her work during this period focused on the breakup of repeating units, often expressed as a series of increasingly fractured images. In order to do away with what she calls "mental-cultural ready-mades," she employs different programmatic games and mathematical principles in order to produce series of work guided by a unifying quest for the invisible.  
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'''Vera Molnár''' (5 January 1924, Budapest - 7 December 2023, Paris) was a Hungarian-French visual artist and a pioneer of algorithmic art.
  
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Vera Molnar holds that the computer can serve four purposes. The first concerns its technical promise---it widens the area of the possible with its infinite array of forms and colors, and particularly with the development of virtual space. Secondly, the computer can satisfy the desire for artistic innovations and thus lighten the burden of traditional cultural forms. It can make the accidental or random subversive in order to create an aesthetic shock and to rupture the systematic and the symmetrical. For this purpose a virtual data bank can be assembled. Thirdly, the computer can encourage the mind to work in new ways. Molnar believes that artists often pass far too quickly from the idea to the realization of the work. The computer can create images that can be stored for longer, not only in the data bank but also in the artist's imagination. Finally, Molnar thinks that the computer can help the artist by measuring the physiological reactions of the audience, their eye movements for example, thus bringing the creative process into closer accordance with its products and their effects. [http://web.archive.org/web/20060702154625/http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/isast/articles/popper.html (Source)]
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{{TOC limit|3}}
  
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; Publications
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Fascinated by the tradition of European Constructivism, Vera Molnár contributed to its development by introducing a unique minimalist plastic grammar based on the rules of computer programming. After completing her studies at the School of Fine Arts in Budapest (1942-1947), she moved to [[Paris]]. Together with other artists working in geometric abstraction who'd emigrated to [[Paris]] (such as [[Julio Le Parc]]), Molnár founded the collective [[GRAV|GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel)]], which used artistic means to study optics. Later she was also a member of the Art et Informatique group.
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* "Toward Aesthetic Guidelines for Painting with the Aid of a Computer", ''Leonardo'' 8:3, Summer 1975, pp 185-189. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1573236]
 
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* "My Mother's Letters: Simulation by Computer". ''Leonardo'' 28:3, Jun 1995, pp 167-170. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576070]
 
  
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; Literature
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She began painting at the age of twelve, her first subjects being nymphs and trees, inspired by an uncle. Soon moved on to more geometric subjects, and in 1968 began working with computers. Her work during this period focused on breaking up repeating units, often expressed as a series of increasingly fractured images. In order to eliminate what she called 'mental-cultural ready-mades', she employed various programmatic games and mathematical principles to produce series of works guided by a unifying search for the invisible. Even in her earliest works based on the 'imagined machine', Molnar challenged the position of the artist as the sole creator of art. While other Kinetists questioned the role of the artist by involving the audience in the creative process, Molnar shared her creative responsibilities with machines. The machines initially consisted of sets of algorithms generated in her imagination, before being replaced by actual computer software.
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Vera Molnar held that the computer can serve four purposes.  The first is its technical promise - it expands the realm of the possible with its infinite variety of forms and colours, and especially with the development of virtual space. Secondly, the computer can satisfy the desire for artistic innovation and thus lighten the burden of traditional cultural forms. It can make the accidental or the random subversive in order to create an aesthetic shock and to break the systematic and the symmetrical. A virtual database can be created for this purpose. Thirdly, the computer can encourage the mind to work in new ways. Molnar believed that artists often move too quickly from the idea to the realisation of the work. The computer can create images that can be held longer, not only in the database but also in the artist's imagination. Finally, Molnar thought that the computer could help the artist by measuring the physiological responses of the audience, such as their eye movements, thus bringing the creative process closer to its products and their effects. (based on [http://web.archive.org/web/20060702154625/http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/isast/articles/popper.html source] and [http://transatlantic.artmuseum.pl/en/artist/vera-molnar source])
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== Publications ==
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* [https://sci-hub.st/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1573236 "Toward Aesthetic Guidelines for Painting with the Aid of a Computer"], ''Leonardo'' 8:3, Summer 1975, pp 185-189. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1573236]
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* [https://sci-hub.st/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576070 "''My Mother's Letters'': Simulation by Computer"], ''Leonardo'' 28:3, Jun 1995, pp 167-170. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576070]
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==Catalogues==
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* ''[https://vintage.hu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Molnar.pdf Vera Molnar]'', ed. Barbara Nierhoff, Budapest: Vintage Galeria, 2018. {{hu}}/{{en}}
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== Interviews ==
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* [https://vintage.hu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Molnar-Vera-HUO-interview.pdf "Vera Molnar in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist"], in ''Bookmarks: Revisiting Hungarian Art of the 1960s and 1970s'', eds. Hans Ulrich Obrist and András Szánto, Koenig Books, 2018, pp 76-87.
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* [https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/vera-molnar-interview-computer-art-paris-mayor-gallery "Vera Molnár: ‘I have no regrets. My life is squares, triangles, lines’"], ''Studio International'', Jun 2018, 43 min.  Video.
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* [https://www.rightclicksave.com/article/an-interview-with-vera-molnar "An Interview with Vera Molnar. The pioneering artist speaks to Zsofi Valyi-Nagy about NFTs, generative art, and the machine imaginaire"], ''Right Click Save'', Aug 2022.
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== Literature ==
 
* Frank Popper, [http://web.archive.org/web/20060702154625/http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/isast/articles/popper.html "Visualization, Cultural Mediation and Dual Creativity"], ''Leonardo'' 29:4, Aug 1996.
 
* Frank Popper, [http://web.archive.org/web/20060702154625/http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/isast/articles/popper.html "Visualization, Cultural Mediation and Dual Creativity"], ''Leonardo'' 29:4, Aug 1996.
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* https://frieze.com/article/vera-molnar
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* Adam Jasper [https://frieze.com/article/vera-molnar "Vera Molnar"], ''Frieze'' 170, Apr 2015. Exh. review.
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* Zsofi Valyi-Nagy, [https://www.holo.mg/dossiers/vera-molnar-weaving-variations/ "Vera Molnar: Weaving Variations"], ''Holo'', Apr 2022. Exhibition dossier.
  
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; Links
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== Links ==
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* [http://cead.space/index.php/Detail/people/id:1391 CEAD database]
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* [http://www.veramolnar.com/ Website]
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* [http://dada.compart-bremen.de/item/agent/14 compArt database]
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* [https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/vera-molnar/ Profile on AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions]
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* [http://cead.space/index.php/Detail/people/id:1391 Profile on CEAD database]
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* [http://dada.compart-bremen.de/item/agent/14 Profile on compArt database]
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* [https://dam.org/museum/artists_ui/artists/molnar-vera/ Profile on Digital Art Museum], [https://digitalartmuseum.org/molnar/]
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* [https://beallcenter.uci.edu/exhibitions/vera-molnar-variations Retrospective], Beall Center for Art + Technology, Irvine, CA, 2022. Review: [https://artreview.com/vera-molnar-humanity-the-machine-variations-beall-center-for-art-technology/ Kent] (ArtReview).
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* [https://spalterdigital.com/artists/vera-molnar/ Profile on Spalter Digital]
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* [https://ropac.net/artists/231-vera-molnar/ Profile on Ropac gallery], [https://ropac.net/gallery-documents/73/ Biography]
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* [https://www.mayorgallery.com/artists/190-vera-molnar/ Profile on Mayor Gallery]
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* https://murilopolese.github.io/RTP_SFPC_SUMMER20/research/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r.html
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* https://observablehq.com/@wenrazhao2/assginment-1-the-art-of-the-grid
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* Tributes: [https://www.connaissancedesarts.com/depeches-art/deces/mort-de-lartiste-vera-molnar-figure-majeure-du-minimalisme-et-pionniere-du-codage-informatique-dans-lart-11187817/ Agathe Hakoun, Valérie de Maulmin] (Conaissance des arts), [https://leonardo.info/blog/2023/12/21/remembering-vera-molnar-511924-7122023 Francesca Franco] (Leonardo), [https://artreview.com/vera-molnar-pioneering-media-artist-1924-2023/ ArtReview], [https://artportal.hu/magazin/meghalt-vera-molnar/ Artportal.hu].
 
* [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Molnar Wikipedia-FR]
 
* [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Molnar Wikipedia-FR]
  
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[[Category:Computer art|Molnar, Vera]]
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[[Series:Computer art|Molnar, Vera]]

Latest revision as of 11:56, 18 April 2024

Vera Molnár, 1961.

Vera Molnár (5 January 1924, Budapest - 7 December 2023, Paris) was a Hungarian-French visual artist and a pioneer of algorithmic art.

Fascinated by the tradition of European Constructivism, Vera Molnár contributed to its development by introducing a unique minimalist plastic grammar based on the rules of computer programming. After completing her studies at the School of Fine Arts in Budapest (1942-1947), she moved to Paris. Together with other artists working in geometric abstraction who'd emigrated to Paris (such as Julio Le Parc), Molnár founded the collective GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel), which used artistic means to study optics. Later she was also a member of the Art et Informatique group.

She began painting at the age of twelve, her first subjects being nymphs and trees, inspired by an uncle. Soon moved on to more geometric subjects, and in 1968 began working with computers. Her work during this period focused on breaking up repeating units, often expressed as a series of increasingly fractured images. In order to eliminate what she called 'mental-cultural ready-mades', she employed various programmatic games and mathematical principles to produce series of works guided by a unifying search for the invisible. Even in her earliest works based on the 'imagined machine', Molnar challenged the position of the artist as the sole creator of art. While other Kinetists questioned the role of the artist by involving the audience in the creative process, Molnar shared her creative responsibilities with machines. The machines initially consisted of sets of algorithms generated in her imagination, before being replaced by actual computer software.

Vera Molnar held that the computer can serve four purposes. The first is its technical promise - it expands the realm of the possible with its infinite variety of forms and colours, and especially with the development of virtual space. Secondly, the computer can satisfy the desire for artistic innovation and thus lighten the burden of traditional cultural forms. It can make the accidental or the random subversive in order to create an aesthetic shock and to break the systematic and the symmetrical. A virtual database can be created for this purpose. Thirdly, the computer can encourage the mind to work in new ways. Molnar believed that artists often move too quickly from the idea to the realisation of the work. The computer can create images that can be held longer, not only in the database but also in the artist's imagination. Finally, Molnar thought that the computer could help the artist by measuring the physiological responses of the audience, such as their eye movements, thus bringing the creative process closer to its products and their effects. (based on source and source)

Publications[edit]

Catalogues[edit]

  • Vera Molnar, ed. Barbara Nierhoff, Budapest: Vintage Galeria, 2018. (Hungarian)/(English)

Interviews[edit]

Literature[edit]

Links[edit]

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