Back in the sixties when computers were about to make their colossal breakthrough in the territory of art, Henry Flynt coined the term concept art for a new art-form based in mathematics. For digital pioneers such as Stan Vanderbeek, John Whitney or Larry Cuba, the computer was "the supreme mathematical instrument", a new media meant to trigger aesthetic intuitions. Tonight we will present what could be considered a pure form of conceptual work (by Henry Flynt's standards). We are screening the digital masterpiece Calculated Movements, a vectorial animation created by Larry Cuba while programming the wireframe structure for the infamous Star Wars' Death Star.

"Land", by Maarten Ploeg
Commodore Amiga file transferred to video.Colour, stereo sound, loop, 1992

In an old edition of Enciclopédia Luso-Brasileira, the entry word computer (then called ordenador) is illustrated with a vector-based drawing of a face. It shows the first computer-generated drawing, depicting the kind face of a samurai. That funny looking picture can be seen as the computer's first attempt at a self-portrait, a clear demonstration of its highly complex level of self-determination.

Maarten Ploeg was a multi-talented genius born in the flat lands of Holland. Trained as a visual artist, he was part of the punk music scene in the late seventies (Soviet Sex, Blue Murder and Astral Bodies), as well as a pioneer in computer art and in the art of TV piracy. He was co-founder of PKP TV, a channel that hacked regular broadcasting and of Park 4DTV (http://www.park.nl/), a still operational art platform.

Oporto apresenta #29: Voyage to the Center of the Phone Lines
Friday, October 4th 2012, 22:30h
Oporto, Salvador Correia de Sá, 42, 2 frente, 1200-399 Lisboa

Oporto apresenta #25: Phaeton
Friday, October 21, 2011, 22:30h
Oporto, Salvador Correia de Sá, 42, 2 frente, 1200-399 Lisboa

"Phaeton" by David Wharry
16mm film, b&w,sound, 7' 25, 1978
With the presence of the author