Gloria Hasnay

The fourth edition of the series Reading Artists’ Books presents publications from the 1960s to today that have critically reflected on computational thinking—that is, ways of thinking shaped by computer-based and algorithmic processes—or that have relied on computer technologies in their making. Already in the 1960s and 1970s, artists and theorists asked whether computers could expand or even replace creativity, how algorithmic tools might alter artistic roles, and who would have access to these emerging technologies. These questions, first raised over half a century ago, resurface today with renewed urgency in the context of current debates on artificial intelligence. Publications such as Alison Knowles’ A House of Dust (1969), stanley brouwn’s 100 this-way-brouwn-problems for computer IBM 360 model 95 (1970), and Manfred Mohr’s Artificiata I (1969) demonstrate how concepts of chance, iteration, and algorithmic logic were translated into the analogue medium of the artist’s book—often coupled with a critical reflection on the promises and limits of digital technologies.

The Reading Artists’ Books series offers a public platform for artistic publishing practices through collective reading and lecture formats. The event takes place within the framework of the Studium Fundamentale at Witten/Herdecke University and also connects to ongoing discussions within the Centre for Advanced Study “Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change” at the University of Münster.

Contributors: Ian Clewe, Shinji Toya, Gloria Hasnay, Jonathan Harth, Hannah Higgins, Margit Rosen, Ursula Frohne, Constanze Fritzsch, Frank Fischer, Jürg Lehni, Antye Guenther, Andreas Bülhoff, Rodrigo Araya Yáñez

Organized by Regine Ehleiter

More info:
www.uni-muenster.de/KFG-Zugang/en/veranstaltungen/2025
www.uni-wh.de/reading-artists-books-problems-for-computer