2. Kurd Alsleben (b.1928)
11 min
Kurd Alsleben learned painting at Karlsruhe art academy. Later he studied in many European museums and developed his interests in other genres of art including pottery. As an artist, he didn't have the cybernetical intention to "objectify human abilities." He didn't look at the computer as his tool kit, either. However, when he learned the news of a "thinking machine," he immediately thought of making art with a computer.
In December 1960, thanks to his friend the physicist Cord Passow, they had the chance to access EAI 231R at DESY(7) in Hamburg and produced some cyclic curve drawing works on a table-top X-Y recorder Variplotter. Alsleben observed the movement of the pen reacting to Passow's manipulation of the potentiometer. This experience gave him the inspiration for his 'conversational art.' He describes "while I saw the plotter drawing I felt the technical creature could answer and it answered. It did not send signals but messages. I asked myself, what will the technical creature tell me? At that moment I, the artist, took on the recipient role. The artistic process of 'artist-work-public' was broken and the idea of 'conversational art' was born - for me." This indirect and interactive operation made Alsleben think about the roles of the computer and himself as an artist in the scheme of art creation. The concept of human-machine conversation was perceived by the artist at that time. After a short time his conversational art changed to human-human conversation. For him, the event had become an important motif which further developed into varied activities based on the network.
With Antje Eske - who created the platform 'Bilderchat' in 2001 which she held it until 2010 - he researched wide varieties of conversational characteristics, which then have been put into practice in exhibitions and publications until today.(8) In 1999, they embodied the technology of an international IRC-Internet Relay Chat, and initiated the conversational art event in the historical "Sala delle Veglie" in Urbino, Italy. A network of friends has been growing around the concept of the "conversational art" since the 1980s.
Alsleben didn't produce many examples of computer graphics. However, the realisation process of his computer graphics work was a dramatic one, and it was an important event before the world switched over to the digital computer. His encounter with the analogue computer capable of real-time processing confirmed an artistic interaction between man and computer, and it made him develop the concept of conversational art. Thus Alsleben showed us that artists can open a new horizon by interacting with the machine manipulating numerical formula.
Figures: Computerzeichnungen (Computer Graphics) 1.1960 - 5.1960
(c) Kurd Alsleben and Cord Passow
1, 2: ZKM Karlsruhe
3, 5: Kunsthalle Bremen
4: Sprengel Museum, Hannover
CONVERSATIONAL ART SCHEME
Kurd Alsleben 1992
(1)artist, Izu, Japan, y.abe at ieee.org
(2)composer, London, UK, akemi.i at virgin.net
(5)Potentiometer is a variable resistor. For analog computers, precise
types with multi-turn dials are commonly used.
(6)http://dada.compart-bremen.de/node/4593#
(7)Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
(8)Kurd Alsleben: Aësthetische Redundanz. 1962, Verlag Schnelle, Quickborn,
Hamburg
Kurd Alsleben and Antje Eske eds, NetzkunstWoerterBuch, 2003,
kuecocokue, Hamburg ISBN: 3-8311-2259-8
Kurd Alsleben and Antje Eske eds, Mutualität in Netzkunstaffairen, 2004
kuecocokue, Hamburg ISBN: 3-8334-1767-6
Kurd Alsleben, Antje Eske and Heidi Salaverria eds. Die Kunst der
Anerkennung. Eine Swiki-Konversation. 2006 kuecocokue, Hamburg
ISBN: 978-3-8334-6904-6
Kurd Alsleben and Antje Eske eds, 27 Bremer Netzkunstaffairen, 2008,
kuecocokue, Hamburg ISBN: 978-3-8370-6155-0
Kurd Alsleben, Antje Eske and Heiko Idensen eds, felix aestheticus,
Konversationskunst im ZKM Karlsruhe, 2011, kuecocokue, Hamburg
ISBN: 978-3-8423-6857-6
Antje Eske ed, Kunst ohne Publikum, 15 Konversationen im ZKM Karlsruhe,
2011, kuecocokue, Hamburg ISBN: 978-3-8423-7867-4
http://konversationskunst.org/
...to be continued in our next issue.
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