Pioneer Work: Herbert W. Franke

Herbert W. Franke (1927-2022) was obviously an all-rounder and a pioneer in many ways. His pioneer spirit can be found in his science fiction novels, his passion for cave explorations and last but not least in his image experiments. Science and art never were opposites for the doctor of physics, who also studied philosophy. Science and mathematics are the fundament of his works of art.

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virtual exhibit
Summer 2015 / May 2026
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Franke was one of the best known German-speaking science fiction authors. Since the 1950s he also created visual art, starting with experimental photography and electronic imaging techniques. He created photographic images, wrote articles and books on experimental and generative photography and eventually discovered computer art – as an artist and as a collector. His unique collection of early computer graphics today belongs to the Kunsthalle Bremen – as of today (April 2026!) the Franke Collection can unfortunately not be seen online. Herbert W. Franke was also a co-founder and pioneer of the ars electronica in Linz, Austria.

Since the mid-1950s Herbert W. Franke created works of computer art. His body of work represents the development of computers in art from the early days until today in an unprecedented way.

You will find a great overview of his work phases and more information on art meets science, and at the YouTube-channel of the Herbert W. Franke Foundation.

Tanz der Elektronen

His works from the 1950s were created using an analog computer. Shown here are two prints from 1970 based on photographs from the series Tanz der Elektronen (Dance of the Electrons), 1958/59. For more details on this work check out art meets science.

Computergraphik – Computerkunst

In 1971 Franke published a book on computer graphics as art: »Computergraphik – Computerkunst« in a first edition; a second, revised edition was published in 1985. On the cover of the first edition: »Matrizenmultiplikation/Matrix Multiplication« by Frieder Nake (1967).

It is mainly thanks to Franke´s publications on computer art that the works of the computer avant-garde could (and can) finally be discovered by established art history.