The author— Waldemar Cordeiro, a pioneer in the use of computers as a vehicle for artistic expression—provides a brief history of computer generated art in Brazil and around the world. He compares aspects of new technologies to the challenges of contemporary art in the areas of production and communication. In his opinion, digital art’s approach to communication is reminiscent of issues that arose in the field of concrete art (in the early 1950s) and that of course also led to radical changes in the way artists work.

This is the introduction to Computer Plotter Art, the exhibition that was held at the Galeria USIS, an affiliate of the United States Consulate in São Paulo, in 1970. It was used as a press release and was included in the brochure for Computer Plotter Artman, the exhibition that was presented at the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro during that same year. It also coincided with the launch of a new phase of GAM magazine (a key publication in Brazilian art circles at the time; this phase began with issue # 22, 1970). The second version of the exhibition opened on May 6, 1970 and included works by North American artists that had previously been shown at the USIS Library in São Paulo.  

According to the combative painter, designer, landscape painter, art critic, theoretician, and promoter of computer assisted creativity that he calls “arteônica,” Waldemar Cordeiro (1925–73), this was the first international exhibition of art generated by a computer that was equipped with a plotter. The exhibition was significant because of its focus on two factors: the pioneering nature of this presentation of computer generated art in Brazil, described by the São Paulo press as “unprecedented,” and its association with GAM magazine, one of the major specialized news publications of the period. It was therefore a historic opportunity to address the issue of art and technology in Brazilian art.  

Regarding this text, see by Waldemar Cordeiro, “Arteônica” [doc. no. 1110836].

In reference to this matter, see by Francisco Bittencourt, “Expressão, Arte e Tecnologia”, Tribuna da Imprensa, March 24, 1975 [doc. no. 1110492]; by Frederico Morais, Minas Audiovisual (folder of the exhibition; Rio de Janeiro: Museu de Arte Moderna, 1975) (1); and by Harumi Yamagishi, Multi-Media (exhibition brochure; São Paulo: Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, 1976).