On the occasion of his 95th birthday on May 14, the OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH dedicated an exhibition to him in the Francisco Carolinum in Linz.
“Whether in the scientific or in the artistic field, Herbert W. Franke was a universal genius, a true pioneer of world renown with extraordinary works and great achievements,” said the Upper Austrian governor Thomas Stelzer in recognition of the late Franke. “It makes us happy that we were able to fulfill his wish for an exhibition in his home country in time.” said Alfred Weidinger, Managing Director of OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH, on the occasion of the artist’s death.
The OÖN reported about the exhibition in the Francisco Carolinum:
Computer artists from the very beginning
Franke was born in Vienna in 1927, where he also studied physics, chemistry and philosophy and received his doctorate in theoretical physics. From 1951 to 1956 there were already first publications as an author. In addition to his literary work, which he also pursued under the pseudonyms Sergius Both and Peter Parsival, Franke has always dealt with new media and technologies. As early as the 1950s there were exhibitions of his computer art at the MAK in Vienna.
“As a computer artist from the very beginning,” he experimented with generative photography in 1952, “but as early as 1954 he was first using an analog computer and then, from the 1960s, the first mainframe computers for his abstract ‘algorithmic’ art based on mathematical principles,” as he explained in Linz in May explained at the press presentation of his exhibition. In 1979 he co-founded the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz. From the 2000s he was a mastermind of the Metaverse, the 3D world “Z-Galaxy” built and operated with his wife Susanne Päch – an area of changing exhibitions on the Internet platform Active Worlds.
In 2007, Franke was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class. The member of the German PEN Club had previously received the Dr. Benno Wolf Prize from the Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers for achievements in cave research and the Computer Art Prize from the Association of German Software Manufacturers.
Source: Nachrichten
