Blossom at Garage Rotterdam

Artists: Philip Janssens, Hans Köhler, Georg Nees, Sylvia Roubaud, Manfred Robert Schroeder, Samantha Thole, Edward Zajec, Vilko Žiljak

Exhibition title: Blossom

Curated by: Bas Hendrikx

Venue: Garage Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Date: November 16, 2018 – January 13, 2019

Photography: ©Charlotte Markus / all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Garage Rotterdam

Nothing seems impossible in a time when computers are teaching themselves to learn. There seem to be no limits to the growing digital world. Is there life without algorithms?

In the 1960s, visual artists began to use algorithms to generate images. The codes and scripts produced material that looked like patterns from biology and astronomy. This is how a new graphic visual language was created.

Take Zagreb, for example, where many of the works of art in this exhibition come from. In the 1960s and 1970s the New Tendencies exhibitions were organised here featuring the work of art by pioneers in computer art.

It turns out that algorithms and flowers have more in common than you would expect. The group exhibition Blossom sheds new light on the developments in computer art. Discover how both contemporary art and art from half a century ago are deeply rooted in the shapes of nature.

Blossom, 2018, curated by Bas Hendrikx, exhibition view, Garage Rotterdam

Blossom, 2018, curated by Bas Hendrikx, exhibition view, Garage Rotterdam

Blossom, 2018, curated by Bas Hendrikx, exhibition view, Garage Rotterdam

Blossom, 2018, curated by Bas Hendrikx, exhibition view, Garage Rotterdam

Philip Janssens, zonder titel, 2018, courtesy of the artist

Philip Janssens, zonder titel, 2018, courtesy of the artist

Blossom, 2018, curated by Bas Hendrikx, exhibition view, Garage Rotterdam

Samantha Thole, Patterns of Evolution, – the Multiregional Model, 2018, courtesy of the artist

Blossom, 2018, curated by Bas Hendrikx, exhibition view, Garage Rotterdam

Blossom, 2018, curated by Bas Hendrikx, exhibition view, Garage Rotterdam

Samantha Thole, The Blind Watchmaker/Mitochondrial Eve, 2018, courtesy of the artist

Samantha Thole, The Blind Watchmaker/Mitochondrial Eve, 2018, courtesy of the artist

Samantha Thole, The Blind Watchmaker/Mitochondrial Eve, 2018, courtesy of the artist

Blossom, 2018, curated by Bas Hendrikx, exhibition view, Garage Rotterdam

Edward Zajec, RAM 13, 1969, plotter drawing, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art; Edward Zajec, RAM 10, 1969, plotter drawing, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art

Edward Zajec, RAM 13, 1969, plotter drawing, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art; Edward Zajec, RAM 10, 1969, plotter drawing, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art

Blossom, 2018, curated by Bas Hendrikx, exhibition view, Garage Rotterdam

Sylvia Roubaud, Explosion of ordered structures, 1972, plotter tekening, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art; Sylvia Roubaud, Structures comprising superposed rectangles, 1972, plotter drawing, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art

Vilko Žiljak, Ki 233, 1972, plotter drawing, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art; Vilko Žiljak, Ki 236, 1972, plotter drawing, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art; Vilko Žiljak, Ki 239, 1972, plotter drawing, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art; Vilko Žiljak, Ki 298, 1972, plotter drawing, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art

Georg Nees, Bullets, 1966, 99 x 69 cm, The Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art

Vilko Žiljak, untitled, 1975