Manfred Mohr

Here are some amazing experiments made by Mandred Mohr back in 1973.  He was invited by the CEO of La Companie Generale de Micromatique (a data storage and preservation company, which specialized in micro films) to experiment on their brand new machine DATAGRAPHIX 4460 to make computer animations. Along 4 years Mandred Mohr created these great studies geometric forms despite the process of was extremely slow at that time. See more;

Update: there's an interesting interview with Manfred Mohr at The White Review, where Manfred talks about the beginning of his carrier, earliest computer drawings and animations and also how difficult was for people to understand (his) computer based works as art in the 70's. See here. (thanks for the tip Lawrence Lek)

Cubic Limit, 1973-1974

"A single large cube, with solid edges, rotates in 3-D. As it rotates, it slowly breaks up into 25 embedded cubes each starting at the same center point but moving slowly towards their positions on a 5x5 grid. At the same rate, they are shrinking in size so that they fit onto the 5x5 grid as non-overlapping cubes.." more info about Cubic Limit here.

Square Roots, 1972-1973

"The earlier 16mm film (around 4 min), 'Square Roots' (1972-1973), was my first attempt to make a computer movie. I abandoned this short film because I felt it was too narrative. Subsequently I made the more abstract film 'Cubic Limit' (above). Nevertheless, although unedited, this is a short amusing film which has some of the 2-D elements which I later used in 'Cubic Limit' in 3-D." 

Transformation I, 1972-1973

"This short 16mm film (around 1 1/2 minutes) is 'Transition I' (1972-1973). As an inauguration gift, I transformed a sketch of the new city hall into the coat of arms of my hometown Pforzheim. Images from this film are published in the book: Pforzheim 1973"

Transformation Study, 1972

"This very short footage (around 1/2 minute) from 1972 is a study of a cube transforming to random points and back."

Complimentary Cubes, 1973-1974

"This footage 'Complimentary Cubes' (around 5 1/2 minutes), from 1973 - 1974, was originally written for the film "Cubic Limit" but was not used in the film. It shows 2 sequences of all the combinations of 2 rotating cubes, one with 'n' edges and the other with '12 minus n' edges. Images from this film were published in the catalog "Cubic Limit", 1975."

via | VIDEO CIRCUITS