1983
Since 1973 Roger Coqart consecrates himself to the study of growth structures of geometric elements which are generated with the use of the digital computer.
From 1983 on he also combines photography and computer structures in diptychs of a conceptual-poetic scope.
Roger Coqart (1981) declares: "The context in which the contemporary artist lives consists of a new reality created by an unprecedented scientific-technological revolution. This new reality was produced by the accelerating changes of our society which affected each one of us. From a quantitative level these changes attained a qualitative level and altered fundamentally the quality of our very lives. To this contect the artist will react positively or negatively, without being able to escape it. In our technological era new communication tools were created from which the contemporary artist cannot escape either.
Whenever new communication tools are invented, the so called 'fine artist' has great difficulty acquiring access to them. This is partly because existing confusion about which tools are art tools and partly because these tools are not marketed for the artist. Throughout our history there nevertheless always were artists who were eble to apply new technological resources and tools in the varied art media of their time. One of the most significant instruments of our time is without doubt the computer which has been used in very different ways in the creative stages of art works during the past fifteen years.
In my work of geometric-constructive character I use the computer as a means to create geometric constructions in which a few elements are arranged, through the use of combinatorics, in a statistical valid manner, in order to obtain a great variety of objective examples of growth structures. In this kind of work, and since the beginning of my commitment with comuter graphics, I have been using grid structures which, in their original dimensions, are reproduced by using photographic or photomechanical techniques. In larger works they are transposed on canvas or on plexiglas by conventional painting techniques.
I use the computer differently for my work of conceptual-semantic character. Here combinations of the available letter, cipher and mathematical symbols are used semantically in combination with photographic images. In these pieces, the complicity and analysis by the spectator are of vital importance"
Extract from: "Aspects: The Computer in the Visual Arts", ICSAC (Internationaal Centrum voor Structuuranalyse en Constructivisme), Regentschapstraat 1, B-1000 Brussel, 1981.
Contents:
Dr. Herbert Franke - Computergraphik: Vorstosz in strukturellen Neuland
Robert Mallary - Six Levels of Cybernetic Sculpture
Aaron Marcus - A Computer Graphics Course for the Two Cultures
François Molnar - Création par ordinateur ou création assistée par ordinateur
Harold Cohen - Parallel to Perception: Some Notes on the Problem of Machine-Generated Art
Artists:
Colette & Charles Bangert (USA), Manuel Barbadillo (E), Klaus Basset (D), Groupe Belfort (F), Peter Beyls (B), Harold Cohen (USA), Roger Coqart (B), Herbert W. Franke (D), Julius Guest (AUS), Sozo Hashimoto (JP), Miljenko Horvat (CDN), William Kolomijec (USA), Ruth Leavitt (USA), Robert Mallary (USA), Aaon Marcus (USA), Manfred Mohr (D), Vera Molnar (F), Duane Palyka (USA), Reiner Schneeberger (D), Lilian Schwartz (USA), Christopher Tyler (GB), Edvard Zajec (YU),Vilkjo Ziljak (YU)
Bibliography
Ex Machina: Frühe Computergrafik bis 1979, Kunsthalle Bremen, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2007
Deux Pionniers de l'Art Informatique en Belgique : Peter Beyls et Roger Coqart. Mémoire Histoire de l'Art, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1984-85 par Michèle Minne.
Aspects: The Computer in the Visual Arts", ICSAC, 1981
Computer Graphics & Art Yearbook, 1980, Grids and Computer Art by Roger Coqart
Computer Generated Visual Arts Bibliography, edition Roger Coqart, 1979
Angewandte Informatik - Computergraphik Galerie: Roger Coqart, by Herbert. W. Franke, october 1978.
Computer & People, august 1978, 16th Annual Computer Arts Exposition
Computer Graphics & Art, may 1978," Outer Space and Technological Progress", by Roger Coqart
Leonardo, may 1978; "Computer Graphics - Grid Structures" by Roger Coqart
Sciences et Techniques, januart 1977, "Art et Informatique" by Dirk Basyn.
Computer Graphics & Art, august 1976, "Paintings" by Roger Coqart.
U2000 - Magazine de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, april 1976, "Les constructions programmées de Coqart".
Renaissance, Diest, Belgium, november 1975, Computer drawings & permutables, by Roger Coqart
Notre Temps, 6.2.1975, L'art et l'informatique: une cohabitation possible? by Dirk Basyn
Forum, Union Minière, Brussels, 17.5.1974, Graphismes et ordinateur.