Karl Otto Götz
«Statistisch-metrische Modulation 20: 10: 4: 2»

Large-scale raster images composed of respectively 16 superfields into which his students entered black or coloured boxes in accordance with a pre-defined scheme formed the material basis of Götz’ kinetic painting. The precisely squared overall area of a raster picture of this kind contains 75,536 segments optically combining to form a either a black-and-white or colour modulation. The picture (100x130cm) was created on the same principle as ‘Density 10: 3: 2: 1’, but the image-field density distribution complies with the different number scheme indicated by the title. Götz explained: ‘In this picture the syntactic structure is easily recognized, and the viewer has no need of a program.’

Karl Otto Götz is primarily known for his gestural, abstract paintings in the fashion of ‘Art Informel’ (‘art without form’). As well as these spontaneous paintings, he produced in and around 1960 works of a pre-calculated complexity that investigated the possible usage of electronics for image generation. While a soldier in World War II, Götz had become interested in the aesthetics of radar images, and began to experiment with them. The large-scale rastered pictures he produced from 1960 on were pre-determined by programs. Even if manually produced, the goal underlying the rasters was to create ‘electron paintings’ emulating the form of an animated TV picture. His efforts to produce a film on the basis of hand-painted programmed images proved however to be unrealistic – Götz calculated that a 10-minute film would require a production time of 40 years. Thus, his objective would have been feasible only with recourse to the powerful computers that became available some years later. Nevertheless, Götz’ theoretical concepts were influential in and around 1960. Nam June Paik, for example, named Götz as a source of inspiration.