The history of computing and its applications is marked by female figures. Here are three examples: In 1842, Ada Lovelace wrote the first software for Charles Babbage’s analytical machine. In 1941, Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil designed a torpedo guidance system called the “frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)”, which would later be used for mobile communications, GPS and, indirectly, WiFi. In the 1960s, another female figure, Margaret Hamilton, was crucial in developing the software for NASA’s Apollo missions.

It was around the same time that Vera Molnar, who had already been developing a way of working for ten years that she called the ”Imaginary Machine”, discovered the association of the computer with a screen. As she said in 2017: “When I saw a screen for the first time, it was like my arrival in Paris or the end of the war, there are days like that, that you never forget. I had the impression that it was invented for me. That other people didn’t know what to do with it. It was made for me. I was a little right.”

At Josef Broich’s initiative, a number of artists who have acknowledged Vera Molnar’s influence on their work have each created a piece in her honour. Some, such as Arno Beck, Patrick Lichty, Erwin Steller, Iskra Velitchkova, aurèce vettier and Mark Wilson, have opted for graphic approach, while others, such as Refik Anadol, Snow Yunxue Fu, Mario Klingemann, Frieder Nake, Casey Reas, Antoine Schmitt, Tamiko Thiel and p/, Samuel Yan, have used algorithms to create generative works in video or augmented reality. Lastly, u2p050 has chosen to build a kinetic sculpture.

This set of tributes to Vera Molnar is unveiled one month after her centenary.

Richard Castelli
Curator