Kerry Strand (American, b. 1940) The Snail, 1967
Offset lithograph after a CalComp plotter drawing
51.4 × 76 cm
Motif Editions, London, No. ME/02/5
PION.2026.098
Description
The Snail (1967) is the most famous of the CalComp demonstration plots: programmed by Kerry Strand in FORTRAN on a GE-425 computer at California Computer Products, Anaheim, and drawn by the CalComp 770 magnetic-tape system with the model 702 flatbed plotter in a four-and-a-half-hour plot (the original ink-on-Mylar drawing, 89 × 50.5 cm, is at the ZKM). This print is from Motif Editions' 1968 computer-graphics portfolio — a seven-print set sold for £5 — which put early computer art on London walls; the V&A catalogues its copies variously as lithograph and screenprint after the plotter drawing, and both the V&A and the Science Museum hold it. The same body of CalComp plots appeared in Cybernetic Serendipity (ICA, London, 1968).
Note: Significant stains and damage.
Sources: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O169011/ · http://dada.compart-bremen.de/item/artwork/470
