Melanie Lenz—Generativity and Vera Molnár at the V&A with Peter Bauman

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/mel... In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with Melanie Lenz, Curator of Digital Art at the V&A, about Vera Molnár and Degrees of Disruption: Vera Molnar and Generative Art, her display at V&A South Kensington, open until May 2027. They follow Molnár's practice per the show's layout. It goes from her early geometric paintings in Paris through the machine imaginaire, her first access to a computer in 1968 and decades of plotter work. Lenz explains how the display draws on the V&A's computer art holdings, including the Computer Arts Society and Patric Prince collections, and why it closes with contemporary artists such as Casey Reas, Harm van den Dorpel, Licia He, William Mapan and Entangled Others. They also discuss how museums show the process behind computer art, the stigma around artists who work with machines, and why Lenz avoids the word "pioneer." Read our editorial, Degrees of Disruption: Vera Molnár at the V&A: https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/de... The display runs at V&A South Kensington until 30 May 2027, free: https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/deg... Subjects in this episode: Melanie Lenz: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/mel... Vera Molnár: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/ver... François Molnár: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/fra... Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A): https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/vic... Entangled Others: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/ent... Patric Prince: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/pat... Degrees of Disruption: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/deg... Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel (GRAV): https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/gro... Charles Csuri: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/cha... Harm van den Dorpel: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/har... Sougwen Chung: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/sou... Computer Arts Society: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/com... John Cage: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/joh... Casey Reas: https://www.lerandom.art/subjects/cas... Read next on Le Random: Molnár's Paris: https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/mo... Listen next: Ep. 17, Digital Curators Series 01—Douglas Dodds on Collecting and Valuing Emerging Technologies: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/dig... Ep. 5, Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt II (1960s) with Michael Spalter: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/tim... On the Living Timeline: Vera Molnár Develops Her “Machine Imaginaire” (1959): https://timeline.lerandom.art/m/vera-... Vera Molnár Begins her Computer Art Phase with the Interruptions Series (1968): https://timeline.lerandom.art/m/vera-... Chapters 📖: 00:00 Introduction 01:31 Why Vera Molnár, why now 05:12 Disruption as a way of life 07:31 Paris and the output space 11:25 Rules, art history and the art world 14:39 GRAV, François and agency 18:31 Entangled Others and generative AI 23:51 Showing the process 27:43 The machine imaginaire 30:55 Getting the computer 33:43 Generative principles today 37:36 Rules and learned models 41:51 The P word 44:37 Stories still to tell Images: works by Vera Molnár and others courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Anne + Michael Spalter Digital Art Collection; DAM; Le Random; and the artists. Full credits appear on screen.