Cave research
As a speleologist he measured the hidden and built models to read the layers of stalagmites — science as the exploration of unknown worlds.
Speleology · methods
Foundation · Art & Science · since 1957
Herbert W. Franke — a wanderer between art and science
1927 – 2022. Cave explorer, science-fiction pioneer and one of the first artists to compute images rather than paint them. The art meets science foundation preserves his work and carries his bridge-building forward.
Three lives in one
A border-crosser who united disciplines
Franke did not believe in separating the lab from the studio. He researched, wrote and designed — and found a shared language between mathematics and aesthetics long before “digital art” had a name.
Computer art
From oscilloscope curves and calculating machines he formed images. A pioneer of generative aesthetics — the idea, not the brush, made the work.
Oscillograms · generative
Science fiction
One of the most important German-language SF authors of the post-war era — novels, radio plays and space poetry that thought of science poetically.
Literature · Astropoeticon
Groups of works & series
Images that were computed
Oscilloscope, analog computer, later the digital machine — Franke saw the apparatus as a tool. Each image is the visible result of an idea, a formula, a process.
Events & summits
The legacy is alive
Anniversary
HWF 100 — the community celebrates the visionary
For his 100th birthday, companions, artists and researchers honour his work — with exhibitions, summits and new immersive productions.
See the programmeGenerative Art Summit
HWF goes AI
Franke’s ideas meet artificial intelligence: immersive worlds that continue what he began in the 1950s.
Learn moreA trace through time
From the cathode-ray tube to AI
1957
“Art and Construction”First theoretical writings linking construction and art.
Theory1959
Experimental AestheticsExhibition of the early oscillograms — computer art before the term existed.
Exhibition1973
Einstein DigitalThe iconic image series emerges from algorithmic image processing.
Series1979
Co-initiator of Ars ElectronicaLinz becomes a hub of media art.
Institution2024
Generative Art Summit BerlinConference, film night and exhibition — the generative scene meets.
Summit2025
Herbert W. Franke LabOpening at the University of Innsbruck — research on immersive productions.
InstitutionIt all comes down to the idea.Herbert W. Franke
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