Computer Art For a CS Dept Office?

philgross writes "My university's Computer Science Department has just renovated its main office, and is looking for artwork for the walls. Do you have any recommendations about your favorite posters or images that address the algorithms, the history, and/or the aesthetics of Computer Science?"

Several Suggestions

[eldavojohn]

M. C. Escher
There's the famous well known M. C. Escher famous for placing strange loops in his work thus making his tessellations and peculiar drawings centered on curious near mathematical conundrums (Mobius Strips [mcescher.com], infinite limits [mcescher.com], undefined boundaries [mcescher.com], etc). For the most part, I believe he did woodcuts [mcescher.com] so if you're thinking about originals ... well, woodcuts are an odd market.

Fractal Art
There are several variants of this and you could buy some or create it yourself (not hard to find scripts that do this). It ranges from in your face [fractalism.com] to subtle [fractalartcontests.com]. This is common and widely created.

Slashdot Story Art
A while back, there was a story on some humorous computer science-y art [slashdot.org] you could ask the original artist for permission to use.

Or you can just look at various [sanu.ac.yu] collections [sciencenews.org] for your own tastes.

Comics make great filler

[EvilGoodGuy]

Depending on how formal you want it to be. The TA area at GA. Tech is filled with comics like www.xkcd.com While many will not be appropriate items like the mapping of IP ranges would be excellent.

computer art

[Goeland86]

A while back there was a post about people doing "mathematical" art, and I'd recommend looking at those people and contacting them to see if they're willing to send you prints. In particular, I know Jeff Ely does great stuff that way, usually involving newton's method for polynomial solving, and fancy other constructs using simple objects. I think it'd suit the general "geek" atmosphere you would need in a CS department.

Re:Several Suggestions

[Anonymous Coward]

I know the guy who runs fractalus.com has done some large prints of his work.

Tinney prints

[base3]

Robert Tinney [tinney.net] did the covers for Byte Magazine in the late 70s/early 80s and is selling prints of some of them now.

Tux. 'Nuff Said.

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhm... Tux, obviously.

History of programming languages

[compro01]

http://oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/news/languageposter_0504.html [oreilly.com]

http://www.levenez.com/lang/ [levenez.com]

An instructor at my college has those running along the hallway outside his office.

Re:Tinney prints

[kaaona]

Absolutely. Robert Tinney's artwork graced the covers of Byte magazine and several computer parts catalogs during the early days of modern computing. His "Breaking the Sound Barrier", "Computer Piracy", "Seventeen Seventy-Six", "Future Past", "Transmission Lines", and "Inside IBM" are among his many timeless classics that would be very at home in a CS department.

Re:Several Suggestions

[John Courtland]

Salvador Dali's final painting is titled "The Swallow's Tail - Series on Catastrophes". You can look at it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swallow's_Tail [wikipedia.org]

The trick is getting a print. I saw this piece while it was on loan to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida and they did not have the ability to produce a print due to copyright. I believe that the copyright is held by a similar Dali Museum located in Spain.

If anyone manages to get a print, please let me know how because I was ready to drop copious amounts of money for a high quality print and I left disappointed.

Re:Several Suggestions

[NoPantsJim]

Sorry, I can't help but post this. Awesome song about the Mandelbrot set for those who haven't heard it.

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Mandelbrot%20Set [jonathancoulton.com]

Re:Several Suggestions

[noblEnds]

Flickr:
http://flickr.com/photos/tags/processing/ [flickr.com]
http://flickr.com/photos/tags/generative/ [flickr.com]

Individuals:
http://flickr.com/photos/joshuadavis/ [flickr.com] || joshuadavis.com [joshuadavis.com]
http://flickr.com/photos/flight404/ [flickr.com] || flight404.com [flight404.com]

Many others to be found here:
maxalot.com [maxalot.com]
http://www.maxalot.com/xpsf/xpsif_all.shtml [maxalot.com]
http://www.bridgesmathart.org/art-exhibits/jmm08/index.html [bridgesmathart.org]

References:
Art in the Digital Age [amazon.com]

Boris Artzybasheff

[pfigura]

This is an artist from the 1950's, and his work really struck a chord with me as a computer scientist (and the son of a machinist). Check out some of his stuff: http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/02/media-artzybasheffs-machinalia.html [animationarchive.org] http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/02/media-artzybasheffs-neurotica.html [animationarchive.org]

Re:Several Suggestions

[caffeinemessiah]

Here is the link that will definitively answer this thread:

Complexification [complexification.net]

Very, very beautiful visualizations of algorithmic processes and complexity -- even if you're not into "art" per se, you really should check out this site. Plus the artist offers all the code open-source. And in the interest of full disclosure, I am not the artist and don't even know the artist, although I am a huge fan.