When Art and Science Collaborations, Inc. was founded, back in the 20th
century, most artists who joined ASCI used science as a means to
artistic ends. However, in this millennium the SciArt movement has
evolved as more and more artists have begun using art as a means to
scientific ends. Brandon Ballengée's attempts to breed extinct frogs
back into existence, exhibited at Exit Art in the 2000 show, "Paradise
Now," was a prominent example, and is often cited to explain the SciArt
movement.

That said, Manfred Mohr was a SciArt pioneer before ASCI was conceived,
and before Ballengée was born. Mohr has used the computer to generate
art since 1968. He had the first one-man show of computer art at the
Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 1971. And from the beginning his art
has sought to chart n-dimensional hyperspace.

Mathematicians who dealt in n-dimensional spaces maintained that it was
impossible to visualize more than n = 3 dimensions of space, therefore
one shouldn't try. Rather, one should leave such n > 3 dimensional space
to mathematicians. Perhaps this hubris was just the catalyst needed.
Visualization is the province of artists, and Mohr was probably the
first who seriously took up the challenge of drawing in n-dimensional
space.

I feel his early work can best be described as difficult. In the art
world, difficulty can be a virtue. Several of his black and white line
drawings were exhibited in the first room at Bitforms Gallery. One could
understand the concept he was after. One could appreciate his line
drawings for the sheer beauty of their geometry. Row after row, and
column after column one could study the changes in the lines as Mohr
attempted to rotate an n-dimensional figure in space. But mostly one
would admire his perseverance in tackling a visualization so difficult
to grasp.

Then Mohr began to write computer code to create computer animations
which rotate six dimensional figures before our eyes. Now color was used
to define his planes. It was a decisive break through. This work was
seen in the second room at Bitforms, displayed in "handmade computer
stations and flat screens." What has changed most is the visceral
engagement of the viewer. It is no longer just the concept of a figure
drawn in six dimensions, but a visual multi-dimensional reality that's
spellbinding when the mind tries to inhabit it.

Has he done it? Has Mohr accomplished what no mathematician thought
possible, and revealed a six dimensional world before our eyes? Or is it
an illusion like M. C. Escher's impossible spaces?

If you study an Escher, eventually you can spot the tricks, and you
admire the illusion. But for as long as I studied Mohr's animations, I
only found myself drawn further in. It's an experience no one
interested in SciArt should miss.

Flash Light
artist, NYC
lightart@flash.net