Nicolas Schöffer
- Introduction
- Nicolas Schöffer (Hungarian: Schöffer Miklós; 6 September 1912 — 8 January 1992) was a Hungarian-born French cybernetic artist. Schöffer was born in Kalocsa, Hungary and resided in Paris from 1936 until his death in Montmartre in 1992. He built his artworks on cybernetic theories of feedback interactivity primarily based on the ideas of Norbert Wiener. Wiener's work suggested to Schöffer an artistic process in terms of the circular causality of feedback loops. Schöffer's kinetic art sculpture "CYSP 1" from 1956, that made use of electronic computations developed by the Philips Company, is considered the first cybernetic sculpture in art history. The sculpture is set on a base mounted on four rollers, which contains the mechanism and the electronic brain. The plates are operated by small motors located under their axis. Photo-electric cells and a microphone built into the sculpture catch all the variations in the fields of color, light intensity and sound intensity. All these changes occasion reactions on the part of the responsive sculpture.
- Wikidata
- Q603870
- Nationalities
- French, American, Hungarian
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Painter, Sculptor
- Names
- Nicholas Schöffer, Nicolas Schöffer, Nicholas Schoffer, Nicholas Schoeffer
- Ulan
- 500019607
Exhibitions
-
The Value of Good Design
Feb 10–Jun 15, 2019
MoMA
-
Designing Modern Women 1890–1990
Oct 5, 2013–Oct 19, 2014
MoMA
-
Ateliers Jean Prouvé
Apr 25, 2008–Apr 13, 2009
MoMA
-
The 1960s: Painting and Sculpture from the Museum Collection
Jun 28–Sep 24, 1967
MoMA
-
Recent Acquisitions: Painting and Sculpture
Apr 6–Jun 12, 1966
MoMA
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