Manchester Illuminated Universal Turing Machine, #19

Roman Verostko

Manchester Illuminated Universal Turing Machine, #19 , – ongoing
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THE MANCHESTER
ILLUMINATED UNIVERSAL TURING MACHINE
by Roman Verostko, 1998

The Project: A family of algorithmic pen plotted drawings, each presented with the binary text for a Universal Turing Machine (UTM), was created for an exhibition in Manchester on the occasion of the Ninth International Symposium on Electronic Art (1998). They were created as homage to Alan Turing celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the first computer with a stored program, the Manchester "Baby" compute. Known also as the "Mark I prototype", it would have been the first "hard wired" UTM.

These drawings, reminiscent of medieval manuscript illuminations, celebrate Alan Turing's concept of a UTM by presenting it as a valuable precious text of our own time. Executed on hot pressed Arches, each work includes a burnished gold leaf enhancement.
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    • Arts and Visual Culture
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Manchester Illuminated Universal Turing Machine, #19
1998, 30" by 22"
pen plotted drawing with gold leaf
Each member of the Manchester series includes a unique pen-drawn form materialized from the vast family of possible forms. The pen-drawn form for each member of the edition is pen plotted using multi-pen plotters driven with original algorithms. Every line for each work is a unique pen drawn stroke with no repeats. Each finished work, illuminated with an original “code generated” form is signed and identified with its Manchester serial number. Selection of materials, plotting procedures and the use of gold leaf conspire to achieve a valued object to be treasured.
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2 publications