Herbert W. Franke: Wanderer Between the Worlds

In honor of the physicist, philosopher, pioneer of information technology and electronic aesthetics, Herbert W. Franke (born 1927 in Vienna, lives and works near Munich), the ZKM | Media Museum presents a comprehensive exhibition on the work of this »Wanderer between the Worlds«. The exhibition, which continues the ZKM series »Philosophy and Art«, sheds light on Franke’s multi-facetted and varied impact on subjects ranging from science to art. Herbert W. Franke is presented as philosopher and science-fiction author, as speleologist, symmetry and bionic research scientist, physicist and mathematician, as well as art scholar and pioneer of computer and machine-generated art.

In addition to Herbert W. Franke’s artistic works, the exhibition offers documentary insights into his cave, symmetry and bionic research on cacti and minerals. The programs and demonstrations developed by Herbert W. Franke over the last 30 years are run on historical computers. A radio play and a reading room, in which the author’s works of science-fiction and scientific publications in the fields of physics, mathematics, and art theory may be audibly and visually experienced, provide an introduction to the world of Herbert W. Franke enabling the viewer to see these objects with the eyes of the pioneer and visionary.