Selected Publications

Books

Franco, Francesca, The Algorithmic Dimension: Five Artists in Conversation, Springer, 2018. Available on Amazon here.

Franco, Francesca, Generative Systems Art - The Work of Ernest Edmonds, Routledge, 2017. Available on Amazon here.

Edited Books / Special Issues

45 Years of Computer Art at the Venice Biennale. Franco, F. (Ed.), PAGE, Computer Arts Society, BCS London (forthcoming 2018).

Algorithmic Signs. Franco, F. (Ed.), exhibition catalogue, 19 October – 3 December 2017, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venezia, 2017.

Ideas Before Their Time – Connecting the past and present in computer art. Franco, F., Gardiner, J., Lambert, N. (Eds.), British Computer Society, London 2010.

Chapters in a Book

Franco, Francesca, “Re:shaping new challenges - the origins and future of a series of interactive generative artworks by British artist Ernest Edmonds, 1980s-2000s,” in Acoustic Space 14 Data Drift, Smite, R., Smits, R., and Manovich, L. (Eds.), RIXC, The Center for New Media Culture (Riga) and Art Research Lab of Liepaja University (Liepaja), 2015, 100-104.

Franco, Francesca, “Shifts in the Curatorial Model of the Venice Biennale: 1895–1974,” (text in Russian), in Manifesta Journal Reader, Saint Petersburg: Arca Publishers, 2014, 191-200.

Franco, Francesca, “The First Computer Art Show at the 1970 Venice Biennale. An Experiment or Product of the Bourgeois Culture?” in Relive Media Art Histories, Cubitt, S., and Thomas, P. (Eds.), Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2013, 119-134. Available on Amazon here.

Refereed Journal Articles

Franco, Francesca, “Systems theory, systems art and the computer: Ernest Edmonds interviewed by Francesca Franco,” Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, Vol. 42, Nos.1-2, 169-179 (2017).

Franco, Francesca, “Neural: an Interview with Alessandro Ludovico,” Media-N, Journal of the New Media Caucus, Fall 2017, Vol.13, No.3 (Uncovering News: Reporting and Forms of New Media Art) (2017).

Franco, Francesca, “Exploring Creative Intersections: Ernest Edmonds and his time-based generative art,” Digital Creativity, Vol.24, No.3, 222-236 (2013).

Franco, Francesca, “Documenting Art as Art: the case of Notes (2000-ongoing) by British artist Ernest Edmonds,” Visual Resources - An International Journal of Documentation, Vol. 29, No. 4, 333-352 (2013).

Edmonds, Ernest, and Franco, Francesca, “From Communication Game to Cities Tango,” International Journal of Creative Computing, Vol.1, No.1 (2013).

Franco, Francesca, “Shifts in the Curatorial Model of the Venice Biennale, 1895-1974,” Manifesta Journal, No.11, 66-74 (2011).

Refereed Review Articles

Franco, Francesca, “Computational Art Exhibitions in London, 2014: A New Hope,” Visual Resources - An International Journal of Documentation, Vol. 31, No. 4, 1-10 (2015).

Franco, Francesca, “Desperately Seeking Computer Art at the Venice Biennale,” (text in Romanian and English), ARTA Magazine, Number 10/2013 thematic issue on the Venice Biennale (2013).

Reviews (online)

Franco, Francesca, “No Message Whatsoever: Frieder Nake & Friends,” On-Verge Alternative Art Criticism, December 22, 2013, accessed December 22, 2013, http://www.on-verge.org/reviews/no-message-whatsoever-frieder-nake-friends/

Franco, Francesca, “Desperately Seeking Computer Art at the Venice Biennale,” On-Verge Alternative Art Criticism, October 18, 2013, accessed October 18, 2013, http://www.on-verge.org/features/desperately-seeking-computer-art-at-the-venice-biennale/

Catalogue Essays

Franco, Francesca, curatorial statement and introductory essay, in Algorithmic Signs, ed. Francesca Franco, exhibition catalogue, 19 October – 3 December 2017, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venezia, 2017.

Franco, Francesca, “Introduction,” in ERNEST EDMONDS: a retrospective 1965-2015, exhibition catalogue, Art and Design Faculty, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 3 - 17 September 2015.

Franco, Francesca, “Ernest Edmond's Experiments in Colour, Structure, Time and Space”, in Ernest Edmonds - Light Logic, ed. Laura Sillars, exhibition catalogue, Site Gallery, Sheffield, 2012.

Proceedings Papers Published

Franco, Francesca, “Exploring Processes and New Constructs in Art: the missing link in the history of Generative Art,” Proceedings of the XVIII Generative Art Conference, Venice, December 2015.

Franco, Francesca, “Disruptive Systems and Organizing Principles in Generative Art: Two cases (1980-ongoing) by Ernest Edmonds,” Proceedings of the 21st International Symposium on Electronic Art, Vancouver, August 2015.

Selected Conference Papers

Algorithmic Signs, Venice 2017: challenges in the curation and documentation of early computational and media art.” Media Art History 2017 Re:Trace, Krems-Vienna, November 2017.

“Inconceivable yet computable - the generative work of Manfred Mohr.” Ways of Machine Seeing 2017, CRASSH, University of Cambridge, June 2017.

“Re:shaping new challenges - the origins and future of a series of interactive generative artworks by British artist Ernest Edmonds, 1980s-2000s.” Media Art Histories 2013 Re:New, Riga, October 2013.

“Venice, Art & Technology. The breaking of the Biennale's curatorial model, 1968.” Media Art Histories 2011 Re:Wire, Liverpool, October 2011.

“Computer Art vs. Computer Music. Different approaches to art & technology at the 1970 Venice Biennale.” ISEA 2011, Istanbul, September 2011.

“Computer art in the mainstream. How the Venice Biennale responded to the historisation of computer art in the 1980s.” ISEA 2010 Ruhr, Dortmund, August 2010.

“The First Computer Art Show at the 1970 Venice Biennale. An Experiment or Product of the Bourgeois Culture?” Media Art Histories 2009 Re:Live, Melbourne, November 2009.

“Art of Conversation” (co-authored with Ernest Edmonds). Media Art Histories 2009 Re:Live, Melbourne, November 2009.

“New Media, Politics and the 1968 Venice Biennale.” Beyond the Politics of Identity, University of Aberdeen, June 2009.

“Art and Democracy at the Venice Biennale. The Legacy of 1968.” ISEA 2008 Singapore, July 2008.

“Political Radical Ideals and Commercial Indulgence at the Venice Biennale. The Legacy of 1968.” SocialEast Seminar, Forum on the Art and Visual Culture of Eastern Europe, Jagellonian University, Krakow, April 2008.

“Democratic Space and Urban Intervention. Venice Biennale 1986-1990.” Association of Art Historians (AAH) Annual Conference, Tate Britain, London, April 2008.

“New Media Art and an Institutional Crisis in the History of the Venice Biennale, 1968.” Media Art Histories 2007 Re:Place, Berlin, November 2007.

“Towards Recognition of New Media Art at the Venice Biennale: a Historical Overview,” Computers and the History of Art (CHArt) Conference, November 2006.

Invited Keynote Lectures

Informatik Kolloquium, University of Bremen, October 2010.

CAS Lecture Series, Computer Art Society, London, March 2009.

Other Forms of Public and Media Presentations

The Algorists, a 6-part short video documentary where Curator Francesca Franco introduces five international pioneers of computer art exhibiting their work in a historical gallery in St. Mark’s Square Venice, as part of the exhibition Algorithmic Signs, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venezia (19 October – 3 December 2017), curated by Francesca Franco (in production, release date: December 2017).

Interview and public discussion with Patrick Tresset and Ryszard Kluszczyński, as part of the premiere of Tresset’s Human Study #4, La Classe, Merge Festival 2017 in collaboration with Tate Modern, London, 31 May 2017.

Interview and public discussion with Roman Verostko, filmed by Site Gallery Sheffield as part of the Computer Art Pioneers on Making Art by Writing Code - DMU Algorithmic Dimension Conversations, 17 November 2012. Chaired by Leila Johnston, with artists Ernest Edmonds, Manfred Mohr, Frieder Nake and Roman Verostko.

News & Events

2017

Vienna, 25 November: presenting a paper at Media Art History 2017 Re:Trace Krems-Vienna.

Oxford, 23 October: my first solo-authored book Generative Systems Art: The Work of Ernest Edmonds is published!

Venice, 19 October: opening of Algorithmic Signs exhibition at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venezia.

Cambridge, 27 June: presenting a paper at Ways of Machine Seeing 2017, CRASSH, University of Cambridge.

London, 31 May: interviewing Patrick Tresset and chairing a public discussion with Ryszard Kluszczyński, as part of the premiere of Tresset’s Human Study #4, La Classe, Merge Festival 2017 in collaboration with Tate Modern.

2016

New York, 26-18 November: attending bootcamp on digital preservation and archiving practice organised by the Preservation and Archiving Special Interest Group (PASIG) at MoMA New York.

Cambrigde, 19 August: Generative Systems Art's final manuscript submitted (Routledge).

2015

December 9-11: speaking at GA2015, the 18th Generative Art Conference, Exhibition, Live Performances, Venice.

August 17: speaking at ISEA2015 Vancouver, Session 27, MetaCreators: The Generative Artists.

July 16: reviewing Aesthetica - 50 years of computer-generated art, DAM Gallery, Berlin.

May 6-11: reviewing the Venice Biennale 2015. Interview with Charles Lim, artist, Singapore Pavilion (Sea State project); interview with Fré Ilgen, artist, Frontiers Reimagined, Palazzo Grimani.