98-Year-Old Computer Art Pioneer Vera Molnar Presents At Venice Biennale For The First Time

The NFT boom has renewed people’s interest in the earlier phases of the digital art movement, and with that renewed attention, Vera Molnar, 98, is now an object of fascination. Considered to be the first woman artist to incorporate computers in her practice, Molnar is enjoying long awaited recognition for her contributions and will now be presenting her work at the Venice Biennale for the first time.

Curated by Francesca Franco, Molnar will present her new work Icône 2020 at a Collateral Event at the Atelier Muranese.

“I wanted to connect by two passions,” Franco said. “The history of computer art and this city, Venice.” Franco, a Venice native, completed a PhD in the history of computer art at the Birkbeck University of London. It was during this time that she became familiar with Molnar’s work. “I began to interview her and study her as one of the pioneers of computer art, and in time we began to collaborate.”

Franco and Molnar previously worked together on the exhibition “Algorithmic Signs” at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Venice. This time, Franco and Molnar worked together to create something in Venice that would be deeply rooted in its artisanal history. Franco found a team of glassmakers from the island of Murano. Set just off of the coast of Venice, Murano has been the site of exquisite glass production since the Middle Ages. Their creations were so popular that vases, jewelry and other glass goods were traded around the world. Muranese beads even reached Native Alaskan communities before Christopher Columbus ever arrived on America’s shores.

A team of expert glassmakers worked with Molnar to create her first ever glass work in the furnaces of Atelier Muranese, which also has a gallery space where Molnar’s work will be exhibited.

“She’s 98 so she was really, really excited to work with a new material,” said Franco. “She loves surprises, unexpected materials, so when I asked her if she wanted to work with glass in 2019, her first reaction was like, ‘Oh, yes, let’s do it.’”

Icône 2020 is split into two parts. Hanging from the ceiling is a square of thick glass partially coated in gold leaf from which cubes have been seemingly punched out. The cubes, irregular in shape, lie on the ground beneath the floating aspect of the work.