Jasia Reichardt Lecture 2025
Francesca Franco
Summary
Sean Clark, chair of the Computer Arts Society, introduces the second annual Jasia Reichardt Lecture, welcoming Francesca Franco, a Venetian-born art historian and curator based in the United Kingdom and Italy. Franco, who holds a PhD in the history of art specialising in computer art, reflects on her long-standing connection with the Society and her curatorial work with pioneering generative artists including Vera Molnar, Ernest Edmunds, Manfred Mohr, Roman Verostko, and Frieder Nake. She dedicates the talk to Molnar, whose pioneering computer art has profoundly influenced her career, and discusses their collaboration on the Icon 2020 commission in Murano, Venice, which led to Molnar's historic debut at the Venice Biennale at the age of 97. Franco traces her journey from traditional Renaissance art history in Venice to digital art history at the University of London, highlighting her research fellowship at the Victoria and Albert Museum and her 2017 "Algorithmic Signs" exhibition in Venice. Throughout, she emphasises the importance of curatorial practice in making the complex histories of computational and generative art accessible to wider audiences, while documenting the voices and contributions of the field's pioneers.
This AI summary was generated by kimi-k2.7-code (13th August 2026).