ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the pioneering analogue computer art of Desmond Paul Henry in the 1960s in relation to the origins of Postmodernism. The focus of discussion is the visual structures generated by his machines, and their aesthetic and historical significance. It is argued that Henry’s working practice is, in effect, one that makes the machine’s own mechanical workings – its machine-being – aesthetically accessible to the viewer. He naturalizes technology as something with which we dwell alongside, as well as put to use. In this respect, his work is a significant early expression of the Postmodern sensibility.
