Microchic: Cara McCarthy’s Diagramming Microchips & Theo Kamacke’s PCB Hieroglyphics

Eprom Intel Corp 1974 from Diagramming Microchips by Cara McCarthy

The out of print ‘Diagramming Microchips’ by Cara McCarthy contains high quality full page spreads of orthogonal microchip arcologies and micro-labyrinthine PCB networks.

The mandalic attitude of this neural net chip with its conspiratorial eye in the triangle, IBMs OP-art (Dram)mifiactions. And the Universal Turing Machine posturing of this Intel EPROM.

Theo Kamacke harnesses the hieroglyphic nature of legacy printed circuit boards to make intricate peices that imply the craftsmanship of artwork made millenniums ago.

Norse (detail) – Theo Kamecke

‘He saw in the graphic patterns of electronic circuitry with their endless variety the same beauty we perceive in seashells, in crystals, in the grain of wood or even in the tree itself. All these are, after all, forms derived from function, so if we find beauty in them it is not because they were designed to please the eye.’

Other artists, mentioned at Dataisnature before, employing the circuit board aesthetic are Mark Wilson, particularly his paintings and drawings, & Jock Coopers fractal circuitscape elevations, perhaps conjectural plans for a future city. Polyforms and Conduits featured Peter Halley’s cell network paintings, the same post also pointed to Brianelectro’s glitchboards.