The “Studiengalerie der TH Stuttgart” (Study Gallery of the University of Stuttgart) was founded in 1959 by Max Bense. The gallery was part of the academic programme Studium Generale, and located in rooms of Bense’s Institute of Philosophy.
The study gallery was the first gallery at a West-German university. Max Bense developed it into an important forum of experimental art focussing on concrete art and poetry. Many international artists and writers had shows in the gallery.
From the 5th to 19th February 1965, the first show worldwide of digital computer graphics, called [“Computer-Grafik”:] (but, perhaps, better named as "Georg Nees: Generative Computergrafik"), was held at the gallery. Computer-generated drawings by ["Georg Nees":Agent15] were presented. This presentation was a provocation to the artists present at the opening, and to the broader public.
Bense generally used the exhibitions to demonstrate in applications to works of art his aesthetic theory. It had its roots in information theory and attempted to analyze the work of art in a precise, objectified manner. (Information Aesthetics)
In his introductions to the more than 100 shows organized during the time the gallery existed, Bense created a highly intellectual rhetoric of the “precision of delight” (“Präzise Vergnügen”).
The gallery ceased to exist in 1981, after more than twenty years of operation.