ABSTRACT The importance of German philosopher Max Bense to the history of digital art is difficult to overstate. As the dominant theoretician during the pioneering phase of computer art, Bense’s prolific writings on information aesthetics – particularly his signature theory, ‘generative aesthetics’ – reached a global audience. However, Bense’s broad project has remained largely absent from surveys of Anglo-American aesthetics, and though information aesthetics garnered intense interest in the 1960s, it was eventually deemed a failure. By re-examining Bense’s landmark exhibition of computer-generated art at the University of Stuttgart, this essay finds clues to his conflicting legacy. Made memorable through a heated exchange and walk-out of audience members, the exhibit and accompanying lecture were covered by the magazine Der Spiegel in an article titled Bald krumme Linien [Soon crooked Lines]. If we examine the beliefs and practices of those named as attendees (including Heinz Trökes, Anton Stankowski, and Herbert W. Kapitzki), we find the dissent more nuanced than previously thought. Though the dispute revealed the limits of Bense’s reductionist and anti-subjective approach to aesthetics, the episode also catalysed Bense’s enduring influence and high standing within the digital arts.