2. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
What is digital art exactly?
How is it currently defined?
How has it been defined?
Where did it come from?
How has its focus and output changed over time?
How is it positioned in contemporary culture?
3. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works
and practices that use digital technology as an essential
part of the creative and/or presentation process. Since
the 1970s, various names have been used to describe
the process including computer art and multimedia art,
and digital art is itself placed under the larger umbrella
term new media art.
-- Wikipedia Entry
4. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Art game
Computer art scene
Computer music
Cyberarts
Digital illustration
Digital imaging
Digital painting
Digital photography
Digital poetry
Dynamic Painting
Electronic music
Evolutionary art
Fractal art
Generative art
Generative music
Generative art
Generative music
Immersion (virtual reality)
Interactive art
Motion graphics
Music visualization
Photo manipulation
Pixel art
Render art
Software art
Systems art
Textures
Tradigital art
Via Art
Types of Digital Art
5. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
mainframe personal computing mobile devices
PLATFORMS
WWW
ARPANET to INTERNET
6. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
PREHISTORY
(The Swingin’ Sixties)
(AND A HALF THE SEVENTIES)
8. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
INVENTIONS
1963
MOUSE
(Englebart)
BEFLIX (Knowlton)
VIDEO DISK
1962
SKETCHPAD (Sutherland)
SPACEWAR. First Computer Game
LED
1972
WORDPROCESSOER (WordStar)
ODYSSEY GAME CONSULE (Magnavox)
1964
RAND TABLET
MOOG SYNTHESIZER
1969
UNIX
BARCODE SCANNER
1968
DYNABOOK
RAM (Robert Dennard)
FIRST COMPUTER WITH INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
ARPANET
1960
LASER
1965
COMPACT DISK
1970
FLOPPY DISK
1971
DOT-MATRIX PRINTER
LCD
VIDEO CASSETTE
MICROPROCESSOR
1973
ETHERNET
XEROX ALTO (PC)
1975
LASER PRINTER
9. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
EXHIBITIONS
1971
MANFRED MOHR. Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris.
1965
GENERATIVE COMPUTERGRAFIK. Stuttgart.
COMPUTER-GENERATED PICTURES. New York
COMPUTERGRAFIK. Stuttgart.
1968
CYBERNETIC SERENDIPITY. London.
SOME MORE BEGINNINGS. New York.
10. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
ARTISTS
1965
FRIEDER NAKE
1963
MICHAEL NOLL
LILLIAN SCHWARTZ
1969
MANFRED MOHR
1965
JOHN WHITNEY
1968
CHARLES CSURI
GEORGE NEES
TONY PRITCHETT
1975
HERBERT FRANKE
1971
EDWARD ZAJEC
1973
MARK WILSON
1974
VERA MOLNAR
11. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
PREHISTORY
GRAPHICS & MOTION GRAPHICS
12. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
1962: SKETCHPAD (Ivan Sutherland)
DEMO
COMUTER GRAPHICS
(Hardware/Software)
Features:
pop-up menus
constraint-based drawing
hierarchical modeling
lightpen utilized for interaction
13. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
1962: SKETCHPAD (Ivan Sutherland)
CAD
WACOM
TOUCHSCREENS
COMUTER GRAPHICS
(Hardware/Software)
Features:
pop-up menus
constraint-based drawing
hierarchical modeling
lightpen utilized for interaction
14. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
1962: SKETCHPAD (Ivan Sutherland)
CAD
WACOM
TOUCHSCREENS
TELEAUTOGRAPH
1883
15. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
1963: BEFLIX (Kenneth Knowlton)
DEMO
COMPUTER ANIMATION
(Programming Language)
Features:
Draw straight lines from dots
Draw curves
Copy region
Move region
Solid fill area
Zoom area
16. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
1963: BEFLIX (Kenneth Knowlton)
VIDEO
PIXILLATION
1963
Lillian Schwartz / Kenneth Knowlton
17. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT
ARTIST + ENGINEER
BELL LABORATORIES
USA
MOTION GRAPHICS,
SOFTWARE/HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT
MATHEMATICIANS
ACADEMIC
COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF ERLANGEN
STUTTGART
GERMANY
PLOTTER AND GENERATIVE WORK
18. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
ECHOES
Plotter Art and Previous Art Movements
19. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Ninety Parallel Sinusoids With Linearly Increasing Period
Michael Noll
1963
20. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Ninety Parallel Sinusoids With Linearly Increasing Period
Michael Noll
1963
CURRENT
Bridget Riley
1963
(OP-ART)
21. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Vertical-Horizontal No. 3
Michael Noll
1964
NUDE
DESCENDING
A STAIRCASE
Marcel Duchamp
1913
(Cubism)
22. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Computer-Generated Random Patterns Based on the Composition Criteria
Of Mondrian's Composition With Lines
Michael Noll
1964
COMPOSITION WITH LINES
Piet Mondrian
1917
(De Stijl)
23. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Nr. 7
Frieder Nake
1965
Nr. 2
Frieder Nake
1965
24. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Nr. 2
Frieder Nake
1965
The Rose Garden
Paul Klee
1920
25. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Nr. 2
Frieder Nake
1965
The Rose Garden
Paul Klee
1920
26. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Random War
Charles Csuri
1968
27. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Random War
Charles Csuri
1968
Andy Warhol
1962, 1965
28. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Cubic Disarray
Georg Nees
1968
29. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Cubic Disarray
Georg Nees
1968
Still Life with Harp and Violin
George Braque
1911
30. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
MAKING IT MOVE
Computation and Early Motion Graphics
31. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Flexipede
Tony Pritchett
1968
32. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Flexipede
Tony Pritchett
1968
33. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Permutations
John Whitney
1966
PROCESS
34. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
GOING INTERNATIONAL
First High Profile Exhibition
or
The (Late) Summer of (Cyber)Love
35. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Cybernetic Serendipity
ICA, London
1968
• computer generated work
• cybernetic devices-robots and painting machines
• machines demonstrating the use of computers and the history
of cybernetics.
36. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Cybernetic Serendipity
ICA, London
1968
• computer generated work
• cybernetic devices-robots and painting machines
• machines demonstrating the use of computers and the history
of cybernetics.
37. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Cybernetic Serendipity
ICA, London
1968
38. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
POST-SERENDIPITY
Algorithms, Color, and Access to Video
39. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Scratch Codes
Manfred Mohr
1969-1970
40. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Scratch Codes
Manfred Mohr
1969-1970
41. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
Scratch Codes
Manfred Mohr
1969-1970
53. TALAN MEMMOTT PhD
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
DIGITAL ART HISTORIES.1
The Artist and the Computer
Lillian Schwartz (interview)
1976
Notes de l'éditeur
To form any history, we need to know what the object, the subject is… For this talk I have tried to tie creative practices to computation… or computational outcomes to the art world. If we are going to consider the roots of digital art…. We should at least have some idea what art is to begin with… that proposition is problematic, in so far as art has meant different things at different historical moments, to different critics, movements and practitioners…. So, lets use a source to simplify…
Though this may seem clear enough… let’s see what happens when we consider movements and practices… Digital Art has been called all of the following…
Each of these having a specific for of development and output. So, despite an attempt a t simplifying… we end up with various complex models of practice… Perhaps then…
We can address platforms. How could this help???
Active time period in terms of the invention of technologies that are still in use, or were intitated… the mouse, ethernet, the internet… RAM, gaming consules, the word processor…
PREDICTS: CAD, TUCHSCREENS, THE WACOM PAD…. BUT….. IF WE CONSIDER THE NOTION OF COLLECTIONING HAND GESTURES…. THE CONCEPT IS NOT NEW… AND CAN BE TRACED BACK TO…
ELISHA GRAY’S TELEAUTOGRAPH, WHICH WAS INVENTED IN 1883… THE THE TECHNOLOGY IS ELECTRO-MECHANICAL, THE INTENT IS SOMEWHAT THE SAME…WITH, THE ADDED FEATURE OF BEING ABLE TO TRANSFER THE GESTURE ACROSS A NETWORK…
Taking advantages of how the plotter operates… In that it actually draws… unlike a printer, which scans… so, in plotter works the lines are in fact lines.
Replication.
Replication. And variation… the same cubic shape, slightly altered through computation and then reapplied. Redundant and decaying form…. And since these shapes have something to do with cubic space, with space… and that the process is analytical we could connect this work, aesthetically and proceduarally with…
Analytical cubism … Braque and Picasson…
Essentially, a loop…. The flexipede pulls in new units, extending itself, until the drop off the edge…
Not so much computer animation so much as computer assisted. The process is still rather mechanical
Though there had been smaller shows in Germany and Czechoslovakia, this was the first international show to draw major attention.
Despite the cutting edge and high brow intentions of the curators… the show itself was somewhat goofy… Norman Toynton---- playing with the idea of computerized spirituality, and sort of dystopic dehumanization or loss of soul. Timeliness! And the untimely…
Robots, installation work, film and animation, and music….
Artists such as John Cage, Nam June Paik, Gordon Pask…. To name a few… SAM …. Sound Activated Mobile… early example of truly responsive, interactive art.
Attracted over 60,000 people…
Lagorithmically determined graphemes… that mimic handwriting… the algorithms are based on onbservation of handwriting patterns, paying attention to individual characters and the transition from one to the next.
Much more sophisticated system than the early plotter works, though still technically produced in the same manner…The intent here is not only graphic…
But also linguistic… To a certain extent mirrors some work in visual poetry or concrete poetry… these TEXTS, if we want to call them that, could potentially be read.
In TVC, the main subject of invention is no longer the design of visual modules, but of procedural ones.
The focus is no longer on the geometry of projection,
but on the grammatical rules that delimit the possible combinations of the constituent elements.