The Computer in Art

Abstract

Computers entered the world of art by the back door. They emerged as art instruments in two guises: as machines for making pictures and as tools in the building of responsive sculptures and environments. During the 1960s, it was the scientists who made the pictures and the engineer/artists who made the cybernetic sculptures. Randomness was an essential aspect of the game and the artists (all those making pictures with computers were eventually declared artists), and their audience too, watched in eager anticipation as figures and patterns appeared in printout or on CRT displays. Computer art, or computer graphics as it was also called, developed through three stages during the past 40 years. The first consisted of black and white abstract patterns, attempts at figuration and morphing. The second stage aimed to rebuild recognizable nature from pixels. The third was to turn that carefully constructed nature into fantasy. Screen-bound computer art has become part of daily life. This is not the case, however, with electronic sculptures, art robots, and environments. They still occupy a special territory of their own. Of course, no trend can continue unimpeded without a reaction and it's no wonder that gestures against sophisticated technology should emerge from the undergrowth.