While the artistic and technical temperaments are often viewed as opposites, the techniques of artists have always shown an intimate awareness of technology, including the physical characteristics of the artist’s tools and media. The development of computer technology capable of generating, manipulating, displaying, or printing images has offered a variety of new tools for existing artistic traditions, as well as entirely new media and approaches.
Computer art began as an offshoot of research into image processing or the simulation of visual phenomena, such as by researchers at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, dur-ing the 1960s. One of these researchers, A. Michael Noll, applied computers to the study of art history by simulat-ing techniques used by painters Piet Mondrian and Bridget Riley in order to gain a better understanding of them. In addition to exploring existing realms of art, experiment-ers began to create a new genre of art, based on the ideas of Max Bense, who coined the terms “artificial art” and “gen-erative esthetics.” Artists such as Manfred Mohr studied computer science because they felt the computer could pro-vide the tools for an esthetic strongly influenced by math-ematics and natural science. For example, Mohr’s P-159/A (1973) used mathematical algorithms and a plotting device to create a minimalistic yet rich composition of lines. Other artists working in the minimalist, neoconstructivist, and conceptual art traditions found the computer to be a com-pelling tool for exploring the boundaries of form.
By the 1980s, the development of personal computers made digital image manipulation available to a much wider group of people interested in artistic expression, including the more conventional realms of representational art and photography. Programs such as Adobe Photoshop blend art and photography, making it possible to combine images from many sources and apply a variety of transformations to them. The use of computer graphics algorithms make realistic lighting, shadow, and fog effects possible to a much greater degree than their approximation in traditional media. Fractals can create landscapes of infinite texture and complexity. The computer has thus become a standard tool for both “serious” and commercial artists.
Artificial intelligence researchers have developed pro-grams that mimic the creativity of human artists. For exam-ple, a program called Aaron developed by Harold Cohen can adapt and extend existing styles of drawing and paint-ing. Works by Aaron now hang in some of the world’s most distinguished art museums.
An impressive display of the “state of the computer art” could be seen at a digital art exhibition that debuted in Boston at the SIGGRAPH 2006 conference. More than 150 artists and researchers from 16 countries exhibited work and discussed its implications. Particularly interesting were dynamic works that interacted with visitors and the environment, often blurring the distinction between digi-tal arts and robotics. In the future, sculptures may change with the season, time of day, or the presence of people in the room, and portraits may show moods or even converse with viewers.
Computer art began as an offshoot of research into image processing or the simulation of visual phenomena, such as by researchers at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, dur-ing the 1960s. One of these researchers, A. Michael Noll, applied computers to the study of art history by simulat-ing techniques used by painters Piet Mondrian and Bridget Riley in order to gain a better understanding of them. In addition to exploring existing realms of art, experiment-ers began to create a new genre of art, based on the ideas of Max Bense, who coined the terms “artificial art” and “gen-erative esthetics.” Artists such as Manfred Mohr studied computer science because they felt the computer could pro-vide the tools for an esthetic strongly influenced by math-ematics and natural science. For example, Mohr’s P-159/A (1973) used mathematical algorithms and a plotting device to create a minimalistic yet rich composition of lines. Other artists working in the minimalist, neoconstructivist, and conceptual art traditions found the computer to be a com-pelling tool for exploring the boundaries of form.
By the 1980s, the development of personal computers made digital image manipulation available to a much wider group of people interested in artistic expression, including the more conventional realms of representational art and photography. Programs such as Adobe Photoshop blend art and photography, making it possible to combine images from many sources and apply a variety of transformations to them. The use of computer graphics algorithms make realistic lighting, shadow, and fog effects possible to a much greater degree than their approximation in traditional media. Fractals can create landscapes of infinite texture and complexity. The computer has thus become a standard tool for both “serious” and commercial artists.
Artificial intelligence researchers have developed pro-grams that mimic the creativity of human artists. For exam-ple, a program called Aaron developed by Harold Cohen can adapt and extend existing styles of drawing and paint-ing. Works by Aaron now hang in some of the world’s most distinguished art museums.
An impressive display of the “state of the computer art” could be seen at a digital art exhibition that debuted in Boston at the SIGGRAPH 2006 conference. More than 150 artists and researchers from 16 countries exhibited work and discussed its implications. Particularly interesting were dynamic works that interacted with visitors and the environment, often blurring the distinction between digi-tal arts and robotics. In the future, sculptures may change with the season, time of day, or the presence of people in the room, and portraits may show moods or even converse with viewers.
Implications and Prospects
While traditional artistic styles and genres can be repro-duced with the aid of a computer, the computer has the potential to change the basic paradigms of the visual arts. The representation of all elements in a composition in digi-tal form makes art fluid in a way that cannot be matched
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by traditional media, where the artist is limited in the abil-ity to rework a painting or sculpture. Further, there is no hard-and-fast boundary between still image and anima-tion, and the creation of art works that change interactively in response to their viewer becomes feasible. Sound, too, can be integrated with visual representation, in a way far more sophisticated than that pioneered in the 1960s with “color organs” or laser shows. Indeed, the use of virtual reality technology makes it possible to create art that can be experienced “from the inside,” fully immersively (see vir-tual reality). The use of the Internet opens the possibility of huge collaborative works being shaped by participants around the world.
The growth of computer art has not been without mis-givings. Many artists continue to feel that the intimate physical relationship between artist, paint, and canvas can-not be matched by what is after all only an arrangement of light on a flat screen. However, the profound influence of the computer on contemporary art is undeniable.
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