Computational Art's Contemporary Development

When did digital art become mainstream?

In the 1960s, art museums finally paid attention to digital art as they started creating digital art acquisition teams. In 1968, one of the first international exhibitions, “Cybernetic Serendipity” at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London was devoted to the relationship between the arts and new technology.

Cybernetic Serendipity Exhibition poster, Institute of Contemporary Art,1968

This groundbreaking exhibition presented the interactions between artists and science and scientists and art. Focusing more on possibilities than achievements, it showcased how ‘cybernetic devices’ had been employed by artists, composers, and poets and the makers of those devices.

The Digital Age (or Information Age) truly began when personal computers became more accessible and came the subsequent development of various technologies.

Xerox Alto, 1974

In 1973, Harold Cohen created AARON: a series of computer programs that generated art autonomously. It was perhaps the world’s first “AI” powered drawing machine, where AARON constituted “a severely limited model of human cognition”, yet the few primitives it embodied proved to be remarkably powerful in generating highly evocative images: images, that are, that suggested, without describing, an external world.”

Harold Cohen with an Installation at San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007

AARON, a machine taught to draw, was a predecessor of many drawing machines to come next with more advanced, autonomous abilities that did not need human intervention.

Beloved Pop Art Icon Andy Warhol dealt with drawings on a different type of machine too: Amiga Floppy Disks.

Commodore Amiga computer equipment used by Andy Warhol, 1985-86 Hardware, Andy Warhol Museum

Created in collaboration with Commodore - creator of Amiga, Warhol used the computer software ProPaint to make a series of digital drawings including a Campbell’s soup can, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, and flowers. These artworks only surfaced 30 years after their creation- and had to be reverse engineered to be recovered. There was no modern equipment that could easily read these floppy disks. Talk about how far we’ve come… These early computer-based artworks are indeed a testament to Warhol’s engagement with and embrace of new technology.

Campbells, 1985

Venus, 1985

Flower, 1985

Andy2, 1985

As computing power increased, 2-dimensional graphics became 3-dimensional. From computer-generated imagery (CGI) to 3D modelling and 3D rendering: artists could now make any images they imagined feel and look even more real.

Kenneth Snelson’s 3D graphics allowed him to reimagine impossible architectural ideas into surreal sculptures grounded in the delicate processes of engineering. Snelson’s “computer images” are recreations of real work, titled ‘Forest Devil ’ in Pittsburgh (which has since been relocated).

Forest Devil, 1977, relocated to Carnegie Museum of Art Theater

Forest Devils’ Moon Night, 1989, Photograph

The digitally rendered Forest Devils’ Moon Night has an added dimension of other-worldliness especially with the addition of a seemingly vast landscape, punctured by thick protrusions in almost outer space.

Lines are truly blurred when James Faure Walker presented a series of drawings where one could not tell where the hand-drawn line began or where the machine-drawn line ended. A process that involves the hybridization of technology and tradition resulted in wildly abstract paintings where viewers occasionally mistook physical elements to be digital, and digitally-made elements to be physical.

Blue Bowls, 2002, 58 x 58 cm, archival Epson inkjet

The 1990s was truly when digital entered the mainstream as art transcended into contemporary practices and the popular realms of video games, animations, and digital imagery.

Internet-based work harnessed the novel power of the World Wide Web and was able to amass audiences anywhere, as there was no need for a physical space for it to be displayed. In 1994, Heath Bunting created “Kings Cross Phone-In”, a simple web page listing the phone numbers for all the pay phones in London’s King’s Cross Station along with a date and time for people to call. He suggested that people “call and have a chat with an expectant or unexpectant person,” “answer the phones and chat,” or just “do something different.” The results were often unexpected, based on chance encounters between participants and unknowing commuters.

Kings Cross Phone-In, 1994, Online Archive

Yael Kaneraek’s “World of Awe”,1995 -ongoing, combined texts (love letters written by cyborgs), 3D models and landscapes, and full soundscapes to deeply immerse visitors in “a journal of a traveller in search of lost treasure”. As you enter the browser, you are free to explore the desktop interface and discover pieces, or “entries”, that present an immersive narrative. Over the years, the site has developed into a densely packed, breathtaking narrative.

World of Awe, Chapter 1, 2000

No one is estranged from the myriad of video games, memes, and animations that have shaped popular culture. And each one of us can list a favourite game or movie, and perhaps even the style of animation and software used. Yet many have been confused by digital art’s latest development: NFTs. It was easier to understand the rise of the Internet than cryptocurrency, blockchain, and tokens. While there is enough of a consensus that digital art is in fact art, NFTs on the other hand led us to question their place in the art world.

Does the value of NFTs lie in their form as an asset, or as a medium that deals with topics of ownership, authenticity, and scarcity?

Beeple, Everydays – The First 5000 Days NFT, 21,069 pixels x 21,069 pixels (316,939,910 bytes). Image courtesy of the artist and Christie’s.

The buyer of Beeple’s $69 million NFT wasn’t too interested in the actuality of the work itself, as he paid for it without previewing the auction lot. Nevertheless, this was the seminal moment that catapulted NFTs into the mainstream and opened new ways of presenting artworks while re-igniting age-old questions.

What is art, in the NFT age?

Ape #1 of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club, 2021

Despite skepticism about digital art’s newest development, pioneer digital artists recognize the blockchain’s potential. Artist Herbert W Franke believes that “volatility and divisiveness” of blockchain technology are “appropriate descriptions”, but was never an issue for himself as an artist, as such skepticism was also given to the development of computers (and with any new development, essentially). Franke released his mathematical art series “MONDRIAN”, in NFT format with Tezos, and presented them at Art Basel 2022.

Herbert W Franke (1927- 2022)

Franke passed away on the 16th of July, “knowing there is a community of artists and art enthusiasts deeply caring about his art and legacy,” as his wife Susanne announced to his community of 15 thousand followers on Twitter.

Most contemporary artists are still expressing themselves through traditional media while breaking new grounds respectively. In parallel, a growing number of them are turning to experiment with digital art, to unlock new artistic possibilities, while tapping into a new un-gated audience, with an appetite for NFTs.

It is fair to say that we have only scratched the surface of what is technically and artistically possible to create with NFTs. This is why we look forward to the development of new technologies as digital art pioneers did and as the pioneers of photography and video art did before them. But technology aside, if there is one reason why NFTs are making a dent in the history of art, it is because of their impressive ability to reach out to a new, massive audience that would not have connected with what the art world has been offering otherwise. NFTs are a formidable engine of artistic expression and democratization.

It is apt to conclude our brief history of computational and digital art with the words of Sylvain Levy, from the eponymous DSL Collection: "Art should be seen, and for that to happen it needs to speak the language of its time."

What do you think of our history of digital art so far? Where do current technologies stand in the face of art, and how can artists and audiences be further included in its development?

If you enjoyed our brief dive into the history of Digital Art, look out for our weekly editions of Artist Spotlight on our social media channels, where we share the best of digital art and its creators.

For NFTs debunked: https://www.blockmeister.com/post/what-is-a-nft-arcane-mystery-revealed

For NFTs from an artistic perspective: https://www.blockmeister.com/post/art-that-speaks-the-language-of-the-time

A Brief History of Computational Art

Over the past few years, digital art has become a new magnet for contemporary artists willing to push boundaries. Its many names: computer art, digital art, media art (and more)- tend to generally refer to the use of technologies to assist its creations. These technologies have also enabled social networks, Web 2.0, and the information society we live in. Digital art is thus highly diverse and manifests itself in a variety of forms such as space art, time-based art, data-supported art, and mixed realities. While it is often associated with NFTs, its origin begins much earlier than one might imagine: in the mid-20th century.

Before everyone could afford a personal computer that fits in their pocket (aka a smartphone), “computers” were essentially ginormous calculators that filled up an entire room to function. To own one was a luxury: few were manufactured and they were extremely expensive. So expensive that most who needed one ended up renting them. In the 1950s, UNIVAC leased a total of 43 computers for a hefty $130,000 each per month (in current dollars equivalent). Only large institutions such as the military, universities, and corporations could afford such fees. Hence the first digital artists were mathematicians and the first “computer engineers”.

ENIAC, 1946, University of Pennsylvania, first functional digital computer

In 1950, American mathematician Ben F. Laposky manipulated waves on analog computers via an oscilloscope. Oscilloscopes are laboratory equipment used to display and analyze the waveform of electronic signals. By experimenting with the electronic beams, circuits, and generators, Laposky was able to manipulate the signals into geometric abstract forms. These “oscillons”, or “electrical compositions” as Laposky refers to them, were then photographed with high-speed film and displayed as images. These images eventually toured 200 venues in a travelling exhibition in 1953. The electrical waveforms were one of the pioneering graphics generated using an electronic machine, which paved the way for many artists who followed after.

Oscillon 40, Photograph, 1952, Victoria & Albert Museum

Composite Oscillons, Photograph, 1960, Victoria & Albert Museum

A few years after Laposky’s experiments came the late Austrian physicist and scientist Herbert W. Franke’s ‘Analog pendular oscillograms’. An analog device built for Franke to calculate multiple plane curves, produced blurred lines photographed using a camera moving to and fro. Franke could alter the curves by using a mixing console that gave him some degree of control over the image’s appearance, thus forming an image that occured on multiple planes- a pioneering achievement from Laposky’s waveforms over two plane points.

Analog-Grafik P1 (Pendular Oscillogram), Print, 1970, Victoria & Albert Museum

Franke also explored generative graphics based on mathematical principles. In 1979, he collaborated with Texas Instruments to create ‘MONDRIAN’, a software that could produce Mondrian-style images according to user-defined parameters. These adjustable parameters included the size, the alignment, or the colour compositions. ‘MONDRIAN’ became one of the first tools for interactive computer art.

Still from Serie Mondrian, 2009, Rhizome.org

Franke’s early digital art has remained a legacy. Franke’s experimentations over seven decades have seen iconic series such as ‘ Drakula (1970/71)’, ‘Cellular Automata (since 1992)’ and ‘lissajous figures (since 1998)’. More recently, at the age of 95, Franke joined Tezos in releasing NFT editions of ‘MONDRIAN’. The iconic artist passed away on 16th July 2022, just weeks after his NFT debut at Art Basel 2022.

Drakula 17A-71, 1970

Cellular Automata #6, 1992

Other pioneer computer artists include Manfred Mohr, who gave rise to a new wave of generative artworks. Mohr’s artistic process included the writing of algorithms that could bring his visual ideas to life. Since 1973, Mohr formulated the rules and various mathematical procedures to generate plotter drawings- whose results had often surprised the artist himself.

P-128, “sphereless”, computer-generated algorithmic plotter drawing, ink on paper, 1972

Computer-aided processes had also developed into drawing programs by Desmond Paul Henry and Frieder Nake.

Henry’s (1921-2004) mechanical drawing machines were adapted from WW2 bomb-sight computers that relied on the ‘mechanics of chance’. It includes capturing the motions of the computers on paper, which eventually were produced as abstract, curvilinear, repetitive line drawings left untouched to preserve the spontaneous element of the machine.

One of Henry’s Drawing Machines

Frieder Nake’s (b.1938) controlled software drawings, on the other hand, defined the parameters for randomness in order to create meaningful “aesthetic information”. The computer is treated as a tool for deeper exploration into aesthetic phenomena, creating graphics dedicated to exploring the extent of computer-generated art.

13/9/65 Nr. 2 ("Hommage à Paul Klee"), 1965, Ink on Paper, compArt daDA

From the world’s first digital computer to oscilloscope graphics, WW2-borne drawing machines, and algorithms powered by the exploration of maths and science, highlight the depth of computational art history. These pioneering achievements were deeply interwoven with one another. The initial developments would leave a lasting impact on the next generation of computational artists, and the sub-genres of computer art explored.

Up next: Digital Art enters the mainstream.

Can art galleries attract a new generation of digitally-savvy collectors?

Commenting on the recently announced Pace and Art Blocks partnership, Marc Glimcher, President, and CEO of Pace told ARTnews that his priority was to connect his artists to new collecting communities.

While the partnership shows confidence in the long-term prospects for digital art, it underlines a bigger challenge for art galleries: How to reach out to new types of collectors?

We took the opportunity of our presence in Basel to conduct a short, preliminary review of the social media presence of a sample of 18 galleries participating in Art Basel 2022.

Our objective was to assess how solid their social media foundation was, as a springboard for investment into new digital offerings and initiatives that could appeal to new audiences, with a focus on Asia and digitally-savvy collectors.

View our white paper here: WhitePaper.pdf

These are our preliminary findings. Our ambition is to trigger conversations and open new possibilities for art galleries that are keen to grow beyond their comfort zone. We will be working on delivering a more statistically robust and extensive study soon.

Should you happen to be in Basel this week, we’d love to discuss whether these preliminary findings match your experience. Do not hesitate to reach out.