Investigation, Reflection & Expression
Informal Group Discussion relevant to the brief question
IS NEW MEDIA ART?
My investigation into this question led me down a number of research routes including..
PEOPLE:
Ivan Sutherland who developed ’Sketchpad in 1963
Sketchpad: A man-machine graphical
communication system
Ivan Edward Sutherland
September 2003
Electronic Edition: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-574.pdf
GYORGY KEPES
György Kepes (October 4, 1906 – December 29, 2001) was a Hungarian-born painter, designer, educator and art theorist. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1937, he taught design at the New Bauhaus (later the School of Design, then Institute of Design, then Illinois Institute of Design or IIT) in Chicago. In 1967 He founded the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he taught until his retirement in 1974. In 1965-66, Kepes edited a set of six anthologies, published as a series called the Vision + Value Series. Each volume contained more than 200 pages of essays by some of the most prominent artists, designers, architects and scientists of the time. The richness of the volumes is reflected in their titles: The Education of Vision; Structure in Art and Science; The Nature and Art of Motion; Module, Symmetry, Proportion, Rhythm; Sign, Image, Symbol; and The Man-Made Object.
In his lifetime, Kepes produced other books of lasting importance, among them Graphic Forms: Art as Related to the Book (1949); Arts of Environment (1972); and The Visual Arts Today (1960). He was also a prolific painter and photographer, and his work is in major collections. In recognition of his achievements, there is a Kepes Visual Centre in Eger, Hungary.
Quote from Kepes..
“Art Could age science through visualisation”
Laszlo Moholy-Nag
Quotes from Nagy..
“Books are an extension of the eye, clothes an extension of the skin, electronic systems an extension of the central nervous system & computers are an extension for the creative eye”
Computer Arts have been a fringe activity since the 1950’s
PLACES
NEW YORK DIGITAL SALON
1993 – 2008: Fifteen Years of Digital Art
2008 marks the 15th anniversary of the New York Digital Salon. Started in 1993 to provide an annual venue for digital art in New York City, the salon continues to be an advocate for using digital tools and technology to create art. As digital art becomes an ever-growing part of the contemporary art landscape, our mission is constantly evolving. Our goal of gaining exposure for digital art in New York City museums and galleries has been attained. While our primary efforts over the past fifteen years have been involved with organizing exhibitions, events, panel discussions and public lectures, we have decided to mark our anniversary by revamping our website into a comprehensive archive of our past exhibitions and activities, and to make it an online digital art resource. We will continue to present summer exhibitions in our 21 St. gallery, and keep the New York Digital Salon Touring Program alive, through exhibitions, events and public lectures in the United States and abroad. To date, the New York Digital Salon has been to Canada, Canary Islands, China, England, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Portugal and Spain. As we look forward, we see a new generation of artists who are growing up digitally literate. Their creative work will help define the future of contemporary art.
– Bruce Wands, Director, New York Digital Salon
Technocultures: The History of Digital Art, A conversation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Media_Lab
http://www.media.mit.edu/
EXAMPLES
Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s. Known to have worked in Quantel Paint Box – Graffiti Artist. Andy Warhol who used an amiga to produce works of Deborah Harry
EXHIBITIONS
Digital Pioneers on display at the V&A
The results of a joint research project between Birkbeck and the Victoria and Albert Museum go on display from 7 December. Digital Pioneers is one of the outcomes of The Computer Art and Technocultures Project, which is a major study of the history of Computer Art, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Digital Pioneers provides an overview of the first decades of the computer's history in art and design. It includes some of the earliest computer-generated works in the V&A’s collections, many of which have never been exhibited in the UK before.
The display includes plotter drawings, screenprints, digital inkjet prints, photographs and animations, as well as important documentary material from the time.
Dr Nick Lambert, the project's Principal Investigator based in the Department of History of Art and Screen Media, said: "This exhibition shows how artists first began using the computer as a medium, leading directly to the complex animations and digital imagery that surrounds us today. We see here the birth of a whole new area of art."
The exhibition features pioneers such as Frieder Nake, Georg Nees and Herbert W. Franke. It progresses from the 1950s to the 1990s with Paul Brown, Harold Cohen, Manfred Mohr and Vera Molnar. The show also encompasses more recent works by James Faure Walker, Jean Pierre-Hébert, Roman Verostko and Mark Wilson.
Digital Pioneers offers a historical context for contemporary digital practice, and is scheduled to coincide with the V&A exhibition Decode: Digital Design Sensations. Digital Pioneers is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and individual donors.
7 December 2009 – 25 April 2010
V&A Museum, Julie & Robert Breckman Prints and Drawings Gallery, Room 90 and Paintings, Room 88
