Digital Art- Birth and Developement

Digital Art uses computer technology in the creation of both traditional and non-traditional art objects. The history of Digital Art has been shaped by the steady development of computer science and technology in academic and research environments. We could not have the one without the other. We can trace the roots of Digital Art from the earliest(1945) conceptual Memex, a desk with translucent screens that would browse documents and create its own trail through documentation, and allow for microfilm reading and direct data entry. Though never built, it was the conceptual ancestor of the Internet, and it led to the creation of ENIAC(1946), the first digital computer, and UNIVAC(1951), the first commercially available digital computer. In the 1940's Norbert Weiner's "cybernetics"(ie: computer+brain/different communication and control systems) studies formed the basis to understanding the man-machine symbiosis. In 1961, around the time the Internet originated, Theodore Nelson coined the terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia" to describe the space of writing and reading where texts, images, and sounds could be electronically inter-connected by anyone contributing to a networked "docuverse"; a hyperlinked environment where users choose their own path. In 1968, Iavn Sutherlan and Douglas Engelbart introduced bitmapping(connection between electrons flowing through a computer processor and the image on the screen), windows, and direct manipulation through the mouse. Finally in the 1970's, Alan Kay created the Graphic User Interface and the "desktop" metaphor (made popular by MAC).
Digital Art is connected to the Dada movement, Fluxus, and conceptual art in that these movements emphasized formal instructions, and focused on concept, event and audience participation. These ideas of rules as a process to create art resemble the algorithms that from the basis for software and computer operations(formal instructions that accomplish a result in a finite number of steps). The ideas of interaction and 'virtuality' in art were explored early on by Marcel Duchamp and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in relation to objects and their optical effects. Duchamp's optical machine invited viewer participation to see the effect unfold, while Moholy-Nagy's kinetic light sculptures, and his idea of virtual volume (outline of a trajectory presented by an object in motion) influenced numerous digital installations. Duchamp influenced a shift from object to concept; his work a predecessor of the 'virtual object' as a structure in progress, and the appropriation and manipulation of copied images that play a dominant role in digital art. Raymond Queneau and Francois Le Lionnais of OULIPO, the French literary and artistic association founded in 1960, would argue that all creative inspiration should be subject to calculation and become an intellectual game, experimented with concepts of combination, and compare to reconfigured media elements in later computer-generated artworks.
The events and happenings of Fluxus (international group of artists, musicians, and performers)in the 1960's also were often based on execution of precise instructions, and used a fusion of audience participation and event later seen in some interactive, event-based computer artworks. John Cage, an admirer of Duchamps', composed music in the 1950's and 60's that incorporated pre-existing, "found" sounds. (called sampling today?). An element of controlled randomness emerges from all of these(Dada, OULIPO, Duchamp, and Cage)points to one of the most basic principles of digital medium : random access as a basis for processing and assembling information.
Earliest computer art included Michael A. Noll (Bell labs) (Gaussian Quadratic) exhibited in 1965 in new York with works by Bekla Julesz, Goerg Nees, and Frieder Nake (digital abstract drawings). John Whitney, Charles Csuri, and Vera Molnar investigated computer-generated transformations of visuals through mathematical functions, with Whitney considered the 'father of computer graphics' and a pioneer of computer film-making (experimented in creating effects). Csuri in Hummingbird, created a landmark of computer animation(used IBM with punch cards; amazing).
In 1966 Billy Kluver founded Experiments in Art and Technology(EAT), which led to collaborations between engineers and artists(and scientists, programmers, and researchers). Such collaborations became characteristic of digital art. Artists such as Andy Warhol, Robert Raushenberg, jean Tinguely, John Cage, and Jasper johns created some joint projects(seen at World Expo 1970). Bell Labs became a greenhouse for artistic experimentation.
Predecessors of today's digital installations(what is a digital installation?) were first exhibited in the 1960's, ranging from plotter graphics to light and sound environments, and sensing robots. Some focused on machines and transformations (painting machines, pattern or poetry generators); others explored interaction and open system as a post-object(translation please). American art historian and critic Jack Burnham explored a systems viewpoint focused on the creation of stable, on-going relationship between organic and non-organic systems (ahh, english. in other words fusion of man plus machine?)
Using new technology (video and satellites), artists in the 1970's experimented with live performances and used networks, which anticipated our "streaming media" broadcasts of video and audio on the Internet today. They ranged from the use of satellites for mass dissemination of T.V. broadcasts, to video teleconferencing and exploration of real-time virtual space that collapsed geographical boundaries. Throughout 1970's artists, musicians, and dancers used interactive satellite transmissions of events and live feed composite performances.
In the 1970's and 80's, painters, sculptors, architects, printmakers, photographers, and video and performance artists increasingly experimented with computer imaging. Work ranged from object-oriented work to pieces that incorporated dynamic and interactive aspects(process-oriented virtual object). Expanding on Fluxus and conceptual art the work challenges traditional notions of artwork, audience, and artist. Artwork is an open structure in process, and relies on a constant flux of information and engages viewer/participant like a performance would.
Digital art collapses boundaries between disciplines-art, science, technology, and design. Science Fiction writers imagine things that compel recreation in reality. In Necromancer by William Gibson(pub. 1984), 'cyberspace' is coined to describe a data world and network that people experience as an organic information network. Also, Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash
inspires virtual spaces being created today.
In the late 1990's, Digital Art made its official entry into the art world in museums and galleries, and new exhibition spaces were devoted solely to the art form. Digital art is expensive to show, requires constant maintenance (what and why?), and therefore the success of an exhibit depends on the efforts of the institution to maintain it. Yet art created for the Internet does not need a museum, so should Internet access to art be in public places? or in private?(Internet art requires privacy over a long period of time-explain?) It should not be separated so it can be seen in context with traditional art?
The idea of collecting Digital art is problematic due to its availability to all. It can be sold if it consists mostly of software. If a museum collects it, it stays on view for all. ?????????
Digital art has been called ephemeral and unstable as it requires so much effort to maintain. Preservation strategies include emulators(you can recreate software or operation systems) and migration (upgrade to the next version of hardware/software). Preservation will require standardization. Will Digital art have a permanent home in museums and art institutions, or exist in different contexts?