.... Searching the net for my talk on the panel for the exhibition -I discovered a nice site based on a book on computer art (Artist and Computer) published in 1976 <http://www.atariarchives.org/artist/>

PAGE 62 is now available for download from the CAS website:
This issue covers the end of the CACHe Project and reviews our discoveries from the past three years, along with some thoughts for the future.
<http://www.computer-arts-society.org/page/index.html>

A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US
military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological
operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm>


-Art Science Interactions (Kinetic Art, Gyorgy Kepes, Maholy Nagy, CAVS, Leonardo, EAT)
-Musical Seriealism and Visual Constructivism (Chance and Surrealism)

Jasia Reichardt      

One of the most important early artistic exhibitions of computer art and digital installations was called Cybernetic Serendipity, which was held in 1968 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Organized by Jasia Reichart, it included most of the important contributors to the technology art world at the time, including Charles Csuri, Michael Noll, Nam June Paik, Frieder Nake, John Whitney, John Cage and others. Although it was not the first computer art exhibition, it is acknowledged as an important milestone in the recognition of this new medium in the art world.

Cybernetic Serendipity ran for two months and featured exhibits from 325 participants from around the world. They showed off the latest in computer graphics and some early computer-composed music. There were robots and drawing machines and the first computer sculpture.

The exhibition was the first of its kind in Britain and the curator Jasia Reichardt wrote that it showed how "man can use the computer and new technology to extend his creativity and inventiveness." It later travelled to Washington, DC and San Francisco between 1969-70.

read: Extracts from Cybernetics, Art and Ideas 1971
edited by Jasia Reichardt
background: The Computer in Art  London, Studio Vista 1971

Extracts from Cybernetics, Art and Ideas 1971 <Jasia%20Reichardt/cybernetics71.pdf">

Oct. 4, 1968
Can computers create? Maybe not, but many of their programmers have a lot of fun trying to make them behave as if they could. Some technicians feed a set of numbers into the computer which activates a mechanical arm which in turn plots designs on paper. Photographs, too, can be analyzed and stored in a computer's memory, then reorganized and distorted on electronic command. The results are often tantalizing facsimiles of op and pop. In addition, computers can be programmed to direct kinetic sculptures through any number of varied cycles. Indeed, so widely has the computer's brain been...

Significant events in the evolution of digital media

The driving force behind computer development in the 20th century is credited largely to research centres which were funded by large corporations who were able to finance the revolutionary projects which were to be undertaken. Three centres which were key to the creation and progression of digital art were the BTL (Bell Telephone Labs) in Murray Hill New Jersey, MIT (The Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and the Xerox Parc Centre in Palo Alto California. These three establishments were mainly responsible for pioneering the hardware and software that all computers use today.

1950s

Initially digital artists tended to be scientists and mathematicians, as the very first digital art (in the late 1950s and early 60s) was the biproduct of many experiments and investigations into computer capabilities.

The earliest recognised form of digital art is credited to Ben Laposky, for his work ‘Oscillons’ presented to the world in 1956 after beginning the work in 1950. Laposky used an oscilloscope to produce waveforms which were photographed as artwork. (An oscilloscope is a machine for viewing sound waves).

With 1959 came the advent of the very first computer drawing system, the DAC-1 (Design Augmented by Computers). Created by General Motors and IBM in a joint venture, it allowed 3D models of cars to be created and then rotated and viewed from any angle. This is particularly significant because we often think of 3D software as being a relatively modern development in computer software, when in fact it was one of the first.

1960s

Ivan Sutherland is often thought of as a pioneer of digital art, because between 1961 and 1963 his research at MIT produced one of the very first computer drawing programs: ‘Sketchpad’. Revolutionary in it’s time, the program made use of a light pen - a device which provided a more natural means of drawing by allowing the user to draw directly on the screen. In developing the software, Sutherland also devised many computer drawing techniques which became the foundation of future software, such as rapid creation of polygons, arcs and lines.

In 1963 US Journal Computers and Automation sponsored the very first digital art competition. Noteworthy winners were Michael Noll (US) in 1965, and Frieder Nake (Germany) in 1966 - both of which were early pioneers of digital artwork. Michael Noll’s first computer artwork and animations were created at BTL during 1962, and were later aquired by several American museums including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. Primarily a mathematician, Nake is most famous for his work involving colourful matrix multiplications. Although his pictures were created using mathematics they have a very distinctive artistic feel - especially when considering his very vivid use of colour.

Also during 1963 the first computer generated film was put together by Edward Zajec at BTL. It showed how the attitude of a satellite could be changed as it orbited the Earth - not particually art related, but it was significant because it was the first time someone had used a computer to create a film rather than a short animation - which had formed the basis of most of the digital art up unto this point.

As part of an experiment between 1963 and 64 a device would come into being which would allow much simpler and precise interaction between artist and computer. This device was the mouse: much less cost prohibitive than the light pen, yet more intuitive than keying in raw data. The man responsible for this was Dr Engelbart, whose other notable creation was the GUI (general user interface) - which in conjunction with the mouse would allow any person to use a computer in an intuitive graphical way with icons and menus, as opposed to using text commands which needed to be learnt.

1965 saw the first computer art exhibition, organised by and exhibiting the work of three early pioneers - two of which have already been mentioned. They were Frieder Nake, George Nees (both from Germany) and Michael Noll (American) - their exhibition was held at the ‘Technische Hochschule’ in Germany. Noll later exhibited (during 1965) alongside other artists including Bela Jules, at America’s first computer art exhibition held at the Howard Wise Gallery in New York

Charles Csuri's short film Hummingbird was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art for permanent collection in 1968. Csuri began his work in the field of digital art in 1963, one of his greatest accolades was winning the prize for animation at the fourth International Experimental Firm Festival in Brussels, in the year of 1964.

1969 saw the formation of SIGGRAPH - ‘Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics’, formerly the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery). SIGGRAPH was, and still is the the largest digital art/media organisation and promotes this area through the annual SIGGRAPH convention where individuals and companies go to showcase their latest work.

1970s