Research in Digital Art

Not since the arrival of the camera has something come along to change the style of art making's possibilities on such a grand scale as digital art. Digital art captures an artistic work or practice that uses any form of digital technology as part of its creation or presentation process. As the digital age began its march into the world between 1950 and 1970, it was only a matter of time before artists would grasp its progressive technologies for their own creative output. As with all new mediums, artists began to use these bold new innovations of society, including television, the introduction of the personal computer, the accessibility of audio and visual software, and eventually the internet, into works of their own. Although digital art is not recognized as a distinct movement, we will no doubt continue to see it unfold into an ever-changing landscape, making itself an alternative to traditional means of art making for a post-millennial society.

Art and Technology, The Beginning

In 1967, a group was formed created by engineers Billy Kluver and Fred Waldhauer, and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman. This group was then named “EAT” which was short for (Experiments in Art and Technology) and its aim was to promote the collaboration between art and the world of technology. They created installations and performances which involved innovative electronic systems, including electrical circuity, video projection, Doppler sonar, and wireless sound projection. This was a good step as it gave good groundwork for this type of art which embraced and explored the technological progress.

The EAT experiments represented the connection between artists and technology that would have never happened without them. They directed the canons of Conceptual art, Experimental noise music, theatre from eras of Dada, Performance art and the happenings of the 1960s into the revolutionary digital age. The first widely known piece was created in the 1960s in the scientific research company Bell Labs where the founder of EAT Billy Kluver worked. The piece was made by Kenneth C. Knowlton who was a computer graphics specialist. His work was a photograph of a young nude woman and he turned the image into computer pixels.

The Beginnings of the Internet

When the internet was a big hit around the 1990s, this was a big deal for everyone but it also helped a lot of Digital artists become more skilled and helping them become more noticeable. It allowed artists to begin learning new mediums which involved combing words, images, audio and video files. The internet helped create a new type of movement in some peoples eyes which were different from Digital Art, this was called Internet Art or Net. Art. But it was usually linked with the Digital art movement which was getting bigger and bigger because of the advantages of the new technology which was being created and developed. The internet was a great help for people to speak and communicate easier which allowed the artists to come together and easily create work all from their own computer screen which was impossible for artists in the past as they could never communicate or interact with other artists around the world.

Exploring the Internet

When the internet started becoming bigger and bigger a lot of artists used this to further their work so that they could become more noticeable or viral in internet terms. This soon became a big Artistic medium for artists. Take Justin Kemp Psuedo Event 2008, in which viewers would scroll horizontally to view a collage of photos taken at ribbon-cutting events.

Concept and Styles

The Digital Arts definition can be very broad as there are many different types of styles and work but it usually involves work that has a Digital aspect or has technological means. This is some of the main categories I have found.

Digital Sculpture

Digital Art can also take a physical form which is usually created with sculpture. One of the most famous works was “Nam June Paik collections of televisions in Electronic Superhighway” This work I found very interesting and the colors really burst out of the screen and the tv screens also work well. The size of the piece reminds the viewers to consider the way which technology is a powerful but often unseen presence in our life’s. Many digital sculptures take the physical parts of technology with less obvious digital abilities. Trevor Paglen and Jacob Applebaum's work “Autonomy Cube (2014) is both a sculptural object and an open-access Wi-Fi hotspot, while Maurizio Bologinis “Programmed Machines (1992) have the screens hidden making the viewer focus on both the physicality of the machines and their programs which run unseen.

Computer Generated Imagery

When computers first came about, artists used their unique Technology and programming systems to Update their artwork. Frieder Nakes “Hommage a Paul Klee 13/9/65 Nr.2 (1965) was the first piece created using a computer process. The piece looks like just a normal Drawing, but there were technological steps between the artist and the final image. Fifty Years later, as computer graphic software began being sold in the market, artists started using these programs from the advertising and graphic design industries, allowing them to make their own work.

Art on Screen

Most digital artworks are produced in a format that can only be viewed on a screen, meaning that the artworks can’t exist without the technology it supports. On the other hand, a piece that is around YouTube or an internet browser is often commenting on our shared experience of the internet and uses the interactive landscape of the web. Petra Cortright is known for her early uses of animated graphics that play on top if her Live YouTube Channel in which she is involved in, blending the real and make-believe.

Interactive Digital Installations

Interactivity has been a big part of Digital Art, Bruce Wands an Author who wrote a book called “Art of the Digital Age (2006) was quoted saying that the “Creative Possibilities of interactivity and the development of immersive environments were both given a large boost by the arrival of computers in installation art, which allowed artists increased control over the interactive experience and access to cyberspace and virtual worlds." This meaning that many artworks could be made so that the viewer can feel a full the whole life like experience. In 2012 an Artist Collective Random International created a piece named “Rain Room” an experimental installation where the viewer was in a room that had rainwater falling, they were followed by 3D trackers, which had been programmed to stop the fall of the rainwater wherever the visitor was standing, this meaning the viewer could witness a rainstorm without ever getting wet. Something which could never have been created without the assistance of Digital technology. The piece encouraged viewers to consider the relationship between Man, Nature, and Machine. Internet as Medium Digital Art tools are available to literally anyone now with every person having a computer in their home, and the artists who used the internet for their work forged a new environment within the art world. This allowing their work to be seen outside of a traditional gallery and giving them, a wider cultural reach giving them more exposure to the world. But some artists used the internet as a marketing tool to upload project on personal websites, one artist Cao Fei, created a universe on the virtual reality Platform “Second Life” as a work of art, her work “RMB City,2008” was an open public space for experiential creative studies, letting filmmakers, designers, artists, and other creators to build an ever-changing world that pushed the boundaries between virtual and physical life. Interactive technologies allowed social media and user-generated content to be shared easily and people to be able to showcase and edit work in so many different ways. literally, anyone now with every person having a computer in their home, and the artists who used the internet for their work forged a new environment within the art world. This allowing their work to be seen outside of a traditional gallery and giving them, a wider cultural reach giving them more exposure to the world. But some artists used the internet as a marketing tool to upload project on personal websites, one artist Cao Fei, created a universe on the virtual reality Platform “Second Life” as a work of art, her work “RMB City,2008” was an open public space for experiential creative studies, letting filmmakers, designers, artists, and other creators to build an ever-changing world that pushed the boundaries between virtual and physical life. Interactive technologies allowed social media and user-generated content to be shared easily and people to be able to showcase and edit work in so many different ways.