The MA DMA students were treated to a talk at the new V&A Digital Pioneers Exhibition with Honor Beddard, last week.  Digital Pioneers celebrates the impact of the computer in art in the last 50 or so years.

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. As computers became more accessible after WW2, the scientists and programmers who had initially been the operators of computers have been joined  by artists and designers in exploring the computers creative potential.

Homage a Paul Klee, 1965, Frieder Nake

What became apparent to me during our talk is that in the production of most digital artwork , there is a large aspect  of  chance vs control. Using programs, algorithms and random variables, these early pioneers were producing beautiful experimental imagery that, in my opinion, still looks fresh and quite stunning.  The fascinating ‘Homage a Paul Klee’ by Frieder Nake, 1965 may look simplistic, but is one of the most elaborate pieces of algorithmic art for its day. Roman Verosko’s plotter drawings such as ‘Manchester Illuminated Turing Machine #1′, 1998, are just beautiful and well worth seeing in a gallery setting.

'Manchester Illuminated Universal Turing Machine, #1', Roman Verostko, 1998

What’s interesting is the geometric, minimal aesthetic defined initially by the limitations of the technology more than 50 years ago, is a preferred and proven aesthetic by many designers and artists working presently. A lot of work produced in Open Source programs such as Processing, or Nodebox, or simply using Photoshop alpha channels and transparency settings, features very delicate, subtle imagery.

I know in my own practice, using Photoshop I’ll have an idea of what I want to achieve but I’ll allow Photoshop to process my images in unexpected and interesting ways. Like traditional artistic methods it is the ‘happy accidents’ that can be the most exciting.

AARON Digital Print, Harold Cohen, 2003

Further more, another aspect I have enjoyed exploring the digital artists, past and present, is the link between digital and traditional art processes and ideas. Harold Cohen, a painter, began experimenting with computers in the 1960’s. He concentrated on developing a programme known as AARON to generate works of art, with very painterly results. AARON was Cohen’s way of exploring whether successful imagery, underpinned by a codified system

Artist James Faure Walker’s ‘Dark Filament’, 2007 uses a mixture of digital technology in conjunction with physically painting on the canvas. He will manipulate imagery digitally, project it onto canvas, paint, scan and rework the image. Walker’s uses this process to achieve a layered, somewhat chaotic but, again, painterly effect.

It is was really good to finally see a coherent exhibition describing the history of computer/digital art and putting it in context with today’s digital art practice. It has also whet my appetite to explore further the relationship between traditional and digital artistic processes as well as the development from art of the past and it’s influence on the digital and contemporary works of art, today.