Digital art

Digital art is visual art created using computer technology. It includes digital sculpture, digital cinema, digital fine art, digital illustration, and digital architecture. Digital art may utilize any amount of digital technology during its creation or in its presentation.

Digital art changed the way art is created and provided new ways for people to experience art. Sound, light, and video can all be incorporated into installations. Digital art can also be much simpler, requiring only a television or computer screen, and can easily be transmitted electronically. This transition has helped many artists bypass traditional representation and gallery presence; some use crowdsourcing to fund their art and may use social media to share their work. Early digital artists were interested in the juncture of art and technology. The medium was not only a way to manipulate and create art, but was often used as a means of social commentary.

Brief History

Digital art can trace its roots back to the dawn of the information age in the 1950s. For the first time, television was readily available in people’s homes; in the span of a few decades, personal computers also became an integral part of daily life. Audio and visual software became increasingly common. The development and availability of new technology eventually drew the interest of members of the art community. The digital art movement began in 1965 when some artists began experimenting with computers.

As more technology emerged and advanced, a group of artists and engineers decided to form a collective to foster the connection between art and technology. Engineers Billy Kluver and Fred Waldhauer and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman formed Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT) in 1967. The collaborators incorporated Doppler sonar, electrical circuitry, electronic systems, video projection, and wireless sound projection in their art. While not all the EAT installations and performances qualified as digital art, the collective fostered further development through its openness to new technology. The boundaries between art and science were swept away.

Kluver was employed in the Bell Labs scientific research company in New Jersey. A computer graphics specialist who worked with Kluver at Bell Labs created the first piece of widely recognized digital art in 1966. Kenneth Knowlton used a photograph of a young woman to create an image composed of computer pixels. His Young Nude bridged the gap between historical art traditions and the twentieth century. The traditional nude figure was brought into the information age and rendered in pixels.

Far less traditional digital art projects followed. In 1969, for example, Allan Kaprow created Hello. This was not a static work; it was an experience involving multiple people interacting through television monitors. Other artists used early computers, television, and radio to create works and comment on the increasing connectivity technology was allowing. Some artists saw these societal changes as beneficial, while others seemed to warn of encroachment on personal privacy.

Major advancements during the 1970s further inspired artists. The Apple II computer, for example, was the first personal computer that could be used to create color graphics. The modem, developed in 1979, opened up data transfer possibilities. During the 1980s, computer animation developed rapidly. Artists began using this type of software to create their own works. Adobe introduced design software programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator.

Nam June Paik, video artist and author, coined the term electronic superhighway in 1974 to describe the new means of communication and broadcasting. A decade later, in 1984, he broadcast an installation on live television using satellite transmission. Good Morning, Mr. Orwell demonstrated the extent to which the electronic superhighway was influencing digital art and society.

Digital art advanced further with the widespread availability of the internet that developed during the 1990s. Artists began using the internet to create and disseminate works. One such work used hyperlinks, which viewers clicked through to reveal the artist’s narrative. The work, My Boyfriend Came Back from the War (1996), was created by Olia Lialina. While this is an example of digital art, many critics began to view internet art (net.art) as a new and separate artistic movement.

Digital art involves many subcategories. For example, art on the screen may involve television monitors, such as Good Morning, Mr. Orwell, or images and sounds shared on an internet browser or a video sharing platform like YouTube. The meaning of the work itself often dictates the interactive or static technology the artist chooses. These works do not exist without the framework of the digital screen. Digital sculpture encompasses art presented digitally with a sculptural framework. Nam June Paik’s Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii (1994), for example, is a mountain of televisions—one for almost every state—showing video clips. The enormity of the work speaks to the prevalence of technology in daily life. Digital sculpture also includes 3D images created digitally, whether they remain in electronic form or are rendered in physical form. Some digital works are primarily about interactivity. Such immersive experiences include the 2012 Rain Room, created by the artist collective Random International. The group created a rainstorm in a room, while 3D trackers followed visitors and stopped the rainfall wherever the person was standing. This meshing of natural phenomena controlled by technology allowed visitors to experience the rainstorm while remaining dry, creating an unnatural experience.

Many digital artists also create computer-generated imagery. The first to use an algorithm to make art was German artist and mathematician Frieder Nake. In 1965, he measured early twentieth-century artist Paul Klee’s High Roads and Byroads (1929), using the proportion and the relationship between the horizontal and vertical lines to create an algorithm. Nake also introduced random variables so the computer would have to make choices. Computers did not have screens that could display the images, so Nake used a pen plotter, a mechanical device that draws a pen across paper under the computer’s control. The resulting work, from which he created prints, is called Hommage a Paul Klee, 13/9/65 Nr.2.

Artists have increasingly used the internet as a medium as well. For example, in 2008, Cao Fei created RMB City, a virtual universe on the virtual reality platform Second Life. Other artists, designers, and filmmakers, have further built upon her creation. Artists have also created their own installations on personal websites and used social media in other creative ways.

Some artists move freely between digital and traditional art. British artist David Hockney, for example, has worked in painting, printmaking, drawing, watercolors, and other media. In his eighties, Hockney embraced digital art for the potential for experimentation. He picked up an iPhone and taught himself to paint digitally. He had to experiment and relearn techniques, such as how to blend and fade colors and how to create brushstrokes using his finger. He moved on to an iPad, which he found easier to use. Because of the ease with which he could zoom in and out on his digital works, Hockney found himself paying even more attention to detail than he had while using paint. He also experimented with digital photography. Hockney frequently included artworks within the artworks, expanding on the perspective photography allows.

Overview

Many art historians divide digital art into two categories. Object-oriented artworks are those that use digital technologies as tools to create otherwise traditional forms of art, such as prints, paintings, photographs, and sculptures. Process-oriented visuals are those that are created, distributed, and stored digitally—without the technology, they are inaccessible or essentially do not exist.

Object-oriented artworks may include digital painting, digital photography, digital collage, and digital sculpture. The latter may be designed using a computer and turned into a physical object. However, if it remains a 3D digital image, it is likely classified as a process-oriented visual. Digital installations, including immersive works, may be both object-oriented and process-oriented artworks.

The digital sphere readily lends itself to mixed-media work. Computers can combine still and moving images, alter sound and light, incorporate snippets of photographs, and much more. Typical process-oriented objects include internet and networked art. These works explore the workings of networks and computing structures. All works created for internet distribution are process-oriented objects.

Some artists use programming languages to create works. These may involve an artist setting up a concept, creating the necessary code, and sitting back to see the images the computer generates. In some cases, visitors influence the art by their presence, bringing the viewer in as a collaborator.

Areas in which digital art is increasingly important are video games and film. Digital images such as cities and characters are regularly created for such projects. The visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) in San Francisco pioneered digital media development. The company was founded by director George Lucas in 1975 to work on the visual effects for his groundbreaking 1977 film, Star Wars. ILM assembled a small team of artists, engineers, and scientists in its computer division during the 1970s. This team broke barriers in digital media. It found unexpected new ways to alter audio, graphics, and video.

In the twenty-first century, digital artists began incorporating virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) into their artwork, creating ever more immersive experiences for viewers. Such technology is capable of blending digital elements with the physical world, allowing for engaging installations that can be experienced through smartphones and VR headsets. Further, virtual galleries and exhibitions allow for a global audience to experience art in a fully immersive environment. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) also impacted the art world. Artists use AI to generate unique artwork using algorithms. Such tools can make sophisticated artistic techniques accessible to a wider audience and have led to a surge in new talent in the digital art world. However, critics contend that AI-generated art cannot be considered "real" art because it lacks the creativity and authenticity that human artists bring to their work. Some also argue that the rise of AI-generated art could put artists out of work.

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