Digital art is an umbrella term for a range of
artistic works and practices that utilize
digital technology. Since the 1970s
various names have been used to describe what is now called digital
art including
computer art and
multimedia art but digital art is itself
placed under the larger umbrella term
new
media art.
The impact of digital technology has transformed traditional
activities such as
painting,
drawing and
sculpture,
while new forms, such as
net art, digital
installation art, and
virtual reality, have become recognized
artistic practices. More generally the term digital artist is used
to describe an artist who makes use of
digital technologies in the production of
art. In an expanded sense, "digital art" is a term applied to
contemporary art that uses the
methods of mass production or digital media.
Examples of digital art
Image:WORLD SKIN (2).JPG|
World Skin (1997),
Maurice Benayoun's virtual reality
interactive installationImage:Dombis vitry 12 605px.jpg|view of
digital art installation by
Pascal
DombisImage:Roy-csnewskool.png|Newschool ASCII
ScreenshotImage:Courchesne LandscapeOne.jpg|
Landscape One
at the 1999 Ars Electronica
FestivalImage:E.Fisher-Heather-in-Nervepool.jpg|
ZOACODE:
COMFORT THE LINKLESS: Zoacode contemplated by Heather
Marandola in the Hyperhive of the Nervepool by
Ebon FisherImage:jjn.jpg|
Joseph Nechvatal Orgiastic
abattOir 2004 computer-robotic assisted acrylic on canvas
(
digital
painting)Image:wiki.Picture by Drawing Machine
2.jpg|thumb|Picture produced by Drawing Machine 2Image:Mandel zoom
00 mandelbrot set.jpg|Initial image of a Mandelbrot set zoom
sequence with continuously coloured environmentImage:RVB group
shot.jpg|A scene from
Rooster Teeth Productions' popular
machinima series Red vs. Blue: The
Blood Gulch ChroniclesImage:chimeraobscura2002.jpg|Installation
by
Shawn Brixey of
Chimera
Obscura at the Gene(sis) Exhibition (2002)Image:Wiki.picture
by drawing machine 1.jpg|Picture by drawing machine 1,
Desmond Paul Henry, c.1960sImage:CAVE
Crayoland.jpg|The
Cave Automatic Virtual
EnvironmentImage:Wires_1.jpg|
Image by Perry Welman, a
computer generated image that combines traditional
painting with
algorithm
artImage:John F. Simon Jr. ComplexCity.jpg|
ComplexCity
by
John F. Simon Jr. 2000.
Software, Macintosh Powerbook G3 and acrylic. 19 x 16 x 3 1/2
inches.Image:Loops-still.jpg|
Loops (still frame) by
The OpenEnded
GroupImage:Sandro_Bocola_Nude.jpg|
Nude by
Sandro Bocola Multiple for xartcollection,
1970
Various aspects of digital art
Digital production techniques in visual media
The techniques of digital art are used extensively by the
mainstream
media in advertisements, and
by film-makers to produce
special
effects.
Desktop publishing
has had a huge impact on the publishing world, although that is
more related to
graphic design. It is
possible that general acceptance of the value of digital art will
progress in much the same way as the increased acceptance of
electronically produced music over the last three decades.
Digital art can be purely computer-generated (such as
fractals and
algorithmic
art) or taken from other sources, such as a
scanned photograph
or an image drawn using
vector
graphics software using a
mouse
or
graphics tablet. Though
technically the term may be applied to art done using other media
or processes and merely scanned in, it is usually reserved for art
that has been non-
trivia
modified by a computing process (such as a
computer program,
microcontroller or any electronic system
capable of interpreting an input to create an output); digitized
text data and raw
audio and
video recordings are not usually considered digital
art in themselves, but can be part of the larger project of
computer art and
information art. Artworks are considered
digital painting when created in
similar fashion to non-digital
paintings
but using
software on a computer platform
and digitally outputting the resulting image as painted on
canvas.
Digital photography and image processing
Digital Photography and digital
printing is now an acceptable medium of creation and presentation
by major museums and galleries. But the work of artists who produce
digital paintings and digital
printmakers is beginning to find acceptance, as the output
capabilities advance and quality increases.
Internationally, many
museums are now beginning to collect digital art such as the San
Jose Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum
print department also has a reasonable but small
collection of digital art. One reason why the established
art community finds it difficult to accept digital art is the
erroneous perception of digital prints being endlessly
reproducible. Many artists though are erasing the relevant image
file after the first print, thus making it a unique artwork.
The availability and popularity of
photograph manipulation
software has spawned a vast and creative library of
highly modified images, many bearing little or no hint of the
original image. Using electronic versions of brushes, filters and
enlargers, these "neographers" produce images unattainable through
conventional photographic tools. In addition,
digital artists may manipulate scanned
drawings,
paintings,
collages or
lithographs,
as well as using any of the above-mentioned techniques in
combination. Artists also use many other sources of electronic
information and programs to create their work.
Computer generated visual media
There are two main paradigms in computer generated imagery. The
simplest is
2D computer
graphics which reflect how you might draw using a pencil and a
piece of paper. In this case, however, the image is on the computer
screen and the instrument you draw with might be a tablet stylus or
a mouse. What is generated on your screen might appear to be drawn
with a pencil, pen or paintbrush. The second kind is
3D computer graphics, where the screen
becomes a window into a
virtual
environment, where you arrange objects to be "photographed" by
the computer. Typically a 2D computer graphics use
raster graphics as their primary means of
source data representations, whereas 3D computer graphics use
vector graphics in the creation of
immersive virtual reality
installations. A possible third paradigm is to generate art in 2D
or 3D entirely through the execution of algorithms coded into
computer programs and could be considered the native art form of
the computer. That is, it cannot be produced without the computer.
Fractal art,
Datamoshing,
algorithmic art and
Dynamic Painting are examples.
Computer generated 3D still imagery
3D graphics are created via the process of designing complex
imagery from
geometric
shapes,
polygons or
NURBS curves to create 3
dimensional shapes, objects and scenes for use in various media
such as film,
television, print,
rapid prototyping and the special visual
effects.There are many
software programs
for doing this. The technology can enable
collaboration, lending itself to sharing and
augumenting by a creative effort similar to the
open source movement, and the
creative commons in which users can
collaborate in a project to create unique pieces of
art.
Computer generated animated imagery
Computer-generated animations are
animations created with a
computer, from digital models created by the artist
. The term is usually applied to works created entirely with a
computer. Movies make heavy use of computer-generated graphics;
they are called
computer-generated imagery (CGI)
in the film industry. In the 1990s, and early 2000s CGI advanced
enough so that for the first time it was possible to create
realistic 3D computer
animation, although
films had been using extensive computer images since the mid-70s. A
number of modern films have been noted for their heavy use of photo
realistic CGI.
Digital installation art
Digital installation art constitutes a broad field of activity and
incorporates many forms. Some resemble video installations,
particularly large scale works involving
projections and
live video capture. By using projection
techniques that enhance an audiences impression of sensory
envelopment, many digital installations attempt to create immersive
environments. Others go even further and attempt to facilitate a
complete immersion in
virtual
realms. This type of installation is generally
site specific,
scalable, and without fixed
dimensionality, meaning it can be
reconfigured to accommodate different presentation spaces.
Noah Wardrip-Fruin's interactive
new media art piece entitled
"Screen is an example of digital installation art. To
view and interact with the piece, a user first enters a room,
called the "Cave," which is a virtual reality display area with
four walls surrounding the participant. White memory texts appear
on the background of black walls. Through bodily interaction, such
as using one's hand, a user can move and bounce the text around the
walls. The words can be made into sentences and eventually begin to
"peel" off and move more rapidly around the user, creating a
heightening sense of misplacement.
"In addition to creating a new form of bodily interaction with text
through its play, Screen moves the player through three reading
experiences — beginning with the familiar, stable, page-like text
on the walls, followed by the word-by-word reading of peeling and
hitting (where attention is focused), and with more peripheral
awareness of the arrangements of flocking words and the new (often
neologistic) text being assembled on the walls.
Screen was first shown
in 2003 as part of the Boston Cyberarts Festival (in the Cave at
Brown
University
) and
documentation of it has since been featured at The Iowa Review Web,
presented at SIGGRAPH 2003, included in Alt+Ctrl: a festival of
independent and alternative games, published in the DVD magazines
Aspect and Chaise, as well as in readings in the Hammer Museum
's HyperText series, at ACM
Hypertext 2004, and in other venues."
List of digital artists
Citations
References
- Donald Kuspit The Matrix of Sensations VI:
Digital Artists and the New Creative Renaissance
- Paul, Christiane (2003). Digital Art (World of Art
series). London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20367-9
- Frank Popper (1997) Art of the
Electronic Age, Thames & Hudson
- Christine
Buci-Glucksmann,(2002) La folie du voir: Une esthétique du
virtuel, Galilée
- Lev Manovich (2001). The Language of New Media Cambridge,
Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-63255-1
- Charlie Gere, (2002) Digital
Culture, Reaktion ISBN 978-1861891433
- Edward A. Shanken, Art and Electronic
Media. London: Phaidon, 2009. ISBN 9780714847825
- Wands,
Bruce (2006). Art of the Digital Age, London: Thames
& Hudson. ISBN 0-500-23817-0.
- Ryan Bliss Artist Biography
Digital Blasphemy 3D Wallpaper
Further reading
- Cynthia Goodman Digital Visions, Harry N. Abrams
1987
- Frank Popper, From Technological to Virtual Art, MIT
Press/Leonardo Books, 2007
- Frank Popper Ecrire sur l'art :
De l'art optique a l'art virtuel, L'Harmattan 2007
- Joline Blais and Jon Ippolito
At the
Edge of Art, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2006
- Digital
fine art
- Donald Kuspit
"Del Atre Analogico al Arte Digital" in Arte Digital Y Videoarte,
Kuspit, D. ed., Consorcio del Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid

- Robert C. Morgan Digital Hybrids, Art
Press Volume #255
- Alan Liu The Laws of Cool, Chicago Press
- Bruce Wands Art of the Digital Age, London: Thames
& Hudson
- Donald Kuspit The Matrix of Sensations VI:
Digital Artists and the New Creative Renaissance
- Lieser, Wolf. Digital Art. Langenscheidt: h.f.
ullmann. 2009
- Christiane Paul.
Digital Art (World of Art series). London: Thames &
Hudson. 2003 ISBN 0-500-20367-9
- Peter Weibel and Shaw, Jeffrey,
Future Cinema, MIT Press 2003, pp. 472,572-581, ISBN
0262692864
- Christine
Buci-Glucksmann, "L’art à l’époque virtuel", in Frontières
esthétiques de l’art, Arts 8, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2004
- Wilson, Steve Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and
Technology (MIT Press/Leonardo Books) ISBN 0-262-23209-X
- Margot Lovejoy Digital
Currents: Art in the Electronic Age Routledge 2004
- Fred Forest Art et
Internet, Editions Cercle D'Art / Imaginaire Mode
d'Emploi
- Lev Manovich, Ten Key Texts on
Digital Art: 1970-2000 Leonardo - Volume 35, Number 5, October 2002,
pp. 567-569
- Dick Higgins, ‘Intermedia’ (1966),
reprinted in Donna De Salvo (ed.), Open Systems Rethinking Art c.
1970, London: Tate Publishing,
2005
- Nicolas Bourriaud, (1997)
Relational Aesthetics, Dijon: Les Presses du Réel, 2002,
orig. 1997
- Rainer Usselmann, (2003) "The Dilemma of Media Art: Cybernetic
Serendipity at the ICA London",Cambridge, Masschusetts:
The MIT Press/Leonardo Journal - Volume 36, Number 5, October 2003,
pp. 389-396
- Rainer Usselmann, (2002) "About
Interface: Actualisation and Totality",University of
Southampton Press
- Charlie Gere, (2006) White Heat, Cold Logic: Early British Computer Art,
co-edited with Paul Brown, Catherine Mason and Nicholas Lambert,
MIT Press/Leonardo Books
- Mark Hansen, (2004) New Philosophy for New Media
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
- Oliver Grau, (2003) Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion
(Leonardo Book Series). Cambridge/Mass.: MIT-Press.
- Joseph Nechvatal (2009)
Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances. LAP Lambert
Academic Publishing
- Fleischmann, Monika, Reinhard, Ulrike (2004) (eds.):
Digital Transformations Media Art at the
Interface between Art, Science, Economy and Society. Fraunhofer IAIS - MARS –
Exploratory Media Lab and whois, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN
3-934013-38-4. And on netzspannung.org platform for Media Art &
Electronic Culture.
- James Faure Walker (2006) Painting the Digital River: How
an Artist Learned to Love the Computer, Prentice-Hall (USA).
ISBN 0-13-173902-6
- Fred Forest (2008) Art et
Internet, Editions Cercle D'Art / Imaginaire Mode
d'Emploi
- Robert C. Morgan, Commentaries on the New Media Arts
Pasadena, CA: Umbrella Associates,1992
- Sarah J. Rogers (ed), Body Mécanique: Artistic Explorations
of Digital Realms, Columbus, Ohio, Wexner Center for the Arts,
The Ohio State University, 1998
- Joe Nalven and JD Jarvis "Going Digital: The Practice and
Vision of Digital Artists," Thompson Course Technology, 2005