art - art, code, and the engine of change

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Closeup of core memory device, ca. I960.The distance etween heringssroughly mm.(photograph yH.J. ommer II,Professor fMechanicalngineering,enn tateUniversity,licensed nderCreativeCommonsAttribution.5)

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TheAnalyticalngine as nopretensionsooriginatenything.It cando whatevereknow ow oordert to perform.- AdaByron, LadyLovelace

Thefinal bstract xpressionf veryrt s number.- Vasily Kandinsky,Concerninghe piritualnArt

Welcome to the RegimeWhen was aboy, ackn the 1960s,my atherookme totheuniversitycomputerenter. sawcorememoryhat ook pahuge, esk-size odule.One bitwas adonut-shape agnet,nemillimetercross,hat couldhaveheld

betweenhumbndforefinger.his epresentedhe undamentalPaulHertz

Art, Code,and theEngineofChange

unit f thehumanrtifacthat lan uring eferredo asa "universalmachine."Sincehen, ne bit f torage as shrunkodimensionssovanishinglymallt eemsmoredea than bject. omputershave ecomeevices t onceubiquitousndpracticallynvisible.Microprocessorside nplain ightncars ndkitchens.igitalcommunications

panhe

globe.he

personalomputernd the

internetreonly hemost bvious ites fcomputationalechnology.verymediumearstsmark, sdo the lothes e wear nd the oodwe eat. tperme-ates ur ociety,etwe areoddly bliviouso t.For while, verythingewandwonderfulas"digital" now the erm licits ittlemore han yawn,heconsumer'sltimateevenge.ike he ishn theZenkoan,e swim utdo notknow hemeaningfwater.

Thehistorianf ciencend iteraryritic . Katherineaylesrgues hatcomputationalechnologyas becomeo interwovenn ourexperiences toshift hevery onceptsywhichwearray urworld,onstituting"regimefcomputation"hat ervadesll ourcommunicationsndby xtensionurentireculture.2f hedigitals sopervasiveandnotonlyHaylesspersuasiveext ut

also the exturefeverydayife n our ociety,riticallybserved,onfirmshatit s thenwhy on'twesee tsmanifestationsnd effectsverywherencon-temporaryisualrt? he turdyvant-gardef themodern ra eemedo havean endlessppetiteormachineesthetics:itness he ult f peednFuturism,the ndustrialormsfConstructivism,he pace-timeeometryfCubism,rthe bsurd ntiart achineriesfDada.s the omputerifferentrom thermachines?hat id artists o with t when t first ppeared?ave omputerartists ade uniquendfruitfulontributionoarthistory?f o,why re heylargelybsent romtandardrthistories?s the omputerransformingrt ustas thas transformedther spectsf the world invisibly?

Inresponseo such uestions,heMaryndLeigh lockMuseumtNorthwesternniversityrganizedhe xhibitionmagingy umbers:Historical

Viewf he omputerrint,ndisplayrom anuary8 oApril , 2008.Asmallerexhibitionf omputernstallations,pace,olor,ndMotion,an oncurrentlyt themuseum.4Patterns,ixels,ndProcess:iscussingheHistoryf theComputerPrint," daylongymposiumith nvitedrtistsnd cholars,ook lace nFebruary6, 008.CuratedyDéboraWood,enior uratort theBlock,ndme,an artist nd ndependenturator,magingy umbersxaminedhehistorynd

The sourcesof the epigraphs: daByron, adyLovelace,romNote Gin her ranslationf LuisMenabrea,ketch f theAnalyticalnginenventedbyCharlesabbageGeneva,1842). Byron(1815-1852),mathematicianndscientist,s

regarded s the author f the first computerprogram,"orBabbage'smechanicalomputingdevice.Vasily andinsky,oncerninghe piritualinArt 19 2), rans.RalphManheimNewYork:Wittenborn, chultz, 947),73,quotedinAnn H.Murray,ComputerGraphicsn HistoricalPerspective,"nArtistndComputer,d. RuthLeavittNewYork:Harmony ooks,1976),vail-ableonline t www.atariarchives.org/artist/.I See AlanTuring,ComputingMachineryand ntelligence,"ind 9,no.236(1950).Turing escribes computationalnginenowcalled UniversaluringMachine)apableofimitatingny ther omputationalngine hatoperates by ransformingne discrete tateinto nother iscrete tate.2. N.Katherine

ayles,MyMotherWas a

ComputerChicagoandLondon:UniversityfChicagoPress, 005).3.Seewww.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/exhibitions/past/imaging.html.4. CuratedbyDéboraWood,Space,Color,andMotion eaturedigitalmedianstallationsbyfive rtists hosecomputer rints ereshown in ImagingbyNumbers.

59 art ournal







criticalmpactf omputerrt hroughhemedium f he omputer-generatedprint, ith articularttentiono the ioneersnthe ield.he erm computerart"wasncommon senthe arly ays f hemedium,nd houghome rtistsalreadyoundt ooconfining,rom hehistoricalerspectivef he xhibitiontseemed he est escriptiveerm.sthas atelyeendisplaced y ermsuch s"electronicrt" r "newmedia,"eavingomputerrt s "the mbryonic anifes-tation f ontemporaryewmedia" orome esearchers.6magingy umbersconstructedhe ignificancef omputerrt omewhat ifferently:s a sourceof till-livelydeas riginatingnscientificisciplinesnd vant-gardert ractices.As estimonyo the iabilitynd volutionfpioneeringdeas,he xhibitionincludedigital rints y ontemporaryrtists.

Pioneers f omputerrt ave egularlyoted invaryingones fresigna-tion, efiance,r complainttheneglectf omputerrt n the art fmuse-ums,galleries,rt istorians,ritics,ndmainstreamrt ublications.nexplor-ing he elevancef omputerrt o contemporaryisualrt, he uratorsadtoconfrontheack f n adequateecord ithin tandard rt istories. numberof onferencesnrecent ears ave egun orectifyhis ituation,otably ithinthewider ontext f stablishingnart-historicaliscourse n the elationship

of rt, echnology,nd cience.7tmust e said, oo, hat rt istory asbegun obe seen s onemore isciplineithin hewider tudy fvisual ulture.houghrevisionr outrighteinventionf rt istory asbeen n entrenchedracticeinthemodernistvant-gardend commontrategynpostmodernistriticism,the urators f magingy umbersere ess oncerned ith trategiesor ver-throwingrt istoryrpromotingheoriesf rt han with pening pthe ieldofpossibilitiesor iscussingontemporaryisualulture.he owvisibilityfcomputerrt nthe ontemporaryrtworld that s, nmuseums,alleries,ndcollectionshas ess o do with heegitimacyf omputerrt hanwith hepeculiarormationf he rtmarketnd ttitudesowardechnologyuring helingeringecline f hemodernistvant-garde.nceweknowwhere o directour ttention, ediscover wealth fdocumentationncomputerrt, ncludingits xchangesith istoricalrtmovements.

Computerrt irst mergedrom cientificndengineeringaboratories.Its riginsnfluencedts arly evelopmento much hat uth eavitt,nher1976refaceoArtistnd omputer,egan yreflectingn "the nion f rt ndsciencencomputerrt."8n the arliest alleryhows fcomputerrt, racti-cally oneoftheworksxhibited ere yprofessionalrtists.9ather,hey ereby cientistsndengineersho haddiscoveredhe otentialf computersomake rt. ut et noone think hat he workswere onsequentlynsophisticatedInEuropeomputerrtists ook art n a livelyhilosophicalebate n therelationshipf nformation,ommensurability,rder, ndaestheticleasure,inwhichMaxBensenStuttgartndAbraham olesnPariswere articularlyinfluential.omputerrtists lsoworked ithin wide-rangingonstructivisttendencynCentralndWesternuropeanountries, ith omeofthemostnotable howsakinglacenZagreb.10n theUnitedtates,he ost-World arIIdecadesweremarkedy competitiventerestnscience osteredy he oldwar nd fascinationith echnologyithin n expandingonsumerociety.ExperimentsnArt ndTechnologyE.A.T.),oundedn 1966y he ngineersBilly lüvernd FredWaldhauerndthe rtists obert auschenbergndRobert

5.See,for xample,GeneYoungblood,AMediumMatures: heMyth f ComputerArt,"in SIGGRAPH1983 Exhibitionf ComputerArt(NewYork:Association orComputingMachinery,983),n.p.;DonnaCox,"The Taoof Postmodernism:omputerArt, cientificVisualization,nd Other Paradoxes,"nLeonardo,Supplementalssue , "ComputerArt n Context:SIGGRAPH 89Art how Catalog" 1989):7-12;and HaroldCohen,"Off heShelf," heVisualComputer(1986):191-94. Fordifferent easons,eachauthor egardsheword"computer"s anencumbrance hathinders he recognitionf artproduced n a computer s art, irst ndforemost.6. For heterms, ee LevManovich,Avant-gardeasSoftware,"nArtnodesBarcelona:UniversitätObertade Catalunya,002),available nline twww.uoc.edu/artnodes/eng/art/manovich02/manovichOO2.html.orManovich,ew-mediaart rrives s the computer ecomes a mediadistribution achine, .e.,with he nternet.For"embryonic anifestation,"ee GrantTaylor,TheMachine That MadeScience Art: TheTroubled

History f ComputerArt 1963-1989

(doc. thes.,Universityf Western Australia,004),availableonline t http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2OO5.OII4/.7.See theessays byMariaFernandez, arkoFritz,and AnneCollinsGoodyearfrom hepanel"Media ArtHistories:imes ndLandscapesI,"at the Refresh onference Banff ew MediaInstitute,eptember 8-October 12005),whichexamine ome ofthe reasonsfor he marginaliza-tion f the art-and-technologyovementncanonicalrt-historicaliscourses.Rep.Leonardo4 1 no. 2 (2008):160-83,with ntroduction yEdwardA. Shanken.8. Leavitt, reface, rtist ndComputer.9. Howard WiseGallerynNew York ndNiedlichsallerynStuttgart, ermany, oth n

1965,and in the 1968

Cybernetic erendipity tLondon'snstitute f Contemporary rts.10.From 1961 o1973Zagreb'sContemporaryArtGallery today heContemporary rtMuseum)rganized iventernationalxhibitionsunder he titleNewTendencies.he fourth xhibi-tion n 1968ncluded n internationalolloquium,"Computersnd VisualResearch,"ndthe aunchof thescholarlyournal it nternational.

60 SPRING 2009







Whitman,romotedollaborationsmong rtists,ngineers,nd scientists.StudiesnPerceptionbyKenKnowltonndLeonHarmon rom ellLabs,robablythe irst computerude,"was exhibitednRauschenbergs studio just neofmany xchangesssociatedith .A.T. heCenteror dvanced isual tudiesatMassachusettsnstitutef Technology,oundedyGyörgyepes, rovidedcollaborativenvironmentor cientistsndartistsnd alsoproducedwide-rangingody f theory,speciallyn nterdisciplinaryreas f design. mportantshows ook lacenKansasity ndLosAngeles.11nmany espects,arlyexhibitionsf rt ndtechnologyutshonefforts f recent ecades.

Probablyecause twasexperimentaln ts rigins ndnotproducedsacommoditynthe rtmarket,omputerrt ould ontinue hemodernistro-ject fexploringhe ormalualitiesfvisualrt, ven s the ritiquef uthor-ity ndoriginalityhat ame o beknown spostmodernismismantledhe oreideasofthemodernistvant-garde.ne could rgue hat ome onstructivisttendenciesncomputer raphicsesembledinimal rt r processrt nappear-ance nd ntent: n aestheticared own othebone, hat resentsatherhanrepresents.n this ontext,hework f VeraMoinar, hostates hat he was"programming"er rt efore heever sed computer,sespeciallyesonant.12However,rgumentsbout urfacend upport,r whether work f rt anbeexperienceds neither ainting or culptureut s an object,r be altogeth-erdematerialized,indittle cho ncomputerrt,which endsoappearntraditionalormats.3Manyrtists nd scholarsave ointed utthe imilaritiesbetweenomputerrt nd Conceptualism.14ode relatesodigitalrtworkmuch sconceptelatesoanaloguertwork althoughodenot nly escribesthework,tproducest.Leavittotes he trong ffinitiesetweenomputerart nd works y he onceptualistsenniferartlettnd Sol LeWitt, orwhom"the dea becomesmachinehatmakes rt."15. MichaelNoll"insistedhat hetruework f rt was thegeneratingrogramatherhan he omputer-generatedobject."'6oll andFrieder akeboth xploredhe ossibilityfcapturingrtis-tic tyles ith omputationalethods.escribingiscollaborations apro-

grammer ith is wife, he rtist olette angertAmerican,orn1934),CharlesangertAmerican,orn1938)tated:Softwares ourmedium."'7Suchtatementspenthewayfor radical econfiguringf rtistic racticesawayrom bjectsnd toward the deasunderlyinghe reationndreceptionof rt";'8 evertheless,arly omputerrtists eemnot ohave aunchedpolemics gainstmodernistormalism.nconfrontinghe rtworld, erhapsthey eltessof needto deconstructuthorityhan oacquiret.And here asstill o much o discovernthemedium.

Ascomputing achinery oved romabs ouniversities,omputerciencedevelopeds anacademicisciplinehat ttractedmavericksrom lldepart-ments,"ccordingo GraceHertlein.'9rtistsound nichen thenewdiscipline,where heyouldworkn anatmospheref nterdisciplinaryollaboration,ut-

side rt-marketompetition.ournalsnd cholarlyssociationsor omputersciencesuallyncludedracksor rt. n the pirit f the imes,rtists oulddotheir wn thing.hefact hat heir orkwas on the echnologicaldge eemedtoargue, or rtistsnd cientistslike,hatt lsorepresentedn artistic an-guard.his deaprobablyeservedebunking,otbecauseomputerrt ailed opresentignificantewdeas, utbecause heualitieshatwere een s radical

1 TheMagicTheatern 1968 t the Nelson-AtkinsMuseum,ansasCity,Missouri,xhibited orksby ight rtists orkingn rt nd technology.eeGeorgeEhrlich,The Magicheatre' Exhibition:AnAppraisal,"rt ournal9,no. I (Autumn1969):40-44. ArtndTechnology,t the LosAngeles ountyMuseumf Art,May1 - August29,197 presentedworks rom three-year ro-gram, irected yLACMA'senior urator fmodern rt, Mauriceuchman,hatplacedartistsin ndustrialorporationsoproduce rt-and-tech-nologyworks.Eightf the participatingrtistswererepresentedn he NewArts xhibitiont theUSPaviliont Expo70 inOsaka,Japan.12.VeraMoinar:Monotonie,symétrie, urprise,ed.WulfHerzogenrathndBarbaraNierhoff,exh.cat. Bremen:Kunsthalleremen, 006)14.13. ee, for xample,Michaelried, Art ndObjecthood,"Artforum,ummer1967,whichoffers contrarian iew oftheobjectsof DonaldJudd, obertMorris,ndotherpractitionersfMinimalrt.14.Thecomputer-generatedoetic experimentsofJacksonMacLow,AlisonKnowles,nd otherartists ssociatedwith luxus rovide ne fairlydirect onnection.15.Leavitt,eferencingolLeWitt, ParagraphsonConceptualArt,"Artforum,une 967.Exploringherelevance fConceptualrt o soft-wareart, heartist aseyReasrestaged hreeLeWitt rawingss algorithmicrocessesfor heWhitneyMuseum'srtport, vailablenline thttp://artport.whitney.org/commissions/softwarestructures/map.html.16.Cynthia oodman,Digital isions:omputersasArt, xh. cat. Syracuse,NY:EversonMuseumofArt, ndNew York:Abrams,1987),24.17.Quotedin Patrie rince,ntroduction,heSecondEmergingExpressionBiennial:The Artist ndtheComputer,xh. cat. NewYork:BronxMuseumf the Arts,1987),20.18. EdwardA.Shanken,Art n the nformationAge:TechnologyndConceptualArt," nSIG-GRAPH01Electronicrt nd Animationatalog(NewYork:AssociationorComputingMachinery,001),8.19.GraceHertlein, ersonal orrespondence,quoting rom chapter f her unpublishedookoncomputer rt.

6 art ournal







Charles Jeffries angert and ColletteStuebe Bangert, Large Landscape:Ochreand Black, 1970,plotter rawing, olor nkonpaper, heet 32 χ 23 in. 81 3 χ 58.4 cm),image 9^ χ 20Mn. 74.9χ 52cm). SpencerMuseum fArt,Universityf Kansas,ift fCollette tuebeBangertnd CharlesJeffriesBangertartwork© ColletteStuebeBangertand CharlesJ.Bangert).

The software sed to create he work wasMellySeries,written yCharlesBangertnFortran; hehardwarewas the GeneralElectric E-625;andtheoutput evicewas aCalComp plotter.

within he enclavewould not havepassedfor vant-garden a wider criticalarena.Some artists ealizedthis in 1973Harold Cohenforthrightlyriticized rtthatwas "concernedprimarily ith the making f beautiful r interesting at-terns." The realpower, he realmagic"hedeclared, ... rests ot n the makingof mages,but n theconjuring f meaning."20n his essayfor he 1983SIG-GRAPHrt gallery, orwhich he wasa juror,GeneYoungbloodamented hat"most of what s understood s computer rt oday epresentshecomputer nthe service f those very ame visualart raditions hich the rhetoric f newtechnology olds to be obsolete."21hough ndividual omputer rtists orkingin the 1960snd 1970spresented ystopian r sociallyritical isions notably,SonyaRapoport'slaborate tagings f the "scientificmethod"beginningn theearly1970s),22ot until he advent f "new media" and "net. rt" n the ate 1980sand 1990sdid artists orking n digitalmediacollectivelyssume theoreticalstances hat hifted he focus of their roduction rom ormal nd technologicalexperimentationo the ocial andideologicalmplicationsf computationaltechnologynd digitallymediated ommunication. romthat ointforward,nthe context f an interactive, lobalcommunicationsetwork, heunderminingofobjects, riginality,nd authorial rivilegemplicit n the workof the pioneersbecame an

explicit ignof the medium.

To the extent hat we canregard he construction f a history f computerart s the excavation f a buried record,we areobligedto exposecomputer rtto the same critiques hat ther,more visible rt underwent. t may emergeshornof ts vanguard retensions ut possessedof ts ownsingular nsights,mediumat ast mature. he moment s ripe.Theavant-gardes history, t east fornow. Evenf formal nvention as not reached a limit, t no longer ppearsinstrumental osocialprogress r central o art. nstead of art movements,clec-ticism ules. t s exemplified y cut-and-paste roduction, onstantly eneratingandrecyclingmedia into newcomposites.23 kepticismwithregard onarrativesof socialprogress, nd especiallyts inking o formal rogress n the arts inshort, hecritique f authority enerally nown aspostmodernism arguably

fostered clecticism s a tenable esthetic ttitude. omputational echnology,yenabling heexplosivegrowth f the globalcommunications nfrastructurendwith t access to a dizzying rray f media resources, ertainly elped bringaboutcut-and-paste roduction.t also greatly ped up the rate t which nfor-mation nd thus culture ropagate. s the nstitutions f mainstream rt truggleto adaptto this ituation,n which distancehasimploded nto a "stillframe"whose inertia aradoxically equiresur constant ffort o keep up,where "fromnow n verythingill appenithoutur ven oving,ithouts venavingo et ut," heinsights f the pioneersof computer rt have onceagainbecometimely.24

TheAlgorithmicAxis

Whilemanyhistorical nd technologicalectors f digital rt distinguisht fromothermedia, magingyNumbersligned ts ttention n one,theuse ofalgorithmicmethods.Analgorithm,imply ut, s a "computableet of steps o achieve desiredresult."25n computing, n algorithm onsists f the essentialmathematicsndlogictoperform task,which can bedescribed bstractlynd implementedn avariety f computer anguages.Algorithms ave alonghistory n mathematics nd

20. HaroldCohen,"Parallel oPerception:omeNotes on theProblem f Machine-GeneratedArt,"Computertudies, no. 3-4 (1973):2.21.Youngblood, .p.22. SeeSonyaRapoport, Digitizinghe Golem:FromEarth o Outer Space,"Leonardo9,no. 2(April 006):117-24.23.See,for xample,LevManovich,heLanguageof NewMediaCambridge,MA: MITPress,2001),142:Thus, longwith election,omposit-

ings the

key perationf

postmodern,r com-

puter-based, uthorship."24. PaulVirilio,The LastVehicle,"nThePaulVirilioeader, d. Steve RedheadNewYork:ColumbiaUniversityress, 004),1 4, talicsnoriginal.25. US National nstitutef Standards ndTechnology,nline t www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/algorithm.tml.

62 spring 2009







/';-=09 )(8*=-0/']







Jean-Pierre Hébert, LaquéNoire

(BlackLaquer),1992,plotter rawing,nk n paper,19χ 19 n. 48.3χ 48.3 cm).Promisedift o theMary ndLeighBlockMuseum fArt,North-westernUniversityartwork©Jean-Pierre ébert).The artist evelopedthe software or hiswork nLisp;he hardwarewas a SunWorkstation;nd theoutput evicewas a Hewlett-Packard585plotter.

26. The authors f esotericwritingsncludePythagoras,amonLlull, brahamAbulafia,ndRobertFludd,o mention ut few.27. HerbertW. Franke, omputer raphics,Computerrt, econd ed.(Berlin, ew York:Springer-Verlag,985),28, 155,nd 95. Frankenotes he mportancef MaxBense's "informa-tion esthetics" or arlyEuropean omputerrt.28. Theoriginal erman erm erfremdeteWissenschaftoes notcarry uite the same psy-chological reighthat ts ranslationoes. Theverbform verfremdeneanschangingomethingin ppearanceor context uch hat we become

inwider ultural ractices.ombination,ermutation,ndvariationre ncientalgorithmicractices,revalentnmusic, rchitecture,isualattern-making,ndesotericiterature,hich he omputeran xecute o nunprecedentedegree.26Algorithmsre entral o the evelopmentf omputationndconstituteprimaryield f tudyncomputercience.ngraphicspplications,sefullgo-rithms ften ecome ncapsulateds commands.na broadense,nywell-definedrocedurehat ieldsonsistentesultsouldbeconsiderednalgorithm.An rtist hainingogetherhotoshopiltersowardspecific oalseffectivelyexecutingnalgorithm;hetherhe esultsre nterestings anotherssue.

Writingn 1971nComputerraphics,omputerrt, he irst ook o treat om-puter raphicss an art orm, erbert ranke ists mong he hemes fcomput-er art hance perationsndmathematicalransformations,estheticnvestiga-tion, nd "alienatedcience."27Alienatedcience"s Frankes term or cientificimageryhat as beendisplacedromts cientificontextndpresenteds art.28Theterm as a peculiaresonancenourowntimes, hen rt ften nterrogatesthe ole f cience ndtechnologynsociety rankes other ategoriesan llbe construedsalgorithmic.hanceperationsave longhistorysan artpractice,speciallynmusicalomposition.29thermathematicalperations

64 SPRING 2009







extend he ossibilitiesor omposingmagesndmusic. sing he omputersan nstrumentor estheticnvestigation,omputerrtists xplore umanogni-tion nd creativitynd even eveloputonomouspplicationsocreate rtwith-outdirect uman gency.utonomousoftwarescomposedfmanylgorith-micprocesses orkingogether,ith npredictableut ontrollableesults.

Theearliestomputerrtists ollaborated ith rogrammersr workeddirectly ith rogramminganguages they ad no other ptions. scomputersoftwarevolved,ndparticularlyscomputer-uman nterfaceseveloped,artistsouldwork t higherevel,with oftwarehat ontrolledarge hunksofcodethroughextnterfaces,r with isual nterfaceshat volvednto hefamiliarigital aint,mage-processing,nddrawingpplicationsost omput-er artists owemploy.evertheless,here regapsn the apabilitiesfcurrentgraphicspplications,articularlyor rtists ho want o create utonomousprocesses.ost f the rtists n magingyNumbersrite heir wn oftwareremployoftwareesignedosupportlgorithmicrocesses,lthoughheymayuse commercialpplicationso edit ndprint heir ork. thers ush ommer-ciallyvailablepplicationsndirectionseyondheirntendedses,nventingprocedureshatn effect onstitutenalgorithmicpproachogenerating

images,utwithout

ritingode.

Because tdealtwith tatic rt rinted n atwo-dimensionalurface,Imagingy umbersid not xploremotion raphicsnd nteractivity,wo riticallyimportantspectsfcomputerrt. t also argelyypassedhree-dimensionalgraphics,ecausehe uratorsudgedhat hemostnterestingork nthis reawas notwellrepresentedndigital rints. igital hotography as excludedri-marily ecauset lmost lwayss nessencehotographyonewith computer.Similarly,he how xcluded orks hat mitate raditionalrtmedia,whichoften se elaboratehysical odels osimulatehe ualitiesfdifferenturfacesandmedia:he harge fcolorn a brush r the ffects fpressuren differentdrawingmplements.ealistichree-dimensionalraphics,mage igitizationandprocessing,nd the imulationf traditionalools or rawingndpainting

can betechnologicallyndaestheticallyascinating.hey aveertainlyrovidedconcreteoalsfor omputer rogrammers.utwhen omputerraphicssappliedo mitatingriormedia,uch spaintingr photography,he ualitiesthatmaketunique end o beburied r blurred. lthoughlgorithmsreimportantn these reas,magingyNumbersoncentratedn artwhere he raceof lgorithmicrocessesanbe decoded romhe mage.

Inabroad ense,he riticalhemes f rt roducedhroughomputationare implyhe riticalhemesf ll art: he nvestigationf form nd meaning,the ealizationfobjectshat ommunicatesart, ultural ediationf theinterpretationf rt, nd the ocial ontext f rt roduction.scomputationalart oesbeyondmitatingthermedia nddiscoversts wnunique apabilities,these hemes anbeelaboratednspecificaysncomputerrt. lthough anydifferent ethodsmay roducehe amemage, pecificlgorithmic ethods otend oproduceharacteristicisualualities. e could onsider hese he isi-bleevidence fthe xecution the racing of n algorithm,hich asotherinvisible anifestations.nalogously,he ealizationf paintingasvisible ndinvisibleffects,ndwe canwork urwaybackfrom he bject nd ts ontexttodiscoverhem.

aware of that omethingeing little trange,differentrom sual. t becameparticularlyopu-lar s a leadingheoreticaloncept n Brecht'stheatre." riederNake,personal orrespondence,February007.29. Musicalicegameswerepopularn heeigh-teenth entury. ithin wentieth-centuryvant-gardepractices, ada makes xplicit se ofchance s anaesthetic lement. he influencef

John age, particularlyn artists ssociatedwith

Fluxus,ntroduces very ormalpproach ochanceoperations. roponents f randomness nart, ncludinghe Abstract xpressionistsndmany onceptualists,elievedhathumans ouldbe a sourceof ntuitive andomness.omposerslikeCageandcomputer rtists ad a stricter,statisticaloncept.LeWitt vidently idnotflipcoins Cageinsisted n it.

65 art ournal







Georg Nees, Untitled GravelStones),1965-68,plotter rawing, nk n paper,sheet 1 % χ 8%n. 29.7χ 2 1 cm);image9K6χ 5%n. 23χ 13cm).Collectionf KunsthalleBremen, upferstichkabinett,er Kunstvereinin BremenGermany),005/50(artwork© GeorgNees).The software asby he artist nALGOL60;thehardwarewas theSiemens-Digitalrechner002;theoutput evicewas a ZUSEGraphomat 64.

Theterativeower f he omputertems romtspower frepresentation.Digitizationransformsontinuousnaloguealuesnto iscontinuousigitalvalues ones nd eroes.hishas ubtle utprofoundonsequences.omputa-tion xtends he ossibilitiesf rt s a formal anguage.hough egardingrt salanguageanbeproblematic,t s verymuchnkeeping ithmodernistro-jects, oing ack t east oVasilyandinsky'sointnd ineo lane.nthis ey extof wentieth-centuryrt, andinskyrew n musicalheoryodevelopnanalo-gous heoryf bstract isual orm.nadigitalepresentation,f n elementanbeencoded,tcanberepeated,aried, rouped ith ther lements,ndtrans-formed.he ncient racticesfpermutation,ombination,ndvariation,ssoci-atedwith mageryf reative ower,mysticalnsight,ndrevelationromhistoricalimes,anbefully xploredn the omputeror he ery easons hatfractaleometrynddeterministichaos anbefully laboratednlyna com-puter, houghheirnitial iscoverylso ntedatest: he ower f teration hatcomputernleashes,wift ndtireless,eliversnminutesr dayswhat humanbeing ouldnot na lifetime.30heplotter rawings argeandscape:chrend lackbyCharleseffriesangertndCollettetuebe angertndLaquéoireyJean-Pierre ébert eveal n exactitudendtirelessepetitionhatwouldbe hard or

30.On historicalractices,eeJanet weig, ArsCombinatória:ystical ystems, rocedural rt,and the Computer," rt ournal6,no.3, "DigitalReflections:he Dialogueof Art nd Technology"(Autumn 997):20-29.

66 SPRING 2009







Charles A. Csuri with James Shaffer,Sine CurveMan, 1967,photograph f plotterdrawing,heet 19%χ 25%n. 50χ 65.2cm),imageWÁ 20^in. 47χ 52.1cm).Collectionof Kunsthalleremen, upferstichkabinett,erKunstvereinn BremenGermany),006/402(artwork© CsuriVisiontd.).The software asbyCsuri ndShaffer;hehardwarewas the BM7094;theoutput evicewas anIBM 1627drumplotter.

3 GeorgNees,personal orrespondence,005.

human eing omatch, et hey renaturalistic,otgeometric,ecallingrass rwater. oth ependn subtle ariationsnthe epetitionf ines. curvedinecouldberegardedstheir undamentalinguisticlement,ut t s an elementnan aestheticanguagepoken y he rtists atherhann a computeranguage"spoken" y machine.

Someofthe arliest omputerrt perates ith eometricransformationsinscale,otation,eflection,hearing, arping,r more xotic unctions.ineCurvean yCharles suriAmerican,orn1922)withJameshaffer,ndGravelStonesyGeorgNeesGerman,orn1926)regoodexamples.eespresentshe"randomlyrganizedecayf compositionf mall quaresr stones,"pply-ing slowly rowingislocationnd a similar rowingngle f rotation."3'Csurind Shafferroducedheir ork y uperimposingany magesf digi-tized rawingisplacedy inewaves.houghine urvean egan s a graphicsexperiment,ith ime thasbecomen emblemf the ransformationfhumansy omputers.soften appens ith rt,meaningccrues eyondheartist'sntention.n Graveltonesgradientf ncreasingandomness,otunlikecolor r valuegradientsntraditional edia,ignalshe apacityfcomputationtomanipulatetructuralualitiesfvisual lementsnhighlyontrolledays.

67 art ournal







Pascal Dombis,AntisanaII,2000,recreated 2008,site-specificnstallation,nkjetprint n vinyl,pprox.12χ 17ft. 365χ 5 18cm),installationiew,Mary ndLeighBlockMuseumofArt,Northwestern niversity.ollection fthe artist artwork© PascalDombis).The software as by he artist nPostScript;theoutput evicewas a EFIVutekQS3200UV-Curingrinter.

32. SeeMusgrave'slickrockII longwith therworks f digitalrt t www.verostko.com/algorist.html,herethey ppearwith n essayonalgorithmicrt byRomanVerostko.

The evel f bstractionecessaryo encode hemage rings isual rt loserthan ver o musicalomposition.

Inthe lgorithmicechniquefrecursion,he esultsf transformationarepassedack o the ransformation,hich hen asseshe ransformedesultsback o tselfgain,nd so forth. hen ne sees the amepattern r operationfunctioningt differentcales"fractalelf-similarity"s themathematicalterm),t s veryikelyhat ecursions nvolved,s nSlickrockIIbyKenMusgrave(American,ornι^ξξ)andAntisanabyPascal ombisFrench,orn1965").2The"dimples"hat arve ut Musgrave'sockyandscapere llsimilar,houghdifferentnsize, s are hebrokenllipsesnAntisanaI.While omerecursivetechniquesroduceegular eometricmages,heyreoften sedto modelnat-uralphenomena Musgraveesignsoftwareo modelwholeworldsntirelydefinedy lgorithmicunctions.ecursionan be usedto modelnot ust hegeographyfentire orlds ut lso arge-scaleynamic rocesseshatmighttake lacewithin uchgeographies.omputer odels fevolution se recursiveoperationsnrandomlyltered enerationsfdata hat epresentrganisms.Inhis1979ookGödel,scher,ach,ouglasHofstadterrgues hat onsciousness

68 SPRING 2009







Peter Beyls,Untitled, from the seriesEWA, 1985,plotter rawing,nk n paperwithwatercolordditions, 7% 21 / n.(45.1 x 55.2cm).Collectionf the artist

(artwork© 1985Peter

Beyls).Thesoftware as EWAversion , by he artistinHPExtended-Basic;hehardwarewas aHewlett-Packard000;the output evicewasa Hewlett-Packard576plotter.

itself an be modeleds a recursiveynamicystem.33etaphorically,tmakessense:arly ideo rt sedrecursionvideofeedback)oexplorehe mplica-tions f seeing ourselfeeing ourself."

Someystemsf lgorithmsanchangever ime ndoperate ithminimalinterventionnce heyre et n motion. hese revariouslyeferredo asdynamicystems,enerativeystems,gents,r expertystems,ependingndifferentactorsntheir rogramming.ynamicystemsanrevealmergentforms entitieshat renot pparentnthe ules f he ystemut rise s aresult f their nteractions.eter eyls Belgium,orn195Ό)ndHarold ohen(American,orn ngland,928)both evelopedarly ystemshatmodeledknowledgebout he ct fdrawing.heir rogramsould perate ith largedegreef utonomyo make niquedrawings.sCohenevelopedlgorithmicmethodsor escribingognitivespectsfdrawingndknowledgebout raw-ingplants,eople,r other bjects, ecreatedcomputationalngine,aron,that asevolvedvermany earssthe rimaryource fhis rt.34ractals,dynamicystems,eterministichaos, enerativeystems,nd utonomousagentsrovides with ewmetaphorsndmappingsor widerange fprocessesn human ocietynd n thenatural orld indeed,heymergeheseartificiallyeparatedealmsymodelingothwith he ameprocesses.hey owellbeyondhemathematicshat andinskyvokedor he future f rtisticharmony,"apablef xpressionintermsrregularatherhan egular."S

33.Douglas

R.Hofstadter, ödel, scher,Bach:AnEternal olden raidNewYork:BasicBooks,1979).34. SeePamelaMcCorduck,aron's ode:Meta-art, rtificialntelligence,nd the Work fHarold ohenNewYork:Freeman, 99 .A version f aaron is availablenline s ascreensavert www.kurzweilcyberart.com.35.Kandinsky,oncerninghe piritualnArt.

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Harold Cohen, Greeting,1985,oil oncanvas, rawn rom rojected omputer mage,54 χ 72 in. 137.2χ Ι82.9cm).Collection fthe artist artwork© HaroldCohen).Inrealizingubsequentworks, he artist irstusedplotters nd self-builtainting achines,and thenwide-formatrinters.

Iterationndrecursionoth ependn the apacityf the omputerotransformelected locks fdata ndare result f ts power frepresentation.Scientificisualizations another esult f this ower f representation:graphi-caldisplaymapsdata hatmay aveno actual isual ontentnto patial imen-sions, olors, extures,cons,ndother raphicallementso thatwe canunderstandhedatabetter.hoefieldySonyaapoportAmerican,orn1923)representshysicalndemotional ata bout eople'shoesgatheredt "shoe-in" n a series f graphs,ncludingforce-fieldapgraphinghe imilarityfresponsessmagneticomains.hiswork f lienated ciencelayswith ndsubtly nderminescientificepresentationsfknowledge.

Thecut-and-pasteestheticsfmash-upnddigital ollagere lso resultsofthe omputer'sower f representation.any rtists sealgorithmicech-niqueso selectmagesrom database r from he nternet ndthen ssemblethem ntonewcompositions.or xample,asonalavon'series he randUnificationheoryrrangesveryecond f n entire ilmnto densegrid f mallimageslassifiedy uminosity.ecausencodingntobinary itsmakes llmedianterchangeable,umericalues hatepresentn magemay lsobe usedtorepresentnaudio ignal,r viceversa atechniquenown stranscoding,

70 SPRING 2009







7 art ournal

Sonya Rapoport, Shoe-FieldMap,with detail, 1982-85,impact rint n vellum,sheet45%χ 23%n. 1 6χ 60. 1cm), mage4 1Άχ 14%n. 104.6χ 36.5cm).Collection f

the artist, romised ift oMary ndLeighBlockMuseum fArt,Northwestern niversity(artwork© Sonya Rapoport)







RomanVerostko,Derivationof the Lawsof the Symbolsof Logicfrom he Lawsof theOperationsof the Human Mind: AnExcerptfrom heWritings f GeorgeBoole, 1990,handmade ook with lotter rawingsnbrushand nk nd n penand color nk, etter ress, ndstone-carvedtamp, losed book 6χ 10χ Μn.(15.2χ 25.4 χ 1.3 m),edition f 125.Collectionof the artist artwork© RomanVerostko).

Spreadsfrom ooks 79 and 9 of the edition.The artistwrote he HODOS softwarenBASIC;theoutput evicewas a Huston nstrumentsCMP52plotter.

popular nVJ nd DJperformances.imilarly, alues that ncodeshapeor colormaybe reusedto encodeposition n spaceor maybe fed nto the settings oran operation hatdeforms urves n a randombut controllablemanner.RomanVerostkoAmerican, orn 1929)created n artist's ook,Derivationf he aws f

the ymbolsf ogicromhe aws f he perationsf he uman ind 1990)in whichtheparameters hatdetermine randomly enerated, arge-scale rushstrokerepassedto anothermethod that etermines he ocations nd densities f small-scale lines ona facing age.36ach book has auniquefront- nd end-piece,although heunderlying ode is the same.Kandinsky,n Pointnd ine oPlane,describeshow visual attributes f a line or shapecan actcontrapuntally,n paral-lel or contrarymotion.Transcodingn computationalmediadevelopsthis deafurther, vermultiple ensorymodalities nd levelsof granularity.

For someartists, ew forms erivedby computation ppearas elementsna modernWunderkammer,arvels rought nto the realm of human understand-ing,asin ManfredMohr'staxonomies f transformed ubes orin thevisionarylandscapesof DavidEm(American, orn 19S2).Meldingnfluences s diverseas Cubismandcontemporary hysics, onyRobbin(American,orn 1943)creates wo- and three-dimensionalepresentationsf four- imensional pace.Verostkomines the work of the mathematicians eorgeBoole and AlanTuringto pose questionson the imits f ogicanddecidability.uch workshint t thepossibility f a digital ublime, n algorithmic e-creation f the marvelous.Unlike thecomputer-generatedrags nd mists f Hollywood fantasythe digital

36. St. Sebastianress,Minneapolis,eleasedlimited dition f 125 n 1990. tpublishedreproduction aperbacknFebruary 99

72 spring 2009







TonyRobbin,DrawingS3,2004, inkjet rint,29%χ 33%n. 74.6χ 84.8cm). Marynd LeighBlockMuseum fArt,Northwestern niversity(artwork©TonyRobbin).The software as by heartist, ormian, ndAdobeIllustrator;heoutput evicewas a Rolanddrum rinter, odifiedyMichaelGordon.

37. Forexample,Friedrichchiller, n theAestheticEducationof Man, published in 1801 is asource text orbothEinfühlungstheorie,theorythat rt s conducive o empathetic nity ithnature nd humankind,nd an earlyRomanticappreciationf science: The limits f art reextended s science xtends ts imits"Letter I).

sublimeergingn kitsch)thesemageso not ttemptore-createomanticEinfühlungyposing ictorialonventionss a shorthandor motions;ather,they hargehegapbetweenonceptndrealizationith he otentialorinsight.n this heymaymore uthenticallyngagehe pirit f theRomantics,whocomparedhebold nquiry f cience nto he aws fnature o the nsightofthe oet nto he piritualnity fnature.37ansDehlinger'sosovo:ar efugeesCountingable1999)binds much arker eaningo the terativeower f thecomputer.ver hree anels,housandsf lmostmperceptiblyifferentenstrokesount efugeesntheKosovoonflict.nanagewhen imulationoesnotmerely ediateealityut vertakest,wemust vail urselvesf imulationtocomprehendhe copeoftragedy

Virtuality nd Context

This ssay astouched nsomeofthewayslgorithmic ethodsmayeavevisualvidence f their ction ndhashinted t their ymbolicotential.Computerrt, ncludinghebody fwork ndtheory eveloped ypioneering

73 art ournal







artistsn themedium,akes n new ignificancet themoment e evokedn theopeningines f this ssay:when omputationalnd nformationystemsavebecomeo rootednourexperiences to become ffectivelynvisible.hevisi-ble effectsf the lgorithmicracemarkts oncrete roductions,he erceptibleresultsf executingode. ts ubmergedr nvisibleffects ark ndchangehesocialnd culturalontextn which t s produced.ioneeringrtists roughtimpersonalechnologynto he xpressiveealmfculture hen tspotentialochangeociety asyet nknown.ontemporaryyberculturesengagedn asimilar,ngoing rocess, ywhich informationhat as beendisengagedrom hecontextf the ubjects,ime,ndplacenwhich t s enunciated ust ereengagedwith ersonalityndthe magination,"utnow the ffects fcomputationaltechnologyave rofoundlyffectedocietyTechnologiesor ncoding,tor-ing, ndtransmittingnformationnd for ranslatingncoded nformationntohumanly erceptibleormatsffect urconceptsforiginalitynd uthority,ndeven hangehewaywe think bout anguage.heculturalontextfcodessometimeseferredo asvirtuality,hichKatherineayles as defineds"theculturalerceptionhatmaterialbjectsre nterpenetratedy nformationat-terns."39argaret orse omparesnformationo "akind f virtual oney,"

because t cts s an nstrumentfexchange.40

ike conomicxchanges,

nfor-mationxchanges enetratellaspectsf contemporaryociety.omputerode,whichwith wovoltagesone andzero, n andoff, es ndno pretendsorepresentllthings, asbecomeanglednculture,anguage,ndexperience,mediatingur ivesnendlesseedbackoops.nrecognitionf this ituation,the rt historianrank opper uggestsirtualrt s the ppropriateame orcontemporaryigitalmedia rt nd for he variousrt nd technologyanifes-tationseadingpto t.41

Thehistoricalecorduggestseveralesponseso the uestion osed arlyinthis ssays towhy omputerrthasnothadasignificantresencen the rtworld.With heirack fformalrainingnthe rts,most ioneersfcomputerart ualifieds outsiderrtists, ith ll the barriersoacceptancehe abel ug-gests.heirwork lsopresentedcientificndmathematicalonceptshatweredifficultor rthistorians,urators,nd critics o understand,specially iventhepaucityf rt-historicaliscourse n the elationshipf rt, echnology,ndscience.arly omputerrtwasmostlyxhibitedt technicalnd cientificon-ferences,r n technicalnd cholarlyournals, herets onceptualrameworkwasreadilynderstood.hen ormallyrainedrtists egan sing ewmedia,they ere nterestednalternativeenues not ust onferencesndmedia esti-vals, ut he mergingnternet, hich ould erve smedium,meansfdistrib-ution, ndmarketplace.useumsndgalleriesre till cramblingoadapt oonline ulture, here newgenerationf rtists as taken presidence.anyauthors avelreadyiscussedhedifficultiesfmarketingomputerndnew-mediart, ypicallyomparingts ituationo that nceoccupied yphotogra-phy42ejectionfwork reated ynonartists,hedevelopmentf the mediumin venues utside he rtworld,nd thedifficultyfmarketinghe bjects ro-duced xplainmuch f the rt world's esistanceocomputerrt. n the UnitedStates,eactiono thewar nVietnamlso ed to a forcefulejectionf technolo-gybymanyrtists, ritics,nd curators.43nderlyingllofthese ssues sthe rtworld'sack fcontrol f outsiderrtists, utsideroncepts,utsider enues,nd

38.MargaretMorse,Virtualities:elevision,ediaArt, ndCybercultureBloomington:ndianaUniversityress,1998),5, italicsnoriginal.39. N. Katherineayles, The Condition fVirtuality,"nTheDigitalialectic: ewEssaysnNewMedia,d. PeterLunenbergCambridge,MA:LeonardoBooks/MITPress,1999),69.40.Morse,4.4 1 Frank opper, rom echnologicaloVirtual rt(Cambridge,MA:MITPress, 007).42.See,inparticular, argot ovejoy,ostmodern

Currents:rt nd Artists n heAgeof ElectronicMedia,econd ed.(EnglewoodCliffs, J:Prentice-Hall,996),which evelopsthe compari-son of digitalmedia ndphotographyt length.43. See Anne CollinsGoodyear,FromTechnophiliaoTechnophobia:he Impact ftheVietnamWar on the Receptionf Art ndTechnology,'"eonardo1 no.2 (April 008):169-73.

74 SPRING 2009







Outsiderechnology.ltimately,s thewriter ndnew-mediartist arolGigliottixplains,Thedigital ealm asaccomplishedhebreakingpoftheaestheticanon hroughts bility ocreate,eproduce,nddistribute,utsidethe conomicircles n which he rt world s based."44f hedigitalealm asbeen nstrumentalndeconstructinghe uthorityfhigh rt, t s not urpris-ing hatwhenmuseums irstegan oshowdigital ork,twasusually y nartist lreadyecognizednthe rtworld,hus eestablishingegitimacyndcon-trol. houghhe rtworld asnotyet ully ccepted omputerrt, t east hereare igns hat uriositynd cultural ermentand self-interest)reovercomingits esistance.magingy umbersnd other ecent xhibitionsfdigitalrt ymainstreamnstitutions ark opefulmoments, hen rtists,ngineers,ndscientistsho have abored utsidehemainstreamay erecognizedor heirartisticchievementsnd enter nto hehistoricallyecordediscourse fcul-ture.ndeed,tmaymatteress hat omputerrt e recognizeds a singularcontributiono arthistoryhan hat t connectseglectedut ignificantrtisticpracticesocontemporaryisual ulturendsociety,ndopens heway orlong-overdueiscussion fthe ntersectionsf rt, echnology,nd cience.

If t s certain hat omputerrtmust e exposedo the ame ritiqueshat

shaped ontemporaryrt, t s also clear hat t has ts wn body f theorynd

sheaf f formaltrategieso contribute.arly omputerrt orrowedtsformallexiconrom cience.ioneeringrtists ecoupledhe orms f cience ndmathematicsrom heir ontexts ndopenedhem oprocesseshere heycouldbemappedntonewmeanings.hey orrowedonceptsromontempo-rary rt nd recast hemncode.Asvirtualrt r nformationrt, r whateverterm f rt pplies, omputer-generatedrt ontinues o evolve utnowcandraw n ahistorynd traditionf ts wn.Given he copeofchangeomputa-tional echnologyaswroughtydistributingnddecenteringconomy,ul-ture, ndpersonalonsciousness,he ormsndconceptsfcomputerrt eempoisedoacquire ncreasingepth nd ignificancesrepresentationsfhumanexperience.irtualrt ffers he otentialor ewformalnd ymbolicxplo-

rations, fresheningind fter hedoldrumsttendantn thedemise ftheavant-garde.t eads o newconceptsf uthorshipndparticipation,articularlywhen t s openedo nteractivity.ost f ll, thassomethingelevantosayabout urown ives,when omputationasworkedtswaynto opularon-sciousnesss a newparadigm,hereinheuniverse,hebody,nd themindnolonger unctions clockworkut scomputers.lienatedcience nformsopu-lar magination.ultural arrativesf technologyffer oth igital topiasndimagesfrupturendresistance.fvirtualityrivilegesobjectsnd ssues hatare menable ocomputerepresentations,"rt ounters ith ther, istoricallyrooted epresentations.45heconfluencefcomputerrtwith hemainstreamcouldhardly emore imely itoffers otradicalonfrontation,ut he ppor-tunity or ewdiscoursend enthusiasm.Paul Hertz s cocurator f magingyNumbers: Historical iewf theComputerrint, hich penedatthe BlockMuseum,Northwestern niversity,nJanuary 008. Hisdigital rints nd interactivenstallationshave beenexhibitednnumerousnternationalenues.44. CarolGigliotti,The Ethicalife f the Digital

Aesthetic,"n TheDigitalialectic,6-57.45.Richardoyne,Technoromanticism:igitalNarrative,olism,nd theRomancef theReal(Cambridge,MA: Leonardo Books/MITPress,1999),.

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art - art, code, and the engine of change

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