Full text of DOI:10.1109/38.814542

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Vision 2000
Com p ut er Art in
t he New
One of the aspects of Molnar’s visual research has been
the exploration of heuristic, problem-solving techniques.
The most appropriate solution of several is selected at
successive stages of discovery for use in the next step.
She states that she works in a “series of small probing
steps,” and that each step is followed by an evaluation.
Millennium
n 1995 I interviewed Masao Komura, She tries to vary only one parameter at each step, and
I
founder of the Computer Technique Group “by comparing the successive picture...,” she has “con-
(CTG) in Tokyo, Japan. He, along with others in the trol over the stages of development.”1 Molnar was fasci-
group, produced sensitive, innovative, political artworks nated by the process of going back to former versions of
that were featured in the first important computer art her work. The computer’s ability to save various stages of
show, Cybernetic Serendipity, in London, 1968. When I work means that artists need never fear change again.
asked what he thought would be the future of the tech-
Paul Brown (http://www.paul-brown.com) is one of
nology, Komura stated, “It would become our third many artists who use the mathematical properties of
skin,” the first being our skin, the second our clothes, the technology to create images. The visual research that
and the third whatever devices we choose to develop. involves algorithms is a natural outcome of the tech-
(See his Web page at http://www.ntticc.or.jp/special/ nology and very important to the future of art. See Fig-
babel/profile_e.html.)
ure 1. This is a content source unique to the computer.
In a letter to me dated 20 July 1998 Brown wrote,
The concept of art in the twentieth century differs
drastically from that of earlier periods. What began as
picture storytelling in caves has evolved into elaborate
conceptual art experiences. Computer technologies and
graphic techniques have made this development possi-
ble. The early 1960s experiments in graphical picture
making and interactivity matured into a total art expe-
rience involving viewers in the process, as well as using
all of their senses. The technology has been assimilated
into current artistic production to the extent that the
technological aspects of the work range from invisible
to bells and whistles.
Most of my work concerns cellular automata —
simple procedural games that generate often
complex or surprising behaviors that can’t be pre-
dicted by their rules. This field now known as Arti-
ficial Life or A-Life has been a dominant focus of
my career. In 2000, as the recipient of an Australia
Council Fellowship, I will be based at the Centre
for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics at
the University of Sussex in England where I hope
to develop my knowledge of this field and, in par-
ticular, learn about evolutionary programming
and genetic algorithms.
Artmaking with technology will continue to expand
our ability to experience ideas. I see the movement as
an informed approach to artistic appreciation. The com-
plexity of the involvement with the technology is only
Patric D.
Prince
Independent
Curator and
Art and
Technology
Historian
Although much algorithmic art is realized as 2D
one factor in the art of the future. A hundred years from prints, many artists combine it with multimedia and vir-
now, the art-historical contributions from computer art tual reality projects. The incorporation of scientific
to a broader aesthetic experience will include algorith- research into art is increasing; algorithmic techniques
mic and heuristic processes, interaction, and telemetric will continue to aid this process.
art (art at a distance). The media for these future expe-
riences will change with the times, as always.
Artists have invented their own environments and
sensory devices using the technology to respond to spe-
Many pioneer artists began using the computer to cific challenges. The interactive experience divides into
explore algorithmic visualization. Vera Molnar cofound- four categories: active (each viewer is offered the same
ed GRAV (Group de Recherche d’Art Visuel) in Paris in experience), interactive (viewers may have different
1960, which was dedicated to understanding mathe- experiences depending upon the intervening choices
matical simulation and aesthetics. In a letter dated 20 made), reactive (the presence of the viewer changes the
July 1998 she wrote me, “After 10 years of “Machine artwork), and immersive (through various devices, the
Imaginaire” (1959-68) I started to work with real com- viewer enters another environment.)2
puters in 1968.”
Artist Paras Kaul, a neuro-art researcher (see http://
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January/ February 2000
0272-1716/00/$10.00 © 2000 IEEE

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2 Paras Kaul seated at her computer system, wearing
the Brainwave apparatus. As part of her performance,
“That Brainwave Chick,” Paras concentrates to allow
her alpha state to be experienced. The brainwave
activity triggers both visual imagery and audio music.
important in the physical
realm…. What may move this
process forward is the work being
done with “intelligent software
agents on the Web.”3
1 “My Gasket” by Paul Brown. Iris print. 69 by 62 cm.
www.paraswest.com) and collaborator Mark Apple-
baum create performance events such as “That Brain-
wave Chick” (Figure 2).
Her current work centers on net-
worked environments and the
Paras has also produced a CD with neural audio imag- exploration of “the social psycholo-
ing and sound. Using IBVA software and a headband gy of group dynamics.”
with three electrode sensors, the participant’s brain con-
Art made with computers began
trols images that are displayed on a screen as well as in the 1960s and, unlike many other
music that is interpreted through a MIDI synthesizer. In twentieth-century art movements,
a 15 September 1999 letter Paras wrote,
has taken decades to be recognized
by the conventional art community.
When beginning the neural imaging process in
real time, the brainwave activity is random and
changes rapidly. A viewer is likely to be involved in
a settling process whereby neural activity is tran-
sitioning to a calm, focused state of mind. During
this time, images and sound may appear chaotic,
so related audio tracks reflect this unsettled brain
activity. As a viewer begins to relax and focus his
or her attention, the audio and visuals will begin
to flow more naturally, and the effect of the mul-
timedia experience will become calming. A goal
of the neural imaging experience is to increase
awareness of the fact that we have the ability to
relax and exist in stress free states of mind ….
At that, it is only just beginning to be
appreciated. Ironically, as Frieder
Nake commented in an interview
(Pasadena, Calif., Feb. 1988), the 2 “Bodies© INCorporated, Head”
first artists and scientists to use the from Victoria Vesna. Interactive.
technology truly believed that the
technology would lead to democra-
tization of art and of the art world. They saw computer
printouts as an unending source for multiple originals.
For the past twenty years artists have exclaimed, as Joan
Kirsch said in her 1980s article of the same name, “When
will computer art be taken seriously?” In an art market
based on rarity and scarcity, it will be interesting to see
how the market for new art develops with unlimited mul-
tiple originals and cyber artworks. I wonder how we will
This work is an example of the reactive and interactive market our “third skin?”
experience that is a developing aspect of the technology.
■
Telemetric art and Web art will continue to be real-
ized in the new millennium. One example is by Victoria References
Vesna and collaborators Robert Nideffer, Nathanial
Freitas, Kenneth Fields, Jason Schlerfer, and others. The
work is titled “Bodies© INCorporated” (Figure 3).
The interactive installation is located at http://www
.bodiesinc/ucla.edu.
1. V. Molnar, “Toward Aesthetic Guidelines for Paintings with
the Aid of a Computer,” Leonardo, Vol. 8, 1975, p. 185.
2. P.D. Prince, “Interacting with Machine Culture,’” IEEE
CG&A, Sep./Oct., Vol. 13, No. 5, 1993, pp. 4-8.
3. V. Vesna, “Marketplace: From Agents and Avatars to the
Information Personae,” http://arts.ucsb.edu/~vesna/
publications, 1997, p. 2.
Vesna said,
…soon the same issues that seem to be somehow
relevant only for “cyberspace” will be equally
Contact Prince at patric@siggraph.org.
IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications
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