[A new session devoted to contemporary digital arts and culture will come on stream in 2008-9. So virtually no content here for the time being. Although there will be an opportunity for students who wish to do so to display their own creative content, the focus of this session will be on designing displays, appropriate platforms, supporting technologies, and curatorship.]

Introduction & overview: the computer as platform, tool, and material

ICTs, and the Internet in particular, offer unprecedented opportunities for innovation in the collection, organisation, display, marketing, and sale of contemporary arts (images, sculpture, music, film). But computing and communication technologies, in addition to being simply a platform for art and culture, can also be a tool for the creation of digital art forms (computer-assisted composition and computer-generated music, computer-generated imagery and cinematic effects, etc). Finally, many experimental New Media artists have in recent years been exploring novel practices of using ICTs as the 'digital clay' out of which unique new--and often interactive--art forms may be fashioned.

This unit of the course will be structured as follows:

• marketing and display opportunities for real-world galleries
• catalogue vs exhibition: what is (could be, should be) the function of the online gallery?
  
• digital artworks and 'born-digital' artefacts: the emergence of electronic arts
• 'digital clay': the computer and communication technologies as art materials
  

History

Cybernetic Serendipity
Pioneering computer arts exhibition curated by Jasia Reichardt at the ICA, London, 2nd August to 20th October, 1968.
» http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/exhibitions/serendipity/

Curating contemporary culture

[t.b.c.]

Examples

Digital Art Museum
Digital Art Museum aims to become the world's leading online resource for the history and practice of digital fine art.
It exhibits the work of leading Artists in this field since 1956. [DAM] is an on-line museum with a comprehensive exhibition of Digital Art supported by a wide range of background information including biographies, articles, a bibliography and interviews.
[DAM] also includes an Essays section with articles by artists and theorists specially selected to place the works in context (many of them by special arrangement with Leonardo journal). A History section lists key events and technologies in date order.
[DAM] is intended for the enjoyment of all visitors, curators and collectors, scholars of art, and for an emerging generation of digital artists wishing to understand a 50-year heritage of innovation and experimentation.
» http://dam.org

Virtual Academy
» http://www.virtualacademy.tv

The Giver of Names
"The Giver of Names is quite simply, a computer system that gives objects names. The installation includes an empty pedestal, a video camera, a computer system and a small video projection. The camera observes the top of the pedestal. The installation space is full of "stuff"... objects of many sorts. The gallery visitor can choose an object or set of objects from those in the space, or anything they might have with them, and place them on the pedestal. When an object is placed on the pedestal, the computer grabs an image. It then performs many levels of image processing (outline analysis, division into separate objects or parts, colour analysis, texture analysis, etc.) These processes are visible on the life-size video projection above the pedestal. In the projection, the objects make the transition from real to imaged to increasingly abstracted as the system tries to make sense of them."» http://homepage.mac.com/davidrokeby/gon.html

Very Nervous System
"Very Nervous System is the third generation of interactive sound installations which I have created. In these systems, I use video cameras, image processors, computers, synthesizers and a sound system to create a space in which the movements of one's body create sound and/or music. It has been primarily presented as an installation in galleries but has also been installed in public outdoor spaces, and has been used in a number of performances."
» http://homepage.mac.com/davidrokeby/vns.html

Further resources

Africa Beyond
"Africa Beyond aims to create opportunities for ever-widening audiences to experience the dynamism of African arts, and for African audiences to participate fully in the artistic life of the nation. Our special strength is in building a network which connects mainstream arts organisations and venues with grassroots African communities.
Africa Beyond has been supported by Arts Council London and other key partners as the legacy project arising from Africa 05. The Arts Council's statement on 'Our agenda for the arts in London 2006-8' publicly acknowledges Africa Beyond as a key plank in its commitment to internationalism: 'Ensuring a strong legacy for Africa 05 is a priority and we will work with our partners to develop effective programmes for international artistic exchange.' (p.13)"
» http://www.africabeyond.org.uk

References

Computer Arts magazine
» http://www.computerarts.co.uk

Digital Arts magazine
» http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk

Computer Music magazine
» http://www.computermusic.co.uk

[t.b.c.]