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Tech Art History, Part 3

by Matthew Zuras on June 4, 2010 at 02:45 PM

Tech Art Screenshot
In our last two installments of the history of technology in modern art, we took a look at some of the radical developments in the media used by artists. With an art-making culture that was becoming at ease with technological interventions, artists began to explore even newer modes of expression, experimenting with the now-ubiquitous digital culture of the Internet and video games.

From the pioneers of digital painting, to massive sculptural installations that make artworks by themselves, to art that is, at first glance, indistinguishable from popular entertainment, technology in art is now firmly grounded thanks to the following visionaries. Read on to see some of the more recent artistic developments made with the aid of machines, and ponder the future endeavors of the next generation of artists.


Digital Painting

Although we've primarily examined installations on the large and small scale in our previous posts, we'd be remiss to ignore the sort of micro-renaissance of painting that occurred beginning in the late 1970s with the advent of the personal computer.

Desmond Paul Henry's early drawning machines
One of Desmond Paul Henry's early drawing machines
 The movement toward computer-made art began a few years earlier, though, in the 1960s, when Desmond Paul Henry, a lecturer at Manchester University, created a "drawing machine" from a modified bombsight analog computer that had been used in World War II to plot courses for aerial bombers. His drawing machines were unlike the other computers of the 1960s, as they could not be programmed or store information; instead, they relied on the chance configurations of the mechanics of the machine, so a slight alteration in the assemblage would dramatically change the final drawing.
Manfred Mohr's 'P-18'
'P-18 [random walk]' (1969) by Manfred Mohr
 Beginning in 1969, artist Manfred Mohr also jumped on the idea of using computers to make art. Interested in rhythm and repetition, Mohr's early works were based on algorithms that he programmed himself. Originally inspired by abstract expressionism and experimental jazz, Mohr's first works are black and white, highly geometric and minimal, looking not unlike technical drawings for circuits and computers.
David Em's Nasa work
Detail from 'Transjovian Pipeline' (1979) by David Em		 But it wasn't until drawing programs became commercial that more artists began to explore the potential of computers. David Em, considered one of the first digital painters, began creating works in 1975 with the SuperPaint software at Xerox PARC. He later became the Artist in Residence from 1977 to 1984 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he created his first interactive digital landscapes. In that environment, many of his late '70s works have space-like themes, while his later works became more akin to the Impressionists of the turn of the late 19th century. With the advent of drawing programs like AutoCAD, Photoshop and Illustrator, many more artists have taken to digital painting, and even moved on to mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads like David Hockney.






Rise of the Machines

While using computers and other technology to make art is one thing, what about machines themselves? Can a machine be art, or make art by itself? Kinetic sculpture, which questions the static nature of conventional statuary, began with Duchamp's 'Bicycle Wheel' (1913) and progressed through the mobiles of Alexander Calder in the 1950s.

But it was in 1960 that Swiss artist Jean Tinguely created one of the most dramatic mechanical sculptures that eventually destroyed itself, called 'Homage to New York,' installed in the Museum of Modern Art's sculpture garden. The 27-foot sculpture was comprised of bicycle wheels, a bath tub, piano, car horn, radio and several other random objects, and was powered by fifteen engines. Tinguely set the machine in motion and, after about 30 minutes, the contraption had completely broken apart and begun to flame. As an "homage to New York," Tinguely wanted to show his appreciation for a city that is constantly destroying and rebuilding itself with the aid of machines. (Check out a video of the machine here.) Jean Tinguely's 'Homage to New York' Machine
Jean Tinguely's 'Homage to New York' (1960)
Some contemporary artists, perhaps imbued with the spirit of Desmond Paul Henry, have created machines that make art themselves. Sculptor Roxy Paine created 'SCUMAK [Auto Sculpture Maker]' (1998), 'PMU [Painting Manufacturing Unit]' (1999-2000), and 'The Erosion Machine' (2005) which all create unique works with little intervention from the artist or viewer. 'SCUMAK', perhaps Paine's most famous machine, looked not unlike a factory assembly line with its conveyor belt and industrial apparatus. The machine melted plastic and pigment and then slowly extruded abstract, organic and lumpy forms on to the conveyor belt, creating sculptures on-demand. Is it a comment on the factory-like process that some name-brand artists like Jeff Koons employ when making works, or on the commodification of the art world itself? SCUMAK in action
Roxy Paine's SCUMAK (1998)
British artist Damien Hirst, most famous for his shark-in-vitrine sculpture 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (1992), also tried his hand at art-making gizmos. He used a larger version of a child's spin art set to create his Spin paintings at the beginning of the decade, and has even had encouraged viewers to create their own at some of his exhibitions. And Olafur Eliasson, who gained notoriety for his massive waterfalls in New York City two years ago, also worked with a drawing machine in his 'The Endless Study' project in 2006. For that endeavor, Eliasson utilized two pendulums attached to a single stringed instrument; as the instrument was played by visitors. The pendulums, with attached drawing implements, would translate the sonic vibrations to sheets of paper, creating an abstract "score" of the work. Damien Hirst's spin painting
A museum visitor makes a painting with Damien Hirst's spin painting apparatus

'The Endless Project' by Olafur Eliasson
'The Endless Project' (2006) by Olafur Eliasson





Contemporary Tech Art: Internet and Video Games

While the tech territory of video, computers, and lighting has by no means been exhausted, some artists have begun to explore the very media that by turns entertain, inform and enrage us all. The development of hypertext -- the ability to link from one page to another -- was crucial to the origins of the Internet, and has paved a new way to explore individual artworks. At the same time, and although Roger Ebert disagrees, some artists have taken to video games to both reflect on phenomenon itself and to explore other avenues of viewer interactions. With the advent of this new medium, artists need to learn the language of programming in addition to the mechanics of an aesthetic experience, and that opens up the potential of artists who have not been classically trained in painting or other modes to take to the 'net for making work.

'My boyfriend came back from the war' image
Screenshot from 'My boyfriend came back from the war' (1996) by Olia Lialina
 We couldn't talk about Internet art without mentioning Russian artist Olia Lialina. Jumping on the creative potential of animated GIFs, Lialina's 1996 work, 'My boyfriend came back from the war' is a prime example of 'net art. With black and white static images and GIFs, Lialina created an interactive narrative about a couple fighting over infidelity after the man comes back from battle. The audience is able to navigate through a series of hyperlinks attached to both text and images, taking users from page to page and with new frames. Like a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' book, the path from each link is up to the user, creating a dynamic experience with multiple outcomes. You can check out an archived version of the work here.
I Shot Andy Warhol Cartridge
Hacked NES cartridge for 'I Shot Andy Warhol' (2002) by Cory Arcangel
 Cory Arcangel, a multimedia artist from Brooklyn, is perhaps the prime example the digital trend in contemporary art. Inspired by the 8-bit culture that the X, Y and Millennial generations have come to (re)embrace, Arcangel began making NES hacks around 2002. For 'I Shot Andy Warhol,' he took a vintage 'Hogan's Alley' cartridge and modified it so that the original gangster characters were replaced with the Pope, Col. Sanders, Flavor Flav and the pop art king himself for a completely functional new game. In a similar intervention, 'Super Mario Clouds,' Arcangel took the NES cartridge and removed all aspects of the gameplay except for the puffy cumulus in the sky, transforming the game from a functional entertainment to a purely aesthetic experience.
Marc Essen's 'Punishment'
Screenshot from Marc Essen's 'Punishment' (2005)		 Another New Yorker, Marc Essen (who also goes by Messhof), has received a ton of attention lately for his alternative video games. With the 8-bit style of early NES, Essen's games question the conventional narratives of video games by sending players on endless, rotating, nauseating and sometimes impossible excursions that fly in the face of standard side-scrollers and first-person shooters. 'Punishment' from 2005 figures the player in a rollicking, gilded frame through which he must jump from platform to platform as various images come into the focus in the background. As Game Maker Games wrote in a review, "This game isn't especially easy."
And that's all we got, folks. While we've skipped over a ton of fantastic artists and artworks, we hope that this will provide our readers with a firm understanding of the role that technology plays in shaping artistic culture. Be it a comment on the mechanization of artistic creation or an appreciation of the inherent creativity in programming, believing that art is a static, analog medium is a folly. We tend to forget that technology doesn't exist simply to make our lives easier -- with cell phones and Facebook and Google -- but can also be used to explore the vast horizon of human expression.


Further Reading

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