“Dare to be Digital: Japan’s Pioneering Contributions to Today’s International Art and Technology Movement” by Ippolito
Conference:
Type:
Title:
- Dare to be Digital: Japan's Pioneering Contributions to Today's International Art and Technology Movement
Presenter(s)/Author(s):
Abstract:
A number of pioneering artists began experimenting with the computer as a visual arts medium in the late 60s and early 70s when most fine-arts circles refused to recognize art made by computers as a viable product of human creativity. This was the era of computer punch cards, when the visual results of algorithmic input were nothing more than line drawings. Many of the forward-looking artists who were experimenting with this technology were not taken seriously by the established art venues, and were, in fact, often ostracized by their peers. More recently, the work of computer artists has begun to appear in general textbooks on the history of art, but each book fealures one or two completely different artists. The books are inconsistent in their documentation of this fairly new medium. There are a number of journals that have had special issues devoted to this topic, including the Art Journal, and there are also whole journals dedicated to the field, such as Leonardo. There are, however, very few books that do justice to the movement, and few that include artists of Japan. In other words, there is a great deal of activity in the field, but the documentation is neither thorough nor consistent.
References:
1. Trachtman, P. Charles Csuri is an Old Master in a new medium.
Smithsonian (February 1995): 56.
2. The Story of Experiments in Art and Technology. E.A.T.
Intercommunication Online. Calendar, 2003.
www.ntticc.or.jp/Calendar /2003/EA T /preface. html
3. Reichardt, J. The Computer in Art. London: Studio Vista and New
York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1971 ), 81.
4. Reichardt, J. ibid, 81.
5. Reichardt, J. ibid, 84.
6. Yamaguchi, K. Robot Avant-Garde, 20th Century Art and the
Machine. Tokyo: Parco Co., Ltd., 1985), 113. [Translation mine.]
7. The complete title of the group is Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai (Concrete
Fine Arts Association). Alexandra Monroe, To challenge the midsummer
sun: The Gutai Group, in Alexander Munroe, Japanese
Art Since 1945: Scream Against the Sky. New York: Harry N.
Abrams, Inc., 1994, 83.
8. Munroe, The Gutai Group, 90.
9. Fox, H. A Primal Spirit. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990,
81.
10. Against Nature: Japanese Art in the Eighties. Exhibition
Catalogue, Grey Art Gallery and New York University, the MIT List
Visual Arts Center, and The Japan Foundation, 1989, 78.
11. Munroe, A. Hinomaru illumination: Japanese art of the 1990s, in
Alexandra Munroe, Japanese Art Since 1945: Scream Against the
Sky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994, 343.
12. Yoichiro Kawaguchi, Interview, Konpyuuta Shinjinrui no Kenkyuu.
Research on the New Computer Generation, ed. Masaki Noda.
Tokyo: Bungei Shunjuu P ublishing, 1987, 255. [Translation mine.]
