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Algorithmic Video Art: an internship report
New media are continuously subjected to debates centering on their legitimacy as (independent) art form. Especially the fusion of art and science makes this question very delicate in the field of computer graphics. In her internship report, Anna Sonnemans describes the evolution of graphical computer art, the hybridization of art and science, and the role of the algorithm in computer art.
In 2007 I did an internship at the Inter-Society of Electronic Arts as part of my Master Film and Television Studies at Utrecht University. ISEA is in its own words "an international nonprofit organization fostering interdisciplinary academic discourse and exchange among culturally diverse organizations and individuals working with art, science and technology." Its main activity is the organization of the International Symposium on Electronic Arts, an annually held symposium where science and art meet. As an intern I was tasked with archiving the digital remains of previous symposia for ISEA's online database. Since I had developed a special interest in the video art that was part of ISEA's Electronic Theatre, I analyzed, described and archived these video's for ISEA's Digital Archive Project.
As part of my internship report I was also asked to write an article on video art using some of the video's and theories presented at symposia and Gene Youngbloods book Expanded Cinema (1970). "Art in Progress" is its result (see the pdf file attached to this post on the right). The article revolves around the evolution of graphical computer art (especially within ISEA's database), its hybridization of science and art and its shifting of paradigms. I conclude with a paragraph on algorithmic video art. This form of computer art is neither a software test run nor an animation which make use of digital technology as merely a tool. Instead the autonomy of the technology used, which signifies the emergent stage of computer graphics art, becomes the subject of the video’s creative content.
Unfortunately ISEA's Online Database has not yet seen the light of day. Almost four years later the project has neither been finished nor officially discontinued, but since I would very much like to share the video's of ISEA's Electronic Theatre I mention in my own article, I have embedded those in this post.
Broken heart (1988) by Joan I. Staveley, Dinosaur Stuff (1988) a work in progress by John C. Donkin and an early version of Eurhythmy (1988) by Susan Amkraut and Michael Girard.
Eurhythmy (1989) by Susan Amkraut and Michael Girard.
Faux Pas (1989) by Softimage, Daniel Langois, Georges Mauro and Char Davies.
When I Was Six (1992?) by Michelle Robinson using software by Softimage.
Particle Dreams (1988)by Karl Sims.
Panspermia (1990) by Karl Sims.
Composition in Red and Green (1990) by Edward Zajec.
