# Computer Art [Wikipedia Link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_art) ( 1960s – present ) ## Description History of computer graphics and computer-generated art, from early accounts published in *Leonardo* during the field's first decade (1965–1975) to retrospective histories of computer graphics and animation — spanning landmark exhibitions such as *Cybernetic Serendipity* and computer-animation pioneers such as [[John Whitney Sr.]] and [[Larry Cuba]]. ## Key Tags #computer-art #computer-animation #art-history ## Essential Works - Reichardt, Jasia, ed. *Cybernetic Serendipity: The Computer and the Arts* - catalog of the landmark 1968 ICA exhibition, a foundational document of early computer art - Carlson, Wayne E. *Computer Graphics and Computer Animation: A Retrospective Overview* - freely available retrospective history of computer graphics and animation ## Details ### Key Theorists - Jasia Reichardt - curator and critic who organized *Cybernetic Serendipity* and helped define computer art as a field - Frank Dietrich - historian of "the first decade of computer art" (1965–1975) - [[Gene Youngblood]] - theorized computer film as a component of expanded cinema ### Exemplary Practitioners - [[John Whitney Sr.]] - pioneering computer animator whose work is central to computer art historiography - [[Larry Cuba]] - algorithmic computer animation ### Related Concepts - [[Animation Studies]] - computer animation pioneers overlap substantially with this page's bibliography - [[Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence]] - contemporary computational art practice extends into AI image and text synthesis ### Creative and Technical Practices %% none yet %% ### Associated Movements or Institutions - Institute of Contemporary Arts (London) - hosted the *Cybernetic Serendipity* exhibition, a landmark event for computer art (1968) - [[Ars Electronica]] - festival and center for art, technology, and society with sustained coverage of computer art practice ## References ### Primary Sources Bibliography %% none yet %% ### Secondary Sources Bibliography Carlson, Wayne E. _Computer Graphics and Computer Animation: A Retrospective Overview_. The Ohio State University, 2017. [https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/graphicshistory/](https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/graphicshistory/). Dietrich, Frank. “Visual Intelligence: The First Decade of Computer Art (1965-1975).” _Leonardo (Oxford)_ (Cambridge, MA) 19, no. 2 (1986): 159–69. [https://doi.org/10.2307/1578284](https://doi.org/10.2307/1578284). Reichardt, Jasia, and England) Institute of Contemporary Arts (London. _Cybernetic Serendipity : The Computer and the Arts_. Praeger, 1969. [https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1130000794242542336](https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1130000794242542336). Youngblood, Gene. _Cinema and the Code_. n.d.