Abstract
As digital art merges with contemporary art, there have been many fundamental changes in the creative process. New forms of art continue to emerge and a revolutionary change in the art experience is occurring in museums, galleries and on the Internet. As a digital art curator, I have been fortunate to be a part of this revolution and will share my experiences and thoughts about past, present and future developments in curating traditional, contemporary and digital art. After a few landmark exhibitions in the late 1960s, digital art found an early home in international organisations, such as Ars Electronica, ISEA, New York Digital Salon, and ZKM. The development of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s gave digital art the additional exposure it needed. Artists could now sidestep the traditional art establishment and reach a global audience through their websites. The Internet also expanded the art experience beyond galleries and museums into homes, schools and portable devices. 2001 joined 1968 as a landmark year for major museum exposure of digital art with BitStreams and Data Dynamics at the Whitney Museum of American Art and 010101 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. What transpired over these decades has reshaped contemporary art and presented new challenges to museum professionals faced with this new art form. When looking towards the future, we will see a continued merging of digital art with contemporary art. New ways of exhibiting and creative self-expression using VR and Augmented Reality, along with other new, yet to be invented, technologies will be developed as they continue to infuse our daily lives and art experiences. This paper will examine the evolution of curating digital art over the past twenty-five years.
Highlights
Having roots in the 1960s, digital art was originally looked at as Outsider Art. It did not fit into the traditional fine art categories of drawing, painting and sculpture. It found an early home in international organisations, such as Ars Electronica, International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), New York Digital Salon and ZKM, which were dedicated to promoting this new art form
While there were two landmark exhibitions in 1968, Cybernetic Serendipity at the ICA in London and The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age at MoMA in New York City, digital art failed to gain momentum until the 1980s spawned a widespread proliferation of personal computing and technology and made it practical for artists. It was the development of the World Wide Web in the mid1990s that gave digital art the global exposure it needed
2001 joined 1968 as a landmark year for major museum exposure of digital art with BitStreams and Data Dynamics at the Whitney Museum of American Art and 010101 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Both exhibitions explored the influence technology was having on art making and presented a variety of works using the full spectrum of digital media. 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of those exhibitions. What transpired over these decades is reshaping contemporary art and the digital art exhibitions held since reveal the challenges museum professionals are facing in adapting to this new art form and technology
Summary
As digital art merges with contemporary art, there have been many fundamental changes in the creative process. After a few landmark exhibitions in the late 1960s, digital art found an early home in international organisations, such as Ars Electronica, ISEA, New York Digital Salon, and ZKM. 2001 joined 1968 as a landmark year for major museum exposure of digital art with BitStreams and Data Dynamics at the Whitney Museum of American Art and 010101 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The Internet expanded the art experience beyond galleries and museums into homes, schools and portable devices. 2001 joined 1968 as a landmark year for major museum exposure of digital art with BitStreams and Data Dynamics at the Whitney Museum of American Art and 010101 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art What transpired over these decades has reshaped contemporary art and presented new challenges to museum professionals faced with this new art form.
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