Pittronica Towards an Archaeology of the Electronic Image on Italian Television

Abstract

In retrospect, the ways and times that have characterized the transition from analog to digital television should now be reviewed in the light of the fundamental steps that the progress of computer technology had during the’80s of the twentieth century. If it is clear that since the first television broadcasts, “traditional” visual arts have given a strong contribution to the aesthetics and contents of Italian television, there are not many studies that have investigated the function, operated by TV, of bringing out the role that information technologies have had in the construction of a new visual imaginary. Therefore, the article proposes first reflections about events, transmissions, personalities and technologies that are at the origin of the computer divulgation in Italy mediated by television. Among the proposed case studies, some significant incursions into television programming by personalities already known for having investigated experimental forms of hybridization between TV, art and computers will be analyzed, as well as programs, also on the radio, that have seen the electronic/digital language interact with the television one.