PRINTS & BOOKS FEATURES
Computer Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Ben Laposky, 'Oscillon 40', 1952. Museum no. E.958-2008. Given by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Patric Prince (click image for larger version)
The V&A has been collecting computer-generated art and design since the 1960s. More recently, the Museum acquired two significant collections of computer-generated art and design, and together these form the basis of the UK's emerging national collection of Computer Art.
The Museum's holdings range from early experiments with analogue computers and mechanical devices, to examples of contemporary software-based practices that produce digital prints and computer-generated drawings. The earliest work in the collection dates from 1952 and is a long exposure photograph of electronic beams on an analogue computer, by artist Ben Laposky.
More recently, the V&A has acquired a large digital inkjet print from 2008, which is nearly two metres long and was created using pixel mapping software designed by American artist Mark Wilson.
The collection consists predominately of two-dimensional works on paper, such as plotter drawings, screenprints, inkjet prints, laser prints and photographs, as well as artists' books, from around the world. Early practitioners of computer art were working in Britain, France, Germany, and Spain, as well as the United States, Japan and South America.
In these pages, you can read about the pioneering artists and scientists who explored the creative potential of the computer from its earliest days.
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What is Computer Art?
Computer Art is a broad term used to describe work made using the computer as a tool or medium, from around the late 1950s onwards. Artists have used the computer in a variety of ways and Computer Art does not tend to have one particular aesthetic.
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A Brief History of Computer Art
As computing technology developed from its earliest days we can begin to see changes in the art that appeared in each decade.
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The Computer Arts Society: Computer Art in Britain
The Computer Arts Society enabled relatively isolated practitioners working with the computer across a variety of fields to meet up and exchange information on what was still a comparatively new field.
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Patric Prince and the North American Computer Art scene
Patric Prince is an American art historian and collector of Computer Art, who followed and documented its rise from the earliest days. She was responsible for organising some of the key computer art exhibitions, as well as lecturing and writing on the subject extensively.
More on Patric Prince and the North American Computer Art scene
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Artworks in Detail
Due to the scale of some of the artworks featured it is not always possible to see the detail of the images when reproduced to fit on these pages. Two of the larger works have been created as zoomable images in order to reveal some of this detail.
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Artists' Biographies
Here you will find biographies for the artists discussed in these web pages, as well as a selection of other early computer art pioneers.
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Computer Art Links
Access the websites of artists featured in this section, as well as relevant organisations and projects that may be of interest.
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Computer Art Reading List
Find details of relevant publications on Computer art, computer graphics and digital art.
Mark Wilson, 'e4708' (detail), 2008. Museum no. E.535-2008. Given by the artist (click image for larger version)
All works from the Computer Art collections can be accessed through the Prints and Drawings Study Room (Tuesday to Saturday 10.00 - 17.00).
You can also view our computer art works on the Search the Collections feature of our website.
The V&A gratefully acknowledges the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which has enabled further research into the field of computer art and design by the V&A and Birkbeck College, University of London. Further details of this joint research project can be found here:
www.technocultures.org.uk
