Digital art and design stories on the V&A blog
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Digital Art & Design
From early computer generated drawings and algorithmic art to personal organisers and the mosquito emoji, the V&A holds more than 3,000 digital art and design objects dating from the 1950s to the present. Including works created by individuals through to large-scale corporations, the collection explores the interplay between art, design and technology, and how they shape how we live together.
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Highlights include the 1974 'Structures of Square' computer plotter drawing by Vera Molnár, the first navigable virtual environment produced in the 1970s by David Em for NASA, Apple's stylish iMac G3 designed in 1998 by Jonathan Ive, and WeChat's Bubble pup GIF stickers from 2015 made by Tencent Technology.
Collection Selection Box
Get up close to original computer-based artworks in our collection with our Collection Selection Boxes
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Collection highlights
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Computer-generated drawing (with hand colouring), by Harold Cohen, 1974, United States -
'Oscillon 40', photograph, by Ben Laposky, 1952, United States -
'Structure of Squares', plotter drawing, by Vera Molnar, 1974, Paris, France -
Screenprint, by Eduardo Mac Entyre, 1973, Argentina -
'PO32 (Matrix Elements)', deck of punched cards, by Manfred Mohr, 1970, Paris, France -
Code for 'Process 18 (Software 3)', by Casey Reas, 2010, United States -
'Running Cola is Africa', lithograph after a computer-generated drawing, by the Computer Technique Group, 1967/68, Japan -
Untitled, screenprint, by Ken Knowlton, from the portfolio 'Art Ex Machina', 1972, United States -
iMac G3 personal computer, designed by Jonathan Ive for Apple Inc, 1998 -
'Radical Love', by Heather Dewey-Hagborg, 3D-printed mask of Chelsea Mannings face, generated by DNA phenotyping methods, 2016 -
Mosquito emoji, designed by Aphelandra Messer in .eps format, 2018 -
GynePunk speculum, designed by Urs Gaudenz (GaudiLabs), Paula Pin Lage (BioTRANSlab), and Klau Chinche, also known as Klau Kinki or Klau Kinky (GynePunk), 2015, printed by Paula Pin Lage, 2019 -
Still from 'Hyper-Reality', digital film on the future of augmented reality and the city, by designer Keiichi Matsuda, 2016 -
Thing-O-Matic, 3D printer, made by Makerbot, 2010 – 12 -
Bubble pup animated GIF sticker, created for use in the WeChat app, 2016, Shenzhen, China
Features
A history of collecting digital objects at the V&A
A timeline of collecting, from the earliest acquisitions of computer art in 1969 to the complex digital works in the collection today
Digital art
Explore of a history of digital art through our collections
A history of digital design: Part 1 – Connectivity
Explore the history of personal computers, smartphones, social media, smart devices and the Internet of Things
A history of digital design: Part 2 – Expanding worlds
Explore the history of videogames, virtual and augmented reality, and critical technologies
Patric D. Prince: digital art visionary
A key figure in early computer and digital art, recognising the importance and potential of these new art forms.
At the press of a button: A V&A history of 3D printing
The ambition of printing anything, anywhere, anytime has long been a futuristic dream
Digital art & design dictionary
A glossary of key terms in the field of digital art and design
Header image: 'Approach', by David Em, colour photograph, computer-generated, 1975, Sierra Madre, United States