Electronic art is a form of art that makes use of electronic media. More broadly, it refers to technology and/or electronic media. It is related to information art, new media art, video art, digital art, interactive art, internet art, and electronic music. It is considered an outgrowth of conceptual art and systems art.

Background

The term electronic art is almost synonymous to computer art and digital art.Paul, Christiane 2006. Digital Art, p. 10. Thames & Hudson. The latter two terms, and especially the term computer-generated art are mostly used for visual artworks generated by computers. However, electronic art has a much broader connotation, referring to artworks that include any type of electronic component, such as works in music, dance, architecture and performance.Paul, Christiane (2006. Digital Art, p. 132 Thames & Hudson. It is an interdisciplinary field in which artists, scientists and engineers often collaborate when creating their works. The art historian of electronic art Edward A. Shanken works to document current and past experimental art with a focus on the intersection of art, science, and technology. Other writers on the topic of electronic art include Frank Popper, Dominique Moulon, Sarah Cook, and Christiane Paul.

Electronic art often features components of interactivity.Paul, Christiane (2006). Digital Art, pp. 8, 11. Thames & Hudson. Artists make use of technologies like the Internet, computer networks, robotics, wearable technology, digital painting, Wireless technology and immersive virtual reality. As the technologies used to deliver works of electronic art become obsolete, electronic art faces serious issues around the challenge to preserve artwork beyond the time of its contemporary production. Currently, research projects are underway to improve the preservation and documentation of the fragile electronic arts heritage (see DOCAM – Documentation and Conservation of the Media Arts Heritage). Digital graphics software such as Photoshop allows for the digital manipulation of analog photographs, the creation of wholly electronic images, and application of AI-enhanced generative fills.

Wearable Tech

With the advancements in lightweight microchips, wireless capabilities, sensors and motion tracking technology,Birringer, J. & Danjoux, M. (2009). Wearable performance, Digital Creativity, 20:1-2, 95-113, DOI: 10.1080/14626260902868095 new mediums in digital art and performance have become possible. Technology has the capability to augment and manipulate reality as well as audience or viewer perception. Motion tracking suits are used in creating 3D renders of animated characters for film and video games.Callesen, J. & Nilsen, K. (2004). From lab to stage: practice-based research in performance, Digital Creativity, 15:1, 32-38, DOI: 10.1076/digc.15.1.32.28157 The animation or CGI produced can be edited and adjusted before viewing, but research into real time rendering for live performance art is being streamlined through the use of artificial intelligence, automation, and programing. Live renders are similarly used in the metaverse to create more realistic avatar movement and expression.Jang D., Yang D., Jang D., Choi B,. Jin T., Lee S. (2023). MOVIN: Real‐time Motion Capture using a Single LiDAR. Computer Graphics Forum. 2023;42(7):1-12. doi:10.1111/cgf.14961 Further implications of wearable technology include audio and music production. Laurie Anderson is a performance artist who used a suit equipped with amplified tactile sensors. She used her movements to create music, as various body parts were assigned different percussive or instrumental sounds and tones when hit or moved. Similar to this musical tech is the SOMI-1 device as used in the dance performance entitled “My body is an instrument” by: Mike Tyus and Luca Renzi.Brown, I. (2023, October 10). “My body is an instrument” Somi-1 performance by Mike Tyus and Luca Renzi. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MSQLX71mcY This piece of technology was designed by the company Instrument of Things; the SOMI-1 is a small proprioceptive disk that tracks movement and translates it into sound. Instruments of Things. (2024). SOMI-1: About. https://instrumentsofthings.com/

Art festivals that use the term "electronic art" in their name International Symposium for Electronic Art (ISEA), organized annually since 1988, international Ars Electronica Symposium, organized yearly since 1979 by Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF), organized yearly since 1994 by V2 Institute for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam, the Netherlands Electronic Language International Festival (FILE) organized yearly since 2000 in São Paulo, Brazil The Prix Ars Electronica, a major yearly award for several categories of electronic art

Artists

Notable artists working in electronic art include:

Laurie Anderson Roy Ascott Maurice Benayoun Maurizio Bolognini Angie Bonino Mez Breeze Miguel Chevalier Heiko Daxl Elizabeth Diller David Em Ken Feingold Ingeborg Fülepp Peter Gabriel Walter Giers Pietro Grossi Genco Gulan Garnet Hertz Perry Hoberman Jodi (art collective) Eduardo Kac Knowbotic Research Marc Lee George Legrady Golan Levin Liu Dao Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Chico MacMurtrie Sergio Maltagliati Jennifer & Kevin McCoy Yucef Merhi Jonathan Monaghan Joseph Nechvatal Yves Netzhammer Graham Nicholls Simon Penny Melinda Rackham Martin Rev Ken Rinaldo David Rokeby Stefan Roloff Lillian Schwartz Ricardo Scofidio Paul Sermon Scott Snibbe Michael Snow Stelarc Survival Research Laboratories Gianni Toti Tamás Waliczky Norman White Allan Kaprow

See also

Algorithm art Artificial intelligence art Artmedia Computer art Computer art scene Computer graphics Computer music Cybernetic art Demoscene Digital art Digital illustration Digital painting Digital poetry EVA Conferences (Electronic Visualisation and the Arts) Evolutionary art Fractal art Generative art Image development Interactive art Intermedia Multimedia Music visualization New media art Systems art

References

Bibliography Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics, Dijon: Les Presses du Réel, 2002, orig. 1997 Paul Brown, Charlie Gere, Nicholas Lambert, Catherine Mason (eds.), White Heat Cold Logic: British Computer Art 1960–1980, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006 Christine Buci-Glucksmann, "L’art à l’époque du virtuel", in Frontières esthétiques de l’art, Arts 8, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2004 Frank Popper, Art of the Electronic Age, Thames & Hudson, 1997 Joline Blais and Jon Ippolito, At the Edge of Art, Thames & Hudson, 2006 Charlie Gere, Digital Culture, Reaktion, 2002. Oliver Grau (2003). Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion (Leonardo Book Series). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press/Leonardo Books. . Oliver Grau (Ed.): Media Art Histories, MIT Press/Leonardo Books, 2007. Mark Hansen, New Philosophy for New Media, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2004 Norman M. Klein, "Spaces Between: Traveling Through Bleeds, Apertures, and Wormholes Inside the Database Novel," in Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives, Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardip-Fruin (eds.), Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2009 Donald Kuspit "Del Atre Analogico al Arte Digital" in Arte Digital Y Videoarte, Kuspit, D. (ed.), Consorcio del Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, pp. 33–34 & 3 color images Donald Kuspit, The Matrix of Sensations, VI: Digital Artists and the New Creative Renaissance Alan Liu, The Laws of Cool: Knowledge Work and the Culture of Information, The University of Chicago Press, pp. 331–336 & 485–486 Dominic McIver Lopes, A Philosophy of Computer Art, London: Routledge, 2009 Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press/Leonardo Books, 2001. Lev Manovich, Ten Key Texts on Digital Art: 1970–2000, Leonardo, Volume 35, Number 5, October 2002, pp. 567–569 Yucef Merhi, Artists' Fellowship – 2009 Digital/Electronic Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, 2009 Robert C. Morgan Digital Hybrids, art press, Volume 255 Christiane Paul, Digital Art, Thames & Hudson Frank Popper, From Technological to Virtual Art, The MIT Press/Leonardo Books, 2007 Frank Popper, Origins and Development of Kinetic Art, Studio Vista and New York Graphic Society, 1968 Frank Popper, Die Kinetische Kunst-Licht und Bewegung, Umweltkunst und Aktion, Dumont Schauberg, 1975 Frank Popper, Le Déclin de l'objet, Le Chêne, 1975 Dick Higgins, Intermedia, 1966. Reprinted in Donna De Salvo (ed.), Open Systems Rethinking Art c. 1970, London: Tate Publishing, 2005 Margot Lovejoy, Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age, Routledge, 2004 Frank Popper, Art—Action and Participation, New York University Press, 1975 Frank Popper, Origins and Development of Kinetic Art, New York Graphic Society/Studio Vista, 1968 Frank Popper, Réflexions sur l'exil, l'art et l'Europe : Entretiens avec Aline Dallier, Klincksieck, 1998 Frank Popper, Ecrire sur l'art : De l'art optique a l'art virtuel, L'Harmattan, 2007 Fred Forest, Art et Internet, Editions Cercle D'Art / Imaginaire Mode d'Emploi Sarah J. Rogers (ed.), Body Mécanique: Artistic Explorations of Digital Realms, Columbus, Ohio, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University, 1998* Edward A. Shanken Selected Writings on Art and Technology http://artexetra.com Edward A. Shanken Art and Electronic Media. London: Phaidon, 2009. Rainer Usselmann, The Dilemma of Media Art: Cybernetic Serendipity at the ICA London. , Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press/Leonardo Journal, Volume 36, Number 5, October 2003, pp. 389–396 Bruce Wands, Art of the Digital Age, London: Thames & Hudson, 2006.

External links Stephen Wilson: extensive list of "information arts" links newArteest, list of prominent digital artists