The symposium ‘Ideas Before Their Time: Connecting the Past and Present in Computer Art’ examines the ideas and technologies of computer-based art. Many intriguing concepts have emerged in computer art over the past 50 years. Some have been brought to light in the archives examined by the Computer Art and Technocultures Project at Birkbeck and the Victoria & Albert Museum. With the current exhibitions of computer art, ‘Decode’ and ‘Digital Pioneers’ ongoing at the V&A, this is a timely look at the area. Speakers from all areas of computer art, including practitioners, curators and historians, discuss the past, present and future of this area.

Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION
KEYNOTE
Post Computer Art — Ontological Undecidability and the Cat with Paint on its Paws

SESSION 1: COMPUTER ART & CYBERNETICS
Digital pioneers: computer-generated art from the V&A’s collections
The Interactive Art System
Art of Conversation
The Computer Generated Artworks of Vladimir Bonačić

SESSION 2: COMPUTER ART & TIME
On the Relationship of Computing to the Arts and Culture: an Evolutionary Perspective
Paragraphs on Computer Art, Past and Present
Program, be Programmed or Fade Away: Computers and the Death of Constructivist Art
Impermanent Art: The Essence of Beauty in Imperfection

SESSION 3: COMPUTER ART & SPACE
The Computer as a Dynamic Medium
The Immersive Artistic Experience and the Exploitation of Space
Redefining Sculpture Digitally
The new Ravensbourne

SESSION 4: COMPUTER ART & OUTPUT
Computer Art & Output: The Impassive Line
The Digital Atelier: how subtractive technologies create new forms
Digital Physicality: Printmaking
Models, Macquettes and Art Objects: Making Data Physical

SESSION 5: COMPUTER ART & TECHNOCULTURES
Curating Technocultures
Networks of Freedom: Networks of Control
The Changing Nature of Artists’ Practice
Creating Continuity Between Computer Art History and Contemporary Art