Nake, Frieder 2010. Paragraphs on Computer Art, Past and Present. In: Cat 2010: Ideas Before Their Time: Connecting the Past and Present in Computer Art. Swinton, UK:British Computer Society

Paper presented at the conference CAT 2010 3 February 2010, London; published in the procedings book Cat 2010: Ideas Before Their Time: Connecting the Past and Present in Computer Art.

Abstract:
Sol LeWitt published “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art” in Artforum, June 1967. They became an influential theoretical text on art of the twentieth century. They played the role of a manifesto even though they appeared when their topic – concept over matter – had already existed for about a decade. Digital computer art had had its first exhibitions in 1965. It seems it never produced a manifesto, with the exception, perhaps, of Max Bense’s “Projects of generative aesthetics” (1965, in German). Since computer art is a brother of conceptual art, it is justified in a late manifesto to borrow the style of the old title.