Computer Art Society, London, January 27th, 2015
Grant Taylor: Computer Art and its Discontents

British Computer Society Bcs, London Office
5 Southampton St
WC2E 7HA London
United Kingdom

Taylor will examine the story of computer art through the lens of art criticism. We know from artist accounts that a certain type of negativity, which often bordered on the hostile, met most forms of computer art. Such criticism was widespread enough to make computer art, especially in the eyes of the orthodox art world, synonymous with negative criticism itself. The nature of computer art's criticism, however, was complex and multileveled, often reflecting modes of traditional art criticism and at the same time being entirely divorced from it. Evidently, much of what informs the reception of computer art emerges from various cultural sources. The heated debates between art and science, the societal anxiety over nascent computer technology, and the myths and philosophies surrounding digital computation all impacted the judgment of computer art.