Digital Art

Digital technology has had a major impact on the production and experience of art during the past decade and a half. Not only have traditional forms of art such as printing, painting, photography, and sculpture been transformed by digital techniques and media, but entirely new forms such as net art, software art, digital installation, and virtual reality have emerged as recognized practices, collected by major museums, institutions, and private collectors the world over.

Christiane Paul surveys digital art from its appearance in the early 1990s up to the present day. Drawing a distinction between work that uses digital technology as a tool to produce traditional forms and work that uses it as a medium to create new types of art, she discusses all the key artists and works. The book explores themes addressed by and raised by the art, such as viewer interaction, artificial life and intelligence, political and social activism, networks, and telepresence, as well as issues such as the collection, presentation, and preservation of digital art, the virtual museum, and ownership and copyright. 180 illustrations, 100 in color.