Digital Art

World of Art

by Christiane Paul

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.

Genres: Art, Technology, Nonfiction, Art History, Design, Reference

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2003

Reviews

[Vendela Gambill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately a disappointing read. Tackled with the intention of uncovering the intricate narrative of progression of digital art over the years. However this book presented those cases in an extremely vague and choppy manner. There seemed to be no continuation or silver thread through the book which would make this an interesting read. Instead just a continuous presentation of various art works without any attempt to develop an argument.

I cannot recommend this book to inspire anyone who is interested in Digital art. She includes a few unheard of art pieces, and many historical (sometimes outdated) works, but fails to achieve a sense of belonging of these works in the context of our CURRENT digital art climate. When tackling a subject that is still in its major stages of growth and development, cataloguing without greater insight (beyond squeemishly vague and understated sub-titles/sub-headers), it is expected to present some sort of richness that can inspire the reader to have a view as to where this field may develop in coming years. Instead the read was convoluted and poorly structured. But it was an attempt.

PS. !!! One point I failed to mention -- pg 222 is the work of my university tutor Usman Haque which was exciting to see :D

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Required reading for a digital arts class. Reading about digital interactive art is about as fun as it sounds.

[Kos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Suffers from really dry explanations of art pieces, the one thing it has going for it is that the work listed is pretty obscure and interesting

[Karin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a course in school as an extra to prepare myself for the exam.

I have some difficulties with the overall writing style of these kinds of books. The subject is really interesting but it's told in so many (in my opinion useless repetitive) details...

Overall nice subject, to many words.

[Oleg · Rating 4 out of 5]

good history introduction, the book seems to be outdated in case of last edition from 2017, most of the examples today seem not so significant, digital art consepts and technology emerging more and more every year

[Chyeerio]

I read this for an Art class, and it was relatively interesting. I had no idea how inventive artists were in incorporating technology into exhibits or projects. I'm sure with the rise of AI art, there will be some new and fun ways for artists to express themselves.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of photos and descriptions of digital art, categorized by mediums and themes. Learned about some interesting projects I hadn't heard of, early digital art projects that were really visually and technically advanced.

[Maksim Karpitski · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since digital art itself is so fractured it's no big surprise that this books comes short of any unifying idea but it also lacks structure and indexing to be a decent introduction into the topic.

[Sanjay Pasari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Digital technology takes art and craft to a next level through Digital art and make artistic approach more effective and come out the art so beautifully portrayed.

[aurora · Rating 2 out of 5]

did not finish. writing was sooo dull. will keep as reference book.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good survey.

[Radz · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book, i recommend to all those who a are interested in Digital art, Contemporary art history,& Computer history! I learnt alot so far!

[Francisco Tapiador · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read to keep up to date on modern art.

[Egor xS · Rating 2 out of 5]

This in other respects a robust introduction to the topic tackles too expansive an array of artworks to be thorough

[Arvida Byström · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of digital art through its brief history