New Era of Interactive Devices & Digital Art

Evolving from the simplest geometrical shapes to a huge and complicated system, digital art has been through several phases. The artists harness technology in diverse ways to express their thoughts as well as make a reflection about the world. After visiting an interesting exhibition about Computer Arts, I’d like to share some thoughts about it.

The biggest impact caused by technology is the enrichment of art forms. Art would no longer be limited to pigments and brushes. A fabulous example is created by Leo Villareal, who plays with LED lights to obtain complex and rhythmic artworks. These images are generated in real-time using algorithms. Both the pattern and path of these photons are completely random, unpredictable, and fleeting.

Yes, computer arts are always unpredictable and endless, which is also why they are distinct from the traditional arts. Michel Paysant uses eye-tracking technology to “reconstruct” Guernica. We don’t always need a hand to draw something, right?

Someone says artists have switched from creating arts to creating creation. Does it mean humans now have reached artificial imagination? I love a metaphor made by Wenkai Xu (aaajiao), “Now that we have become bots, and we are just one with the mind of the hive.” The last piece of work, Breakfast and Artificial Art, shows a time-lapse after the demise of mankind: the AI girl keeps chanting "Art must be artificial, artists must be artificial.” The snake beside the girl came from The Snake Charmer painted by Henri Rousseau. But human beings and artificial intelligence, who is Eve, and who is the snake? No one can say for sure now.