“Computing is a techno-logy, meaning a technic which is also a language,” said the late pioneer of generative art, Edmond Couchot. Since the early 1960s, but particularly through the last two decades, new artistic practices have emerged alongside the spread of digital technology. Artists needed a new medium to express their vision of a rapidly changing world, where computers were becoming a key component of everyday life. It is here that Computational art was born.
The computer has since not only become an artist’s tool, but established a true creative language in its own right. The artists we present here have tried to liberate that language from its communicative functions to develop it as a poetic platform. Using algorithms and generativity to develop new shapes and colours, artists like Vera Molnár, Manfred Mohr, Ryoji Ikeda and Refik Anadol have pushed the boundaries of visual arts, opening new territories for others to explore.
In 1985, French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard curated the groundbreaking exhibition Les Immatériaux at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, showcasing how telecommunication technologies, in perpetual movement and based on immateriality, were beginning to impact every aspect of life and creation, propelling art into the postmodern era. Today, while the whole world is working with AI and the computer is metamorphosing into our inseparable companion, Computer artists are showing their works in all the major museums of the world.
Based on the leading digital art collection of Guy Ullens, the purpose of this exhibition is to present a survey of the historical and current art practices of leading international artists sharing the use of computing technology, including major Saudi artists such as Muhannad Shono. We aim to show how the pioneers of yesterday and the emerging figures of today are depicting a meaningful history of the evolution of the homo digitalis, the new human civilisation we are experiencing. Together, these works demonstrate that computing technology is a true medium of art, opening an infinity of visual possibilities, and not an experimental school or temporary art movement. We want to characterise some of the specificities of this new medium: how this digital palette has placed the viewer at the heart of the artistic experience and how it manifests the dream of an unlimited artwork, close to an organic creation – an art with a nervous system.
In 1956, the robotic art pioneer Nicolas Schöffer said, “Now, the role of the artist is no more to create a work, but to create the creation.” Today’s artists are playing with sophisticated algorithms, machine learning techniques and artificial intelligence capable of interpreting images, recognising visuals, and producing forms. These works raise several questions. Is the creative process of Computational art artificial in nature, or an Extra-Nature as Miguel Chevalier suggests? Is AI evolving from an ideal assistant to a true artist? What is the future of the human brain versus the Big Brain? What are the limits of the artificial imagination? By posing and responding to these questions, Computer artists can help us better understand the issues of our increasingly digital world.
Curator: Jérôme Neutres
