Emerging artforms inspired by data and information technology
Information art, which is also known asinformatism ordata art, is an art form that is inspired by and principally incorporatesdata,computer science,information technology,artificial intelligence, and related data-driven fields. Theinformation revolution has resulted in over-abundant data that are critical in a wide range of areas, fromthe Internet to healthcare systems. Related toconceptual art,electronic art andnew media art, informatism considers this new technological, economical, and culturalparadigm shift, such that artworks may provide social commentaries, synthesize multiple disciplines, and develop new aesthetics.[1] Realization of information art often take, although not necessarily, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches incorporatingvisual,audio,data analysis,performance, and others.[2] Furthermore, physical and virtual installations involving informatism often providehuman-computer interaction thatgenerate artistic contents based on the processing of large amounts of data.[3]
Information art has a long history as visualization of qualitative and quantitative data forms a foundation in science, technology, and governance.Information design andinformational graphics, which has existed before computing and the Internet, are closely connected with this new emergent art movement.[4][5] An early example of informatism the 1970 exhibition organized called "Information" at theMuseum of Modern Art in New York City (curated byKynaston McShine). This is the time whenconceptual art has emerged as a leading tendency in theUnited States and internationally.[6] At the same time arose the activities ofExperiments in Art and Technology known as E.A.T.[7]
Information art are manifested using a variety of data sources such asphotographs,census data,video clips,search engine results,digital painting, network signals, and others.[8] Often, such data are transformed, analyzed, and interpreted in order to convey concepts and develop aesthetics. When dealing withbig data, artists may usestatistics andmachine learning to seek meaningful patterns that drive audio, visual, and other forms of representations. Recently, informatism is used in interactive andgenerative installations that are often dynamically linked with data and analytical pipelines.
^Edward A. Shanken has argued that little scholarship has explored the relationship between technology andconceptual art. He also claimed that there was an art-historical impetus to artificially distinguish information art from conceptual art.Edward A. Shanken, 'Art in the Information Age: Technology and Conceptual Art,' inMichael Corris (ed.), Conceptual Art: Theory, Myth and Practice Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
^SeeLucy R. Lippard,Six Years: the Dematerialization of the Art Object From 1966 to 1972 (1973. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).
^E.A.T. followed from the event Nine Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, organised byRobert Rauschenberg andBilly Klüver at the Armoury Building, New York City, 13–22 October 1966 to promote the collaboration between artists and engineers. They also organised the Pepsi Pavilion at the World's Fair,Osaka, in 1970. For a detailed discussion of the project see Bijvoet, Art as Inquiry, ch. 2.
Alan Liu (2004). "The Laws of Cool: Knowledge Work and the Culture of Information",University of Chicago Press
Kenneth R. Allan, "UnderstandingInformation," inMichael Corris (ed.), Conceptual Art, Theory, Myth, and Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 144-68.
Barreto, Ricardo and Perissinotto, Paula“the_culture_of_immanence”, in Internet Art. Ricardo Barreto e Paula Perissinotto (orgs.). São Paulo, IMESP, 2002.ISBN85-7060-038-0.
Jack Burnham, (1970) Beyond Modern Sculpture: The Effects of Science and Technology on the Sculpture of this Century (New York: George Braziller Inc.
Kynaston McShine, "INFORMATION", New York, Museum of Modern Art., 1970, First Edition. ISBN LC 71-100683
Jack Burnham, 'Systems Esthetics,'Artforum (September, 1968); reprinted in Donna de Salvo (ed.), Open Systems: Rethinking Art C. 1970 (London:Tate Publishing, 2005)
Edward A. Shanken, 'Art in the Information Age: Technology and Conceptual Art,' inMichael Corris (ed.), Conceptual Art: Theory, Myth and Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Marga Bijvoet, (1997) Art as Inquiry: Toward New Collaborations Between Art & Science, Oxford: Peter Lang
Frank Popper (1993) Art of the Electronic Age, Thames and Hudson Ltd., London, and Harry N. Abrams Inc, New York,ISBN0-8109-1928-1
