Computer Arts Society
Abbreviation | CAS |
---|---|
Formation | 1968 |
Founders | Alan Sutcliffe George Mallen EVA London Conference Computer Arts Archive |
Field | Digital art |
Official language | English |
Key people | Paul Brown Sean Clark Nick Lambert |
Parent organization | BCS |
Website | computer-arts-society |
The Computer Arts Society (CAS) was founded in 1968, in order to encourage the creative use of computers in the arts.[1][2]
Foundation
The three founder members of the Society –
The original idea for a society dedicated to the computer arts (which was to become the Computer Arts Society) was instigated by Sutcliffe, at the IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing) Congress in August 1968 in Edinburgh. Sutcliffe and Zinovieff had won second prize with ZASP, their piece of computer-composed music. Members of the Congress suggested to Sutcliffe that he might like to convene a meeting of people working in a similar field whilst they were all together at the Congress, as most had not had a chance to meet like-minded persons outside their own team before. Sutcliffe collated the names of interested individuals and the group formed out of this, with the first meetings in London held in a room belonging to University College London, in or near Gower Street in September 1968. Subsequent meetings were often held at the offices of Lansdown’s architectural practice (he became the Secretary with Sutcliffe the Chairman and Mallen, Treasurer.)[6]
The Computer Arts Society was founded to encourage the creative use of computers and to allow the exchange of information in this area. It was recognised that this was an area where there had been increasing activity, but with little formal publication of methods and results and little communication between artists in different fields (music, visual, performing arts, and so on).[7]
Early activities
At this time Sutcliffe was a programmer at International Computers Limited (ICL) in Bracknell, Berkshire with the official title of Manager of New Series Branch. His area of expertise and responsibility covered what today is called research and development of software. He has commented that ICL was always supportive of his outside artistic endeavours, offering for example, allocation of time on the mainframes, which he undertook mostly outside of peak hours. As the Bracknell branch of ICL did not initially have a mainframe computer, Sutcliffe would occasionally travel to the Putney, London branch. This was located across the River Thames from EMS and this facilitated his collaboration with Zinovieff. Sutcliffe brought the paper tape of a music program he had written at ICL to Zinovieff to “realise” and thus began their collaboration, with Sutcliffe assisting the Studio by writing software for the synthesizers they produced. Zinovieff is recognised as having revolutionised electronic and avant-garde music and EMS was used by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Stockhausen and Pink Floyd among others.[8]
CAS supported practitioners through a network of meetings, conferences, practical courses, social events, exhibitions and occasionally, through funding. It ran code-writing workshops, held several important exhibitions, co-operated with the
In 1969, CAS organised Event One, an early digital art exhibition held at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London.[12] In 2019, Event Two was held at the RCA to celebrate the 50th anniversary.[13]
CAS had international input early on in its history. A Dutch Branch (CASH) was formed in 1970 in Amsterdam and CAS US, formed in 1971 was based in the Mathematics Department of Eastern Michigan University. An early issue was devoted to the American branch activities and included ‘A proposal and manifesto’ by Stan Vanderbeek, pioneer of light shows and computer animation.[14] By 1970, the CAS membership list listed three hundred and seventy-seven members in seventeen countries, including fifteen libraries and institutional members.[15]
During the early years of its existence, the Society acquired a large number of works by pioneers in the field, including
Current status
The Computer Arts Society is now a Specialist Group of the
CAS collaborates with the Lumen Prize for digital art.[22] It also supports the EVA Conferences held annually in central London at the BCS offices.[23]
References
- ^ Page, No. 1, April 1969, p2.
- ISBN 978-3-422-06689-2. p.470
- The MIT Press, 2008.
- The MIT Press, 2008.
- Tate Gallery, September 30, 2003.
- ^ Alan Sutcliffe, interview with Catherine Mason, January 17, 2003
- ^ J D Lomax, (ed.), Computers in the Creative Arts, Manchester: National Computing Centre Ltd, 1973) p.9.
- ^ Portrait of Peter Zinovieff, BBC Radio 4, Producer: Adam Fowler, (aired June 14, 2004).
- ^ Alan Sutcliffe, interview with Catherine Mason, January 17, 2003.
- ^ Gustav Metzger, interview with Catherine Mason, July 11, 2003.
- ^ "PAGE 42" (PDF). Computer Arts Society. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-906124-17-5.
- ^ "Event Two – 12 July 2019 to 17 July 2019". UK: Royal College of Art. July 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
- ^ Culture: Intercom and Expanded Cinema, PAGE 30, 1973.
- ^ CAS membership list April 1970 in the CAS Archive.
- ^ Page, No.63, 2007, pp.1–3.
- ^ "Works given by the Computer Arts Society". collections.vam.ac.uk. UK: Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
- ^ "The Computer Arts Society: Computer Art in Britain". Prints & Books. Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 2011-03-24.
- ISBN 978-3-422-06689-2.
- ^ "Computer Arts Archive". computer-arts-archive.com. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
- .
- ^ "The 2014 Lumen Prize Exhibition Catalogue" (PDF). Computer Arts Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
- EVA London. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-1-899163-89-2.
- ISBN 978-0-262-02653-6.