Computer art scene
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The computer art scene, or simply artscene, is the community interested and active in the creation of computer-based artwork.
Early computer art
The history of computer art predates the computer art scene for several decades, with the first experiments having taken place in the early 1950s. Devices like
In the early days of
Evolving technology
At home
At a time when
In 1985, the Amiga arrived with the ability to display 640x480 4096-color graphics that could be exported via the NTSC standard. This capability was used by Disney animators in movies such as The Little Mermaid and by TV producers in shows such as SeaQuest and Babylon 5.
Online
As computer technology developed, the American National Standards Institute X3 committee invented a standard method of terminal control using escape sequences called "ANSI X3.64-1979". This protocol allowed for text and cursor positioning as well as defining foreground and background color attributes for the text.
Eventually, text artists began incorporating this new level of flexibility to the existing medium of ASCII art by adding color to their text-based art, or animating their art by manipulating the cursor control codes. This is what is commonly referred to today as "ANSI art" that is used in many scene nfos.
A decade later, the popularity of ANSI art had increased significantly (largely due to the similarly increasing interest in the BBS) and ANSI artists began to form into "groups", not unlike graffiti "crews." The first ANSI group was called Aces of ANSI Art (AAA).[1] Though no official founding date can be established for this group, its earliest surviving tribute packs are dated December 1991 and includes art dated back to 1989.[2]
Other groups like ACiD (ANSI Creators in Demand) and iCE (Insane Creators Enterprises) quickly began to spring up. Beginning in June 1992, these groups would release their work in monthly "ARTPACKS,"[1] which were collections of ASCII art submitted by the group's various members, as well as news and membership lists.[1] These artpacks were then spread far and wide by BBS users. Some of the same groups from the 1990s still exist today; their art is now primarily distributed using the internet.
A later method of transmitting graphics over a BBS was developed called Remote Imaging Protocol or
VGA to present day
In 1987 IBM introduced the VGA card. Early VGA graphics were "high resolution" images, generally using an 8-bit depth (256 colors) and a resolution of 320x200x256, 360x480x256 (hacked Mode X), or 640x480x16 colors. VGA was not intended to be displayed via a BBS and the vast majority of the early works in the IBM PC artscene were distributed as coded executables called "loaders" or "intros" rather than raw bitmap images. In fact, it was considered to be "lame" to release an uncoded VGA work of art from the early- to mid-1990s, a sure indication that your group was not skilled enough to retain a worthy programmer.
The advent of custom image viewers developed by groups within the artscene, such as ACiD View and iCEView, began to shift the perception of how VGA art should be distributed and what the accepted practice should be. A coded VGA which did not take any of the advantages of being an executable, like special effects or music, became viewed as an impractical use of disk space—all of this in turn spawned a number of competing image viewers, and even "Viewer Wars" between rival art groups. Talented underground artists such as CatBones continued to help pioneer and define what is now referred to as the "hirez artscene", further championing the move away from coded VGA to stand-alone imagery with his impressive artwork. Hirez today implies higher resolutions than before, such as a 1024x768 pixel canvas or larger, greater depth of color, and is created with much more sophisticated and modern software.
Underground status
Despite the fact that contributors to the artscene can be found worldwide, the scene remains detached from mainstream bbs and internet culture. This can be seen as a result of the artscene's early affiliations with
In addition to connection that the various
See also
References
- ^ a b c Jason Scott (2005). "BBS: The Documentary" (DVD). Boston, MA: Bovine Ignition Systems.
- ^ "BBSing.com, Aces of Ansi Art". ReadMe file of aaa-8991.zip. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
Bibliography
- Danet, Brenda. "Cyberpl@y: Communicating Online". Oxford, UK: Berg Publishers, 2001. ISBN 1-85973-424-3.
- "Dark Domain: the artpacks.acid.org collection" (DVD-ROM). San Jose, CA, USA: ACiD Productions, LLC, 2004. ISBN 0-9746537-0-5.
- Scott, Jason. "BBS: The Documentary" (DVD). Boston, MA, USA: Bovine Ignition Systems, 2005.
- Wired News. June 8, 2005. Retrieved October 27, 2005.
- Wands, Bruce (2006). Art of the Digital Age, London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-23817-0.
External links
Examples of ANSI Artwork
- artscene.textfiles.com, The artscene branch of the textfiles.com library.
- darkdomain.org, Dark Domain (2004). An archive on DVD which hosts a complete collection of underground artscene works between 1987-2003. Published by ISBN 0-9746537-0-5.
- Cleaner Alternative Museum Cleaner's ASCii/ANSi galleries.
- Roy/SAC Text Artist- Superior Art Creations, Information about ASCII Art Styles, SAC Art Packs Download
- Sixteen Colors ANSI Art and ASCII Art Archive - A web viewable archive of current and past ANSI and ASCII packs released by the computer art scene
More on the History of the Art Scene
- BBS: The Documentary Episode 5 documents the rise of the Art Scene
Organizations still in Operation
- Defacto2 Scene Portal Scene Art Groups and Sites Listing
- DepthCore international digital art & design group
- BreedArt, an international art group in operation since 2001, one of the innovators of the scene
- Downmix Current computer art scene news and releases
- Evoke: An international design group primarily for young and developing artists.
- The Luminarium international artgroup.
- SlashTHREE: A not-for-profit international art collective representing artists in over 40 countries world wide.
Utilities
- Ansilove/PHP A set of tools for converting ANSi/BiN/ADF/iDF/TUNDRA/XBiN files into PNG images