Emerging artforms inspired by data and information technology
Information art, which is also known as informatism or data art, is an art form that is inspired by and principally incorporates
data,
computer science,
information technology,
artificial intelligence, and related data-driven fields. The
information revolution has resulted in over-abundant data that are critical in a wide range of areas, from
the Internet to healthcare systems. Related to
conceptual art,
electronic art and
new media art, informatism considers this new technological, economical, and cultural
paradigm 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 incorporating
visual,
audio,
data analysis,
performance, and others.[2] Furthermore, physical and virtual installations involving informatism often provide
human-computer interaction that
generate artistic contents based on the processing of large amounts of data.[3]
Background
Information art has a long history as visualization of qualitative and quantitative data forms a foundation in science, technology, and governance.
Information design and
informational 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 the
Museum of Modern Art in New York City (curated by
Kynaston McShine). This is the time when
conceptual art has emerged as a leading tendency in the
United States and internationally.[6] At the same time arose the activities of
Experiments in Art and Technology known as E.A.T.[7]
Contemporary practices
Information art are manifested using a variety of data sources such as
photographs,
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 with
big data, artists may use
statistics and
machine learning to seek meaningful patterns that drive audio, visual, and other forms of representations. Recently, informatism is used in interactive and
generative 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 and
conceptual 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,' in
Michael Corris (ed.), Conceptual Art: Theory, Myth and Practice Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
^See
Lucy 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 by
Robert Rauschenberg and
Billy 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, "Understanding Information," in
Michael 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,' in
Michael 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