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Themesicon: navigation pathGenerative Toolsicon: navigation pathComputer Art
 
 
 
 
 

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photography too was rejected in its early days, just like computer art. In a later chapter, Steller describes the radical changes in art in the twentieth century as reflecting the movement from the concrete to the abstract on the one hand, and the ‹discovery› of «concretion» (according to the definition by Theo van Doesburg [21] ), on the other. He methodically connects picture syntax as it was presented in the form of an elementary principle by Kandinsky in his writings on the theory of art, with the graphics of the computer artists. [22] Steller sees a further element for comparison in Op Art. In his opinion, systematic and mathematically-formulated imaging processes are especially suited for automated production. [23] This is basically similar to the view advocated by Franke suggesting that the status of the equipment is raised to great heights because of its intrinsic capacity for precision, but it is only understood as a tool. [24] In addition, both chance and the symbolic nature of works of art that have been developed with computers, have been chosen as central themes. In his chapter on generative and informational aesthetics, Steller discusses the theoretical foundations of

 

cybernetically influenced aesthetics, and, above all, how the artists mentioned previously wanted to put them into effect. Here he criticizes the artists› intentions of making artefacts and their effects quantifiable and therefore calculable, as being a matter of taste. [25] Without discussing the changed contexts of new art movements, he links the trends in computer simulation to Pop Art and other realisms although it is not clear how appropriate it is to speak of art with respect to the examples given. [26] The author speaks about the visualization of mathematical formulae and their alienation on the basis of fractal computations and their variants, which were in fashion at the beginning of the nineties, as well as the charm to be found in mathematical oscillations. In his summary, he leaves the world of art and attempts a critique of the machine itself. It therefore follows that he can only criticize the «duality of high tech and the computer as mere devices.» [27] Nonetheless, in his book he attempts to catalogue computer art systematically from the perspective of a more general history of art. However, he ignores the positions of artists like Myron Krueger, whose interactive environment, called

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