Digital Road Trips: The Shifting Landscape of Digital Art Shows

Abstract

Digital art exhibitions have been held since the early 1960s. Over fifty years, they have stimulated artists using computational media to develop their work. Several key exhibitions helped to define the area of “digital art”—insofar as it exists as a separate area of art practice and have assisted this developing medium by favoring certain aesthetic and critical preferences. This chapter considers selected exhibitions and prizes, together with their influence and impact. Key questions include: issues of scale, the perception of digital art, the development of the forms within it and the expectations of artists involved; and promotion of this medium to the general public.