Database of Virtual Art

Once upon a time this blog was called "Learning About Digital Media" and I had planned to locate and discuss websites where you could find information about the history of digital media, computer art, and the people who were part of that history. I still think that one of the better sites to do that is Zakros.com although the last time I looked it was a bit more difficult to find the learning and history parts. The 'teaching' link on Randall Packer's bio page leads to his class notes from five different universities - most of these notes have live links, or a later version of similar material. The website for his book Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality is still online [although now at a new URL - July 29/09]. The book contains many important essays from the history of digital art: the website complements the text and includes many of the essays as well as audio and video material.

Both of the above sites illustrate what I believe is one of the strengths of the Internet - access to complete materials, or at least just enough material to entice you into investigating further. As I've looked for websites to introduce on this blog, I've found that I've strayed from my original intent as I've found, and been delighted by, sites that make a real effort to inform, entice, and provide complete information. The following site does this fairly well, and its interface has improved a bit since I first found it over a year ago.

"The Database of Virtual Art documents the rapidly evolving field of digital installation art." Most of the text that I saw was in German, but with a bit of experimentation I found my way around the site. There didn't seem to be a 'browse artists' feature but I found a list of last names only under the Database/Search tab. Recent works under each 'Search ... ' section have a bit more information but you need to know your artists to find them, or you can browse to find someone you like. I saw [Lev]Manovich, [Roy] Ascott, [Jack] Ox, and [Char] Davies, who I recognized by their last names. The content includes images and video with differing download quality.

I originally found the site via the Feb. 2, 2005 blog on networked_performance from Turbulence.