Text and Image in the Digital Age – The Digital Revolution

The paper discusses the place and role played by the pictures and text in the digital era. The digital art has become an essential component of contemporary art and new tools currently available to artists are revolutionizing the way they think and create, and so, artistic projects that could not have been accomplished with traditional methods, are now possible through computer interfaces. The computers have facilitated the traditional processes, and also offered a whole new vision on the sketches and the idea forming process, allowing the artists to create many virtual versions of an artwork – a concept. In order to analyze the history of digital art, it is necessary to study the history of several disciplines: computer history as visual medium, the history of graphic design and computer history integrated in the visual arts. Often these disciplines coincide during certain periods, making the study even more difficult to conduct. This chapter presents a brief history of computer generated art, of deconstructive typography and the importance of information visualization. Some of the earliest known examples of computer-generated algorithmic art were created by artists such as George Nees, Frieder Nake, Manfred Mohr and Vera Molnar in the early 60's. As a conclusion, we emphasize the idea that artists should use the computer as a tool adapted to their will, but understanding its potential to host systems that might allow the creation of artwork or graphics. In this regard, the computer must be considered a generative tool with a potential that must be understood in the context of the artist's work and intentions.