Art history timeline atlas
Digital, Internet And Generative Art
Digital art treats code, networks, data, screens and algorithms as artistic material. Explore its context, materials, regions, movements, named works, and...
Networked, Public And Planetary Art
Historical context
Computer-based art began before the personal computer era, with plotters, labs and experimental film. Internet art later used browsers, links, glitches and online identity as material.
AI and generative systems intensify older questions about authorship, training data, labor, bias, originality and the image as process.
How to look
- Ask what the artwork is made of: image, code, archive, community, data, public space, repair, performance, platform or ecological material.
- Look for participation and context. Contemporary work often lives between gallery, street, screen, policy, memory and networked audience.
Makers, works, and materials
Date range: c. 1960-today
Regions: Global
Media: Digital art, Internet art, Code, AI, Generative systems
Movements: Digital art, Internet art, Generative art, New media art
Makers to research
- Vera Molnar
- Lillian Schwartz
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
- Cory Arcangel
- Refik Anadol
Named works to compare
- Plotter drawings
- Net art projects
- Generative installations
- AI image systems
The image that keeps changing
A generative artwork can produce different results each time it runs. The artwork is partly the system, not only the output.
Legacy and why it matters
Digital art connects art history to interface design, data visualization, games, immersive media, AI ethics and network culture.