Call for Papers:
Parsing the Pixelated: The Histories of Digital Art

Session at the Association of Art Historians 2014 Annual Conference,
London

Although digital art precedes the creation of the world wide web in the
early 1990s, it is only more recently, facilitated by affordable and
widely distributed connected technology, that digital art has become
firmly established as an artistic category. Yet the term remains
nebulous, including many disparate forms and types of art: from
manipulated photographs to interactive installations to works existing
on or made by a computer. Furthermore, the History of Art has yet to
substantively account for digital art, frequently deferring to the tools
and methods of visual culture studies in recognition of a broader
cultural phenomenon. Repositories of digital art have also recently been
founded: on the one hand, the Museum of Modern Art, New York has started
to acquire video games for its collection, on the other, the Google Art
Project gathers together a virtual mega-collection of artworks drawn
from the world's leading museums (including 7-gigapixel images of their
masterpieces).

This session will explore the definitions of and approaches toward
digital art. It will be primarily concerned with the digital as an
artistic medium and its relationship to and within art history. Papers
may include but are not limited to: digital artworks (both on- or
offline), historical precursors, digital theories and methodologies, the
internet and the democratisation of art, interactive and
experience-based art, 'curated' content, objecthood vs. virtuality,
conservation and obsolescence, and scopic regimes. The session aims to
locate and investigate discussions about art that is (or was) state of
the art.

This session is a part of:
Association of Art Historians 2014 Annual Conference & Bookfair Royal
College of Art, London, UK, 10-12 April 2014

Please send your abstract to Cliff Lauson, Hayward Gallery, cliff.lausonsouthbankcentre.co.uk by 11 November 2013.
See AAH website for session listings, proposal submission guidelines,
and conference fees.

http://www.aah.org.uk/annual-conference/2014-conference