A Decade of Contrasts

Contrasts were everywhere in the eighties. The decade would see us going from mainframes to PCs, computer art at its peak to it’s death, communities formed yet artists were more disparate than ever, we went from fearing machines to…fearing them slightly less. But millions—vastly more than possible before—were growing to love them.

Humanity’s relationship with machines transformed over the course of the decade, as mass media entered homes with PCs, VHS and video games. While derided by some at the time as toys, these early mass media devices propelled entire genres, including computer, digital and video art. The early practitioners saw something that few others did. By calling them toys, critics at the time were infantilizing their use but really they were unable to glimpse the same—more accurate—future as the pioneers of this decade. Le Random was fortunate enough to speak to many of them.

For more context, we suggest watching or listening (transcript) to our Ch 6 Artist Discussion with Mark Wilson⁠, ⁠Copper Giloth⁠, ⁠Dan Sandin⁠, ⁠David Em⁠, ⁠William Latham⁠, ⁠Stephen Todd⁠, ⁠Darcy Gerbarg⁠ + ⁠Geoff Davis⁠⁠⁠.

Additionally, in this piece on Le Random Editorials, Operator speaks with Rebecca Allen, one of the most significant voices from the decade.

Community formation was also an important aspect of the decade. Curated by Darcy Gerbarg and later Copper Giloth, the annual SIGGRAPH computer art show became instrumental in establishing a community of artists in the decade. The shows demonstrated the importance of in-person events for digital communities. The formation of the demoscene in Europe was another important community of the decade.

Finally, software and network advancements also reshaped the decade, as HyperCard and Director transformed multimedia, while Tim Berners-Lee had a radically impactful technological invention in store for us at the end of the decade with the World Wide Web.