Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 5: Artist-Programmer Era (1970s)

1972

Atari Founded

Invention · Top Moment

Orange-and-brown wooden Pong prototype cabinet, with a small television and two rotary controls.
Atari’s Pong prototype, 1972—the unit installed at Andy Capp’s bar in Sunnyvale. Atari. Computer History Museum, gift of Allan Alcorn, object 102741638. Photograph © Mark Richards. Image source.

Crticial to the turn in human thinking that made a generation of artists love computers. The Atari would encourage millions to fall in love with digital devices, particularly with its 1977 release of the Atari 2600. The Atari would also play a role in the emergence of the Demoscene as the earliest crackers used the console.

Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random.

Sources

People

Nolan Bushnell

Movements

Demoscene, generative art, Mass Media Art, Video Game Art

Filed under

Ideas
Demoscene, gaming, generative art, hacking, Mass Media Art, software cracking, technology adoption, Video Game Art
Technologies
Atari 2600
People
Nolan Bushnell
Organisations
Atari

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