Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 4: Digital Era (1960s)
1966
Experiments in Art and Technology Founded with EAT News

Founded by engineers Billy Klüver and Fred Waldhauer and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman, following the success of their 9 Evenings show, the aim of Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT) was to promote collaboration between engineers and artists. The group would prove to be one of the most influential and important in computer art history. The first meeting was held in November 1966. EAT News, a newsletter featuring short articles, began the following year. The group formed after the successful 9 Evenings show earlier in the year.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
People
Billy Klüver, Fred Waldhauer, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman
Movements
computer art, generative art, Technology and Art
Filed under
- Ideas
- collaboration, generative art, Technology and Art
- Technologies
- computer art
- People
- Billy Klüver, Fred Waldhauer, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman
- Works
- Art and Technology
- Exhibitions
- 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering
- Organisations
- Bell Labs, EAT News, Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.)
Related moments
- 1966 · 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering at the 69th Regiment Armory
- 1967 · Computer Nude (Studies in Perception I) by Leon Harmon and Ken Knowlton
Echoes across time
- 1988 · First International Symposium on Electronic Art (FISEA) Held in Utrecht
- 2006 · Daito MANABE launches Rhizomatiks
- 1985 · MIT Media Lab Opened by Nicholas Negroponte and Jerome Wiesner
Le Random editorials
Le Random podcast
- Dr. Nancy Perloff on Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) — listen with transcript on Le Random (12 Sep 2024, 48 min). Title mentions: Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.). Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt I (1960s) with Dr A Michael Noll — listen with transcript on Le Random (07 Sep 2023, 60 min). Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt II (1960s) with Michael Spalter — listen with transcript on Le Random (21 Sep 2023, 77 min). Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify