From technological to virtual art / Frank Popper.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. The emergence of virtual art (1918-1983) -- 1. Historical antecedents (1918-1967) -- 2. Technological art and artists (1968-1983) -- II. Current virtual art and artists (1983-2004) -- 3. Materialized digital-based work -- 4. Multimedia and multisensorial off-line works -- 5. Interactive digital installations -- 6. Multimedia online works (net art) -- 7. Conclusion.

"Defining virtual art broadly as art that allows us, through an interface with technology, to immerse ourselves in the image and interact with it, Popper identifies an aesthetic-technological logic of creation that allows artistic expression through integration with technology. After describing artistic forerunners of virtual art from 1918 to 1983 - including art that used light, movement, and electronics - Popper looks at contemporary new media forms and artists. He surveys works that are digital based but materialized, multimedia offline works, interactive digital installations, and multimedia online works (net art) by many artists, among them John Maeda, Jenny Holzer, Brenda Laurel, Agnes Hegedus, Stelarc, and Igor Stromajer. The biographical details included reinforce Popper's idea that technology is humanized by art. Virtual art, he argues, offers a new model for thinking about humanist values in a technological age."--BOOK JACKET.