Chapter 2 Response: Digital technologies as a medium

We live in a digital world and we interact with digital technologies on a daily basis. Artists have been right alongside the grand visions of technicians since the invention of computer technologies in the 1960’s.

 I believe that digital technology in art applications are divided into two separate categories. One is that digital technology is a tool, just like a paintbrush or pencil. It is not the tool that produces art but the artists vision. Digital technology is also a medium; it is a platform from which the artist can communicate to the viewer. As an artist I see digital technology as a medium the same way I see a blank canvas a piece of art that has yet to be created. I like how Merriam Webster Online defines medium: “as a means of effecting or conveying something: as a channel or system of communication, information, or entertainment also a mode of artistic expression.”

            A digital medium that has always been fascinating to me is fractal art. Before making a fractal for myself, I had the perception that fractal software was purely mechanical and that the operator did not have much choice with the design. I found this to be much different when I learned the software for myself. The thought that you could turn mathematics into detailed and colorful pieces of art amazed me. I am not a fan of math and it has always been such a struggle for me. I thought that you would have to understand mathematical algorithms to create fractal art but have found it to be much easier than I thought and much more creative.

The history of fractals is very interesting; a mathematician named Benoit Mandelbrot calculated a mathematical formula called the Mandelbrot set (Z = Z² + C) that generates a two dimensional fractal shape. He also coined the phrase fractal in the 1970’s from that Latin word fractus. A fractal is a broken geometric shape which is subdivided into parts. Before the invention of computers fractals were only a theory because the calculations were so complex. The key to producing a fractal is inputting the different variables of a formula in a computer software program.

There are many fractals found in nature such as the formation of ice crystals in a snow flake or the detail spiral on shells. As computer technology has advanced so has the beauty and realism of computer generated fractals. Newer technology is bringing life to fractals which make it a very effective medium in the digital world.