The History of Crossover Art
- Digital Art - Kenneth Knowlton

Ken Knowlton has worked and played at the art-technology interface since 1963 when at Bell Labs he developed his first computer language for computer-produced movies. As a computer scientist, he has developed many techniques for person-machine interaction, has published dozens of papers, given hundreds of talks, and holds two dozen U.S. patents.
He has collaborated with several artists, but in recent years prefers to work alone ("It's hard enough for a right hemisphere to communicate through a left hemisphere in the same cranium").

Kenneth Knowlton: Octagons. 1963

Fig.: Kenneth Knowlton: Octagons.

 

 

For all artworks except his pastels, Knowlton gets a "computer assist" from programs that he himself has written. His attitude toward the use of computers in art, however, is still cautious and skeptical. "Do use the machine -- if, when, and where it helps in planning, experimenting with, or previewing an imagined artwork -- but," he emphasizes, "remember that it's the artistic goal in each case, not the computer, that's important."