DOWNTOWN DIGITAL: NYC 1980s-1990s

Curated by: Xiaoying Juliette Yuan

Today, when our society is trying to imagine the potential impact of AI technology on our future, JY&A invites you to travel back to the New York of the ’80s and ’90s to discover a selection of early works created by the first generation of artists involved in the intersection of art and technology. The transition of analog-to-digital and these artists' early practices incorporating a digital language into their work, forms an intriguing dialogue with today's artists who utilize cutting-edge technologies and reference the Internet.

Downtown Digital: NYC 1980s-1990s, online exclusively on Artsy.net, focuses on selected archived works from New York-based pioneer artists. Mainly works on paper, paintings, and prints, these archives contain the artists' early explorations with cutting-edge technology in a fine arts practice. The ideas that were born in these archives were subsequently developed into paintings, sculptures, and interactive installations of various sizes and formats, presented in commercial galleries, museums, art fairs and collected by private collectors and museums ​internationally​.

We are committed to presenting the archive work of a generation of artists from a fine arts background who was the first to engage a tech-art aesthetic. They graduated from prominent art schools in the US, trained as painters or sculptors but spent significant time learning software, computer coding, and programming. Subsequently, a market for this type of art developed with their persistence and dedication.

Upcoming on Artsy.net

[III] Joseph Nechvatal:Computer Virus Project 1.0 

August 12 - September 30, 2019

Computer Virus Project 1.0 is a selection from Joseph Nechvatal’s HyperCard Computer Virus Project 1.0 work from 1992-93 that dealt with the AIDS (SIDA) virus epidemic placed in conjunction with a growing concern for computer viruses.

Joseph Nechvatal is represented by Galerie Richard (New York/Paris)

Ongoing on Artsy.net

[II] John F. Simon, Jr.: Line On A Walk, A Selection Of Digital Drawings

07/15/2019 – 09/10/2019

Small retrospective showcasing a series of rare archive drawings from one of the most accomplished, widely exhibited and collected pioneers in computer art in the US. The most important research in fine arts, software, technologies. The earliest drawings are dated 25 years old!

[I] Carter Hodgkin: Random Access Memory

06/24/2019-08/15/2019

The exhibition showcases the New York-based art and science pioneer artist's 25 archive works from the 1980s-2000s, retracing her exploration in creating a digital visual language within painting. The exhibition title refers to RAM, an early computer term for memory.