Guest of Honor: Ernest Edmonds
“It is a great honour to participate in the Generative Art Summit in Berlin, 2024. The Summit will celebrate the work and influence of Herbert W. Franke by bringing together many pioneers of generative art, current practitioners, historians, curators and collectors to discuss the field, their own work and the influence that Herbert had on all of us. He was particularly important to me because he crossed boundaries and at the same time as pioneering generative art (from analogue into the digital), he made expert contributions to science and literature. Generative artists do not just make art, they also advance the science and technologies that they are involved in.”
Talk & Statements
Talk (left) with Ernest Edmonts and Susanne Paech about historic times of computer art in the 1960s and Ernest’s part in this.
Four statements (below):
1 – Is it the code or the image that counts?
2 – Looking back to history: Did your opinion change about computer art and your work during time?
3 – Is it the code or the image that counts?
4 – Your personal resumé about 70 years of generative art?
Biography
Ernest Edmonds was born in London in 1942 and studied Mathematics, with Philosophy, at Leicester University. He has a PhD in Logic from Nottingham University. His lifetime work in digital art and in human computer interaction are both internationally recognized. He has held the positions of University Head of Department, Dean and Research Professor. He has served on many funding, review and conference committees. Ernest lives between the Peak District in England and Sydney, Australia.
Ernest is a first-generation pioneer of computer art. In 2017 he received the ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art. His transdisciplinary expertise is demonstrated by his 2017 award of the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award for the Practice of Computer Human Interaction. Retrospective exhibitions have been shown at Microsoft Research Asia Beijing, De Montfort University Leicester and Mosman Art Gallery Sydney. He has published widely on creativity and computer-based art. A recent book was From Fingers to Digits: An Artificial Aesthetic (MIT Press, 2019), written with Margaret Boden. His work as an artist was described in the book by Francesca Franco, Generative Systems Art: The Work of Ernest Edmonds, Routledge, 2017.
Edmonds’ art is in the constructivist tradition. He explores algorithms used to relation to color, time, communication and interaction. He first used computers in his practice in 1968, first showed an interactive artwork in 1970, showed his first example of network art in 1972, and first showed a generative time-based computer work in 1985. He has exhibited throughout the world, from Moscow to LA. Ernest is also an expert in Human Computer Interaction, specializing in the support of human creativity. He has many publications in the fields of art, creativity and human-computer interaction and is a pioneer in the development of practice-based PhD programs in art and technology.