1935

Z1, the first binary computer

The Z1 was a mechanical computer designed by Konrad Zuse from 1935 to 1936 and built by him from 1936 to 1938. It was a binary electrically driven mechanical calculator with limited programmability, reading instructions from punched celluloid film.

1958

The first modem transmitting data

BELL company created the first modem that could transmit binary data through a single telephone line.

1960

Clementina, the first Argentinian Computer

Clementina was the first computer brought to Argentina for scientific investigation. It worked at the Institute of Dependent Calculation at University of Buenos Aires, between 1961 and 1971.

1968

First exhibition of computer art

Cybernetic Serendipity was an exhibition of cybernetic art curated by Jasia Reichardt, shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in 1968, and then touring the United States.

1969

ARPANET: the first network before Internet

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was an early packet switching network and the first network to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the Internet.

1971

The first email program

Electronic mail is a method of exchanging digital messages between computer users; such messaging first entered substantial use in the 1960s and by the 1970s had taken the form now recognised as email. Email operates across computer networks, now primarily the Internet. In 1971 the first ARPANET email was sent and finally in 1977 became a standardized working system.

1975

The first digital camera

Steven Sasson as an engineer at Eastman Kodak invented and built the first electronic camera using a charge-coupled device image sensor in 1975. Earlier ones used a camera tube; later ones digitized the signal. Early uses were mainly military and scientific; followed by medical and news applications. In the mid to late 1990s digital cameras became common among consumers. By the mid-2000s digital cameras had largely replaced film cameras, and higher-end cell phones had an integrated digital camera. By the beginning of the 2010s, almost all smartphones had an integrated digital camera.

Fractal geometry creation

A fractal is a geometric object whose basic, fragmented or irregular structure is repeated at different scales. The term was proposed by the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975 and derives from the Latin 'fractus' meaning broken or fractured. Many natural structures are fractal-like. The key mathematical property of a genuine fractal object is that it's metric fractal dimension is a non-integer number.

1977

The first commercial micro-computers

The history of the personal computer as mass-market consumer electronic devices effectively began in 1977 with the introduction of microcomputers, although some mainframe and minicomputers had been applied as single-user systems much earlier. A personal computer is one intended for interactive individual use, as opposed to a mainframe computer where the end user's requests are filtered through operating staff, or a time sharing system in which one large processor is shared by many individuals. After the development of the microprocessor, individual personal computers were low enough in cost that they eventually became affordable consumer goods. Early personal computers – generally called microcomputers– were sold often in electronic kit form and in limited numbers, and were of interest mostly to hobbyists and technicians.

1979

Ars Electronica

Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center, which houses the Museum of the Future, in the city of Linz. Ars Electronica’s activities focus on the interlinkages between art, technology and society. It runs an annual festival, and manages a multidisciplinary media arts R&D facility known as the Futurelab. It also confers the Prix Ars Electronica awards.

1982

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, C-64, C=64 or occasionally CBM 64 or VIC-64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International. It is listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing the number sold between 10 and 17 million units. The C64 is also credited with popularizing the computer demoscene and is still used today by some computer artists.

1988

Photoshop

Photoshop was created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, it has become the de facto industry standard in raster graphics editing, such that the word "photoshop" has become a verb as in "to Photoshop an image," "photo shopping" and "photoshop contest", though Adobe discourages such use. It can edit and compose raster images in multiple layers and supports masks, alpha compositing and several color models including RGB, CMYK, Lab color space, spot color and duotone. Photoshop has vast support for graphic file formats but also uses its own PSD and PSB file formats which support all the aforementioned features. In addition to raster graphics, it has limited abilities to edit or render text, vector graphics (especially through clipping path), 3D graphics and video. Photoshop's featureset can be expanded by Photoshop plug-ins, programs developed and distributed independently of Photoshop that can run inside it and offer new or enhanced features.

1990

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web (WWW) is an information space where documents and other web resources are identified by URLs, interlinked by hypertext links, and can be accessed via the Internet. The World Wide Web was invented by English scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. He wrote the first web browser in 1990 while employed at CERN in Switzerland.

TIt has become known simply as the Web. When used attributively (as in web page, web browser, website, web server, web traffic, web search, web user, web technology, etc.) it is invariably written in lower case. Otherwise the initial capital is often retained (‘the Web’), but lower case is becoming increasingly common (‘the web’). The World Wide Web was central to the development of the Information Age and is the primary tool billions of people use to interact on the Internet.

1995

net art

Internet art (often referred to as net art) is a form of digital artwork distributed via the Internet. This form of art has circumvented the traditional dominance of the gallery and museum system, delivering aesthetic experiences via the Internet. In many cases, the viewer is drawn into some kind of interaction with the work of art. Artists working in this manner are sometimes referred to as net artists.

Internet art can happen outside the technical structure of the Internet, such as when artists use specific social or cultural Internet traditions in a project outside of it. Internet art is often—but not always—interactive, participatory, and multimedia-based. Internet art can be used to spread a message, either political or social, using human interactions.

The term Internet art typically does not refer to art that has been simply digitized and uploaded to be viewable over the Internet. This can be done through a web browser, such as images of paintings uploaded for viewing in an online gallery. Rather, this genre relies intrinsically on the Internet to exist, taking advantage of such aspects as an interactive interface and connectivity to multiple social and economic cultures and micro-cultures. It refers to the Internet as a whole, not only to web-based works.

Theoriest and curator Jon Ippolito defined "Ten Myths" about Internet art in 2002. He cites the above stipulations, as well as defining it as distinct from commercial web design, and touching on issues of permanence, archivability, and collecting in a fluid medium.

1996

www.findelmundo.com.ar

Founded by Belén Gache, Jorge Haro, Gustavo Romano y Carlos Trilnick, Fin del Mundo (The End of the World), was a virtual space which provided a platform for the circulation of net art projects by Argentinean artists. It was the first of a kind in Latin-America. Active from 1996 to 1999.

www.turbulence.org

New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. (NRPA) was founded in 1981 to foster the development of new and experimental work for radio and the sound arts. In 1996, it extended its mandate to Net Art (aka Internet Art) and launched its pioneering website, Turbulence.org. Turbulence.org commissions, exhibits, and archives works that creatively explore the Internet as both a site of production and transmission. It is the only organization in the United States that has as its core mission the commissioning of Net Art by both emerging and established artists.

1998

MECAD

MECAD is a creative core of production and diffusion, where art, design, technology and digital media generate a fabric that aims a better future. Located in Sabadell, Barcelona, ​​the Media Centre is geared specifically to the research, production, support and dissemination of creative practices using infographic, telematic media and hypermedia.

2001

Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons licenses free of charge to the public. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators. An easy-to-understand one-page explanation of rights, with associated visual symbols, explains the specifics of each Creative Commons license. Creative Commons licenses do not replace copyright, but are based upon it.

2002

Artport

Artport is the Whitney Museum's portal to Internet art and an online gallery space for commissions of net art and new media art. Originally launched in 2002, Artport provides access to original art works commissioned specifically for artport by the Whitney; documentation of net art and new media art exhibitions at the Whitney; and new media art in the Museum's collection.

2013

Espacio Byte

Espacio Byte is a digital art museum, a virtual space dedicated to a wide range of practices in digital media. Its mission is to collect, preserve, research and exhibit digital art.