In Beverly Jones’s essay, “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins,” she tracks the history of the computer’s influence on art and argues that as it grows, it will require the unification of multiple fields to reach its potential as an art form. She uses examples of how the separation of fields has limited art and then lists other types of innovations that found ways to combine multiple sciences. One early example of computer animation was a piece called Stained Glass Windows by a team from the Army Ballistics Research Laboratory. This was a team of researchers, not trained with any artistic background. In fact, at the time, the divide between aesthetics and technological research even made it so that the use of color was only an aesthetic choice and never used for practical purposes (1990, 23).
She later describes the issues with separated fields once computer graphics became a more complex art form, finding a place in feature length films. For example, in early films, artists were not able to recreate the variation in human movement, instead creating movement that “was smooth and lacked variety” (1990, 26). Again, this was because artists, computer scientists, and other scientists had not yet figured out how to combine their skills to put together the best possible product. Jones also cites how the worlds created by computer artists were designed to “look real,” but sometimes lacked scientific reality concerning laws of physics and optics (1990, 28) In order for this creation to be the most realistic, all these sciences should come together and harness the technology.
Towards the end, Jones makes sure to give examples of how past advances in science were able to unite different factions. She talks about how Gödel, Einstein, and Heisenberg all combined to bring “relativity and contextuality to the physical sciences” (1990, 29). Their advances, when put together, allowed for all of the physical sciences to move forward, and the computer sciences can be equally benefitted by advances by artists and researches of all varieties working together.
At the time of writing this article, I doubt that Beverly Jones could ever foresee the computer advances that society has made today. When Jane McGonigal talks about the way that video games can help change the world in her presentation for TED.com, she is referring to a complex computerized world where the world is aesthetically realistic, but also able to adapt and react to real world human decisions (2010). The reasons she thinks they can be useful is because they so closely reflect the real world. These advancements are due to the cohesive effort of all kinds of scientists to replicate the “scientific reality” of the world.
Because everyone has worked together to the point that this replication is possible, computer animation has inarguable become an art. Jones questions where this art comes from, if it is original or if it all a copy, but I think that it is apparent that the combination of all the forces of scientists and artists produces a thrilling and beautifully constructed aesthetic experience.
Jones, B. J. (1990). Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins. LEONARDO: Digital Image – Digital Cinema Supplemental Issue, pp. 21-30.
McGonigal, J. (2010): Gaming can make a better world. TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved November 24, 2013, from http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html