About

The Computer Arts Archive is a not-for-profit company that collects, exhibits and promotes computer arts for the benefit of artists, audiences, curators, educators and researchers. We collaborate with other collections, museums and galleries to explore the impact of digital culture and ensure that computer art is recognised as a significant contemporary art form with a rich and diverse history. In particular, we work closely with the Computer Arts Society, a member-based organisation founded in 1968.

Background

In 2018, to help celebrate 50 years since the founding of the Computer Arts Society, a collection of artworks donated by 12 computer artists was created. The CAS50 Collection was exhibited in Leicester, London and Brighton and was well-received by audiences (this is now referred to as CAS50 Phase 1).

The collection was expanded further in 2019 to feature work donated by an additional 12 artists (CAS50 Phase 2). The full collection was then exhibited at Event Two at the Royal College of Art in London in July 2019 and the new acquisitions were shown in Leicester the following month.

In 2020 we established the Computer Arts Archive as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) with the purpose of providing the CAS50 Collection with a secure home from which it can develop further. We now have an office and storage facility in Leicester, UK and - despite COVID-19 complications, managed to officially launch the archive on the 16th November 2020 at EVA2020 Online.

Expanding Our Collections

The CAS50 Collection will continue to be an important focus for the Computer Arts Archive and we plan to expand it year-on-year. At the moment we are collecting prints and works on paper, but we intend to expand the collection to include time-based and interactive works in the future.

We also want to explore the untold histories of computer art. These will include works made with home computers in the 1980s, such as the Micro Arts project and early internet/cyberculture work in the 1990s, including CD-ROM artworks. Contact Us if you are interested in contributing to these projects.

How to Contribute

We welcome your contributions to the Computer Arts Archive. Our financial goal at present is to generate sufficient income through donations to cover our our office and storage costs. You can help with this by making a one-off or regular donation. Just 50 supporters paying £10/month would ensure that our core costs are covered. See the Supporters page for details how how to contribute and the benefits available.

We are also looking for people to help catalogue, photograph and research our collections. If you have skills you think you can offer please Contact Us.

If you would like to contribute artwork to the collection you can also contact us. However, please be aware that we have limited space available and may not be able to accept all offers at present. please talk to us though, be may be able to build you in to our plans.

Finally, if you are a curator, or run a gallery, then consider including work from our collections in your exhibitions. You will need to cover transport and insurance of artworks, plus a reasonable loan fee to help support the archive. We are open to all suggestions.

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