Artificial Life Art
Call to Artists, Theorists, Researchers and Historians: Submissions on the Topic of Artificial Life
Norbert Wiener coined the phrase "Cybernetics" to refer to the "study of control and communication in animals and machine" and set the stage for Hungarian mathematician John Von Neuman, who put forth that the basis for life is information and its subsequent evolution. Thus, the idea for artificial life (A-Life) cellular automata, was born. It has now been 10 years since Christopher Langton convened the first Artificial Life Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A. Since that time artists have adopted the precepts of Artificial Life and are producing many exemplary works.
With the publication of the Artificial Life section of The Sixth Annual New York Digital Salon special issue of Leonardo 31, No. 5 (1998), an important critical dialogue was begun as to what constitutes an A-Life artwork. This necessary dialogue between artists, theorists, researchers and historians is continuing in further issues of Leonardo Electronic Almanac and in print in Leonardo.
Updated 13 July 1999
