These days; we take for granted that our computer screensmdash;and even our phonesmdash;will show us images in vibrant full color. Digital color is a fundamental part of how we use our devices; but we never give a thought to how it is produced or how it came about. Chromatic Algorithms reveals the fascinating history behind digital color; tracing it from the work of a few brilliant computer scientists and experimentally minded artists in the late 1960s and early lsquo;70s through to its appearance in commercial software in the early 1990s. Mixing philosophy of technology; aesthetics; and media analysis; Carolyn Kane shows how revolutionary the earliest computer-generated colors weremdash;built with the massive postwar number-crunching machines; these first examples of ldquo;computer artrdquo; were so fantastic that artists and computer scientists regarded them as psychedelic; even revolutionary; harbingers of a better future for humans and machines. But; Kane shows; the explosive growth of personal computing and its accompanying need for off-the-shelf software led to standardization and the gradual closing of the experimental field in which computer artists had thrived. Even so; the gap between the bright; bold presence of color onscreen and the increasing abstraction of its underlying code continues to lure artists and designers from a wide range of fields; and Kane draws on their work to pose fascinating questions about the relationships among art; code; science; and media in the twenty-first century.
#1392838 in eBooks 2014-01-30 2014-01-30File Name: B00KI2JTXO
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Twinned starsBy D. N. StoneThis is a superlative work of local history that deserves a national audience. The author clearly knows the lovely community he writes about; and his photos of local people he interviewed and the landscape add authenticity to this re-examination of a lynching that was mischaracterized as a suicide. The writing is fluid and workmanlike; with an eye for the telling detail: the squirrel munching on an acorn in the tree where the hanged body was discovered or the assembly line of biscuits; ham and butter that fed the search party. That a lynching occurred unrecognized and unpunished in Virginia in 1932; less than 50 miles from the nations capitol; in the state that gave the country its leaders who established the rule of law; cannot help but inspire the reader to vigilance and to gratitude to the author for his quest for the truth.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Story to be supplemented by new filmBy Thomas DavenportI worked with Jim Hall as I made my film "The Other Side of Eden: Stories of a Virginia Lynching". His research and writing are impeccable and as I read his book (and re-read it!) I am amazed at the depth of his research and the careful assembly of the facts of the story from newspapers and interviews. Jim also has a blog which he uses to update the story as new information emerges. Highly recommended!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Good ReadBy Bridget SettlesYou can tell that Jim Hall poured his heart and soul into writing this book. I appreciate that his facts stated in the book were supported by such solid evidence. I recommend that anyone interested in history pick up this book. Great job Mr. Hall! Whats next?
