Abstract
Arte Programmata focuses on the use of computer-based art as a tool for ‘a liberal social life’ through the example of a group of Italian artists in the post-war period. The author Lindsay Caplan explains how by ‘creating a broad range of immersive environments, kinetic sculptures, domestic home goods, and other multimedia art and design works, artists such as Bruno Munari, Enzo Mari, and others looked to the conceptual frameworks provided by this new technology to envision a way out of the ideological impasses of the age’ (blurb). The book is split into Introduction, four substantial chapters and Conclusion. The substantial chapters are in chronological order but with a strong thematic focus in each of them. The first one is about ‘collectivizing authorship’ starting from 1962 and looking into ‘“programmed art” as a theory of artistic production’ and its link to Umberto Eco's idea of the open work (p. 27). The second chapter then looks into environments and control between 1964 and 1967. The third chapter is about ‘the politics of information’ and international computer art between 1965 and 1970. The final substantive chapter is devoted to autonomy and organisation and the end of programmed art in the 1970s. Although it is part of Art History/Media Studies series, this book would probably be more of an interest to art historians than media scholars as it is very much art-focused.