"The Artist as a Young Machine" was a multimedia exhibition that took place at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto throughout the summer of 1984. The exhibits demonstrated the use of technology in creating and experience many different forms of art. Since many of the attendees were children, a heavy emphasis was placed on human-machine interaction that did not require any special artistic or technical skill on the part of the attendee. Artforms included computer graphics, writing, music,

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

, and

choreography Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design ...

. Several 8-bit computing platforms were featured in hands-on, interactive displays that let attendees create their own art using technology. For example, one could use MacPaint and MacWrite running on the then-new Apple Macintosh to create black-and-white bitmap graphics and written text; use a variety of

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s to create music; and dance in front of a video camera connected to a video processor that would introduce a variety of special effects and project the result onto a large screen in real-time. Other technology on display included the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

computer running educational video games for children, DEC Unix workstations running the Logo turtle graphics interpreter, and the pen-based Sony GrEdit for creation of computer graphics. One notable exhibit featured computer generated works of art demonstrating early forms of artificial intelligence. Short films featuring computer-assisted animation were also shown, including one titled Night Flight.

External links

Special Event in Toronto, Canada
Usenet announcement from 1984
A Selected Chronology of Computer Art: Exhibitions, Publications, and Technology
Mention of exhibit in College Art Association journal
OSC1984
Excerpt from video tape documenting The Artist as a Young Machine Exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre in the summer of 1984 {{DEFAULTSORT:Artist 1984 in Canada Events in Toronto