Algorithmic art

Algorithmic art, also known as algorithm art, is visual art explicitly generated by an algorithm. It is a subset of generative art, and is practically always executed by a computer. If executed by a computer, it is also classed as computer-generated art. It is usually digital art. Fractal art and Equation art are both subsets of algorithmic art.

The earliest known examples of algorithmic art are artworks created by Roman Verostko in the early 1980s. These works were executed by a plotter controlled by a personal computer, and were therefore computer-generated art but not digital art. The act of creation lay in writing the program, the sequence of actions to be performed by the plotter.

The next known examples are fractal artworks created in the mid to late 1980s. These are important here because they use a different means of execution. Whereas the earliest algorithmic art was "drawn" by a plotter, fractal art simply creates an image in computer memory; it is therefore digital art. The native form of a fractal artwork is an image stored on a computer - this is also true of very nearly all equation art and of most recent algorithmic art in general.

References

The Science Of Digital Media - Jennifer Burg, Wake Forest University