The phrase computer art scene or artscene for short, refers to a community of individuals and groups, that are both interested and active in the creation of computer-based artwork. A computer is a machine designed for manipulating data according to a list of instructions known as a program. ... The Mona Lisa Although today the word art usually refers to the visual arts, the concept of what art is has continuously changed over centuries. ...

Early computer art

In the early days of computers, what could be shown on a typical video display screen was limited to plain and simple text, such as that found in the ASCII code set. In the early 1980s computer users began to experiment with ways of forming simple pictures and designs using only the 255 characters within the Extended ASCII character set, specifically known as code page 437, created by IBM. Modems and networking technology allowed computer users to communicate with each other over bulletin board systems (BBSes); the operators of these BBSes used ASCII art to enhance the aesthetic appearance of their systems. The common user interface or video mode shared by all systems was plain text. As a result, a "scene" of artists arose to fill the need for original art to distinguish one BBS from another. The tower of a personal computer. ... Nineteen inch (48 cm) CRT computer monitor A computer display, monitor or screen is a computer peripheral device capable of showing characters and/or still or moving images generated by a computer and processed by a graphics card. ... For other uses, see ASCII (disambiguation). ... MacGyver - 1980s hero The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... The term extended ASCII (or high ASCII) describes eight-bit or larger character encodings that include the standard seven-bit ASCII characters as well as others. ... A character encoding consists of a code that pairs a sequence of characters from a given set with something else, such as a sequence of natural numbers, octets or electrical pulses, in order to facilitate the storage of text in computers and the transmission of text through telecommunication networks. ... Code page is the traditional IBM term used for a specific character encoding table: a mapping in which a sequence of bits, usually a single octet representing integer values 0 through 255, is associated with a specific character. ... IBM PC or MS-DOS Codepage 437, also known as DOS-US or OEM-US, is the original character set of the IBM PC, from 1981. ... For other uses, see IBM (disambiguation). ... A modem (a portmanteau constructed from modulator and demodulator) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ... A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over a phone line and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, uploading data, playing games, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. ... SysOp (pronounced /ˈsɪs. ... ASCII art, an artistic medium relying primarily on computers for presentation, consists of pictures pieced together from characters (preferably from the 95 printable characters defined by ASCII). ... TUI (Text User Interface) is a retronym that was coined sometime after the invention of graphical user interfaces, to distinguish them from text based user interfaces. ... An artist is someone who employs creative talent to produce works of art. ...

Evolving technology

ANSI scroller by Marshal Law.

Later, as computer technology developed, monitors were available that could display color. The American National Standards Institute X3 committee invented a standard method of terminal control using escape sequences called "ANSI X3.64-1979". This protocol allowed for text and cursor positioning as well as defining foreground and background color attributes for the text. Download high resolution version (640x2048, 41 KB)ANSI art advertisement for The Pits BBS. Drawn by Marshal Law of ACiD in 1991. ... Download high resolution version (640x2048, 41 KB)ANSI art advertisement for The Pits BBS. Drawn by Marshal Law of ACiD in 1991. ... Nineteen inch (48 cm) CRT computer monitor A computer display, monitor or screen is a computer peripheral device capable of showing characters and/or still or moving images generated by a computer and processed by a graphics card. ... The American National Standards Institute or ANSI (pronounced an-see) is a nonprofit organization that oversees the development of standards for products, services, processes and systems in the United States. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Eventually, text artists began incorporating this new level of flexibility to the existing medium of ASCII art by adding color to their text-based art, or animating their art by manipulating the cursor control codes. Quite simply, this is what is commonly referred to today as "ANSI art". ASCII art, an artistic medium relying primarily on computers for presentation, consists of pictures pieced together from characters (preferably from the 95 printable characters defined by ASCII). ... A screenshot of TheDraw editing an ANSI art picture of a shuttle; the purple text blinks ANSI art is a computer artform that was widely used at one time on BBSes. ...

A decade later, the popularity of ANSI art had increased significantly (largely due to the similarly increasing interest in the BBS) and ANSI artists began to form into "groups", not unlike graffiti "crews." The first ANSI group was called Aces of ANSI Art (AAA). Other groups like ACiD (ANSI Creators in Demand) and iCE (Insane Creators Enterprises) quickly began to spring up. These groups would release their work in "artpacks," which were collections of ASCII art by various group members, typically released on a monthly basis akin to a trade magazine. These artpacks were then spread far and wide by BBS users. Some of the same groups from the 1990s still exist today; their art is now primarily distributed using the internet. Graffiti on the banks of the Tiber river in Rome, Italy. ... Aces of ANSI Art, or <AAA>, were the first organized body of artists formed for the sole purpose of creating ANSI art. ... ACiD Productions (ACiD) is an underground digital art group. ... iCE Advertisements is a digital art group formed in 1991. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ...

A later method of transmitting graphics over a BBS was developed called Remote Imaging Protocol or RIP, which required special software on both the BBS and the terminal end. RIP was still basically text, but the text referred to the positions of lines, curves, fills, and other steps in drawing graphics on an EGA display of 640x350x16 colors. While RIP never caught on in the BBS world, the art scene embraced it as a form of expression, if not a viable method of displaying art on a BBS. The Remote Imaging Protocol (RIP), also referred to as RIPscrip (and frequently, yet incorrectly as RIPscript), was an early vector graphics protocol, created by TeleGrafix Communications. ... The Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) is the IBM PC computer display standard specification located between CGA and VGA in terms of graphics performance (that is, colour and space resolution). ...

VGA to present day

Early VGA graphics were "high resolution" images, generally using an 8-bit color depth and a resolution of 320x200 or 640x480, or a hacked Mode X video graphics mode such as 360x480 in 256 colors. VGA was not intended to be displayed via a BBS and the vast majority of the early works in the IBM PC artscene were distributed as coded executables called "loaders" or "intros" rather than raw bitmap images. In fact, it was considered to be "lame" to release an uncoded VGA work of art from the early- to mid-1990s, a sure indication that your group was not skilled enough to retain a worthy programmer. Video Graphics Array (VGA) is an analog computer display standard first marketed in 1987 by IBM. VGA is referred to as an array instead of an adapter because it was implemented from the start as a single chip, replacing the Motorola 6845 and dozens of discrete logic chips covering a... Mode X is an undocumented video graphics display mode of the IBM VGA graphics hardware that was popularized by Michael Abrash, first published in July 1991 in Dr. Dobbs Journal, republished in chapters 47-49 of Abrashs Graphics Programming Black Book, which is now freely available online in... A typical crack intro has a text running at the bottom of the screen. ... Lamer (also 14m3r) is a jargon or slang name applied to individuals thought to be lacking in maturity, social skills, technical competence or intelligence. ...

The advent of custom image viewers developed by groups within the artscene, such as ACiD View and iCEView, began to shift the perception of how VGA art should be distributed and what the accepted practice should be. A coded VGA which did not take any of the advantages of being an executable, like special effects or music, became viewed as an impractical use of disk space -- all of this in turn spawned a number of competing image viewers, and even "Viewer Wars" between rival art groups. Talented underground artists such as CatBones continued to help pioneer and define what is now referred to as the "hirez artscene", further championing the move away from coded VGA to stand-alone imagery with his impressive artwork. Hirez today implies higher resolutions than before, such as a 1024x768 pixel canvas or larger, greater depth of color, and is created with much more sophisticated and modern software.

Underground Status

Despite the fact that contributors to the artscene can be found worldwide, the scene continues to remain detached from mainstream bbs and internet culture. This can be seen as a result of the artscene's early affiliations with hacker and software piracy (warez) organizations. As early demoscene groups were organized by cracktros coders, artscene members were often found designing the .nfo files detailing warez releases. In addition much of the ansi art provided for warez bbs's were drawn by future members of the artscene. Prior to the popularity of the internet in the 1990s, the most efficient way to distribute software and files across bbs's was via a courier system. Both the warez scene and the artscene utilized this system, and in many cases warez couriers could be found distributing monthly artpacks. A hacker is a person who creates and modifies computer software and computer hardware, including computer programming, administration, and security-related items. ... This is a list of warez groups. ... The demoscene is a computer subculture that came to prominence during the rise of the 16/32-bit micros (the Atari ST and the Amiga), but demos first appeared during the 8-bit era on computers such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this list may require cleanup. ... A crack intro, also known as a cracktro, loader, or just intro, is a small introduction sequence added to cracked software, designed to inform the user which cracking crew or individual cracker was responsible for removing the softwares copy prevention and distributing the crack. ... . ... A street vendor packing up his display of counterfeit CDs after being photographed. ... A screenshot of TheDraw editing an ANSI art picture of a shuttle; the purple text blinks ANSI art is a computer artform that was widely used at one time on BBSes. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... An artpack is an archive of computer artwork which is distributed in a compressed format such as ZIP or RAR. While most artpacks today contain either ANSI and ASCII art or hirez VGA, they may also include a combination of RIPscrip art, tracked or otherwise digital music, poetry and editorials...

In addition to the connection that the various underground groups had, a common attitude and relationship between scene members developed. The general belief that "newbies are lame" and "veterans are elite", as well as the use of leetspeek, created an environment that was sometimes difficult for new members to affiliate with. In particular, many artsceners' distrust and bitterness towards new America Online users in the 1990s may have eroded the possibility for a wider membership base and audience for the artscene. This article or section should be merged with WP:INTRO and WP:TUTOR Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written collaboratively by its readers. ... Leet (or , , , etc, derived from the word Elite) is a linguistic phenomenon associated with the underground culture centered on telecommunications, manifested primarily on the Internet. ... An example of a Leet web browser (Text instead of GUI) in Leet language on a Leet language version of Google Leet (often also leetspeak, leetspeek, or l33t) from the phonetic form of the word elite, is a cipher, or novel form of English spelling. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ...

Artscene lexicon

• "Colly" - A collection of multiple works of ASCII art compiled and presented as a single text file.
• "Compo" - A competitive event which can take place either physically at a demoparty or on-line.
• "Rip" - Artwork created in the RIPscrip format, or an act of plagiarism.
• "Scroller" - An ANSI artwork which is longer than 25 lines is called a "scroller" because it scrolls down the screen on an MS-DOS machine as it is being displayed.
• "Stylerip" - To borrow someone else's artistic style.

The demoscene is a computer subculture that came to prominence during the rise of the 16 bit micros (the Atari ST and the Amiga), but demos first appeared during the 8-bit era on computers such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. ... Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty; it is a matter of deceit: fooling a reader into believing that certain written material is original when it is not. ...

See also

• ANSI art
• ASCII art
• Demoscene
• deviantART

A screenshot of TheDraw editing an ANSI art picture of a shuttle; the purple text blinks ANSI art is a computer artform that was widely used at one time on BBSes. ... ASCII art, an artistic medium relying primarily on computers for presentation, consists of pictures pieced together from characters (preferably from the 95 printable characters defined by ASCII). ... The demoscene is a computer subculture that came to prominence during the rise of the 16/32-bit micros (the Atari ST and the Amiga), but demos first appeared during the 8-bit era on computers such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. ... It has been suggested that dAmn be merged into this article or section. ...

Computer art scene Groups

• ACiD Productions
• Black Maiden
• Chemical Reaction
• Creators of Intense Art
• iCE Advertisements
• Remorse ASCII [1]
• Superior Art Creations

ACiD Productions (ACiD) is an underground digital art group. ... Black Maiden PC-Demo: Interceptor by Black Maiden ANSI by Voice/Black Maiden Black Maiden is a group of people — mainly from Europe — participating in various art disciplines like demos, music, textmode art, graphics design, graffiti and alike. ... Creators of Intense Art font in XBIN format. ... iCE Advertisements is a digital art group formed in 1991. ... Remorse ASCII, or Remorse 1981, is the official ASCII sub-label of ACiD Productions. ... SAC logo by member artist webpige0. ...

References

• Danet, Brenda. "Cyberpl@y: Communicating Online". Oxford, UK: Berg Publishers, 2001. ISBN 1-85973-424-3.
• "Dark Domain: the artpacks.acid.org collection" (DVD-ROM). San Jose, CA, USA: ACiD Productions, LLC, 2004. ISBN 0-9746537-0-5.
• Scott, Jason. "BBS: The Documentary" (DVD). Boston, MA, USA: Bovine Ignition Systems, 2005.
• Zetter, Kim. "How Humble BBS Begat Wired World". Wired News. June 8, 2005. Retrieved October 27, 2005.

Kim Zetter in the 2004 documentary Invisible Ballots Kim Zetter is an award-winning freelance journalist in Oakland, California with a wide variety of interests. ... Wired News, online at Wired. ...

External links

• One Million Hand Made Pixels (an art project by the german artist Andreas Rintzner: buy 1 virtual pixel and get a real painting)
• darkdomain.org, Dark Domain (2004). An archive on DVD which hosts a complete collection of underground artscene works between 1987-2003. Published by ACiD Productions. ISBN 0974653705.
• artscene.textfiles.com, The artscene branch of the textfiles.com library.
• Cleaner Alternative Museum Cleaner's ASCii/ANSi galleries.
• Downmix Current computer art scene news and releases
• Roy/SAC Text Artist- Superior Art Creations, Information about ASCII Art Styles, SAC Art Packs Download
• Sixteen Colors Archive, An artscene release library, with the ability to search by keywords and view ansi artwork within the browser.
• Ansilove/PHP A set of tools for converting ANSi/BiN/ADF/iDF/TUNDRA/XBiN files into PNG images
• Defacto2 Scene Portal Scene Art Groups and Sites Listing