The Object is the Process: Computer Art Exhibitions of the 1970s in London and Edinburgh

The Computer Arts Society consolidated its activities into the 1970s with several exhibitions analysed in detail here, including Computer 70, London, for which Ecogame was created, culminating in the ground-breaking Interact: Machine, Man, Society exhibition in Edinburgh, 1973. These exhibitions, international in scope and attracting a wide variety of artist participants, demonstrate that CAS members were aware of the many possible roles of the computer in creative processes and considered how best to use this technology to communicate with audiences. They show that early British computer arts did not only consist of two-dimensional graphic applications, but rather interaction and audience participation played an increasingly important role, anticipating later developments in contemporary art by many years.