Artists in thematic section: Rebecca Allen, John Divola, Lucia Grossberger Morales, Brandon Lattu, Ahree Lee, Frank Malina, Lee Mullican, A. Michael Noll, Stan VanDerBeek, Steina and Woody Vasulka, Gerardo Velazquez

Digital imaging has direct material applications but carries equally significant, if less obvious, ideological implications. This dualism enticed many artists who engaged with the medium in its early days. Coincidentally, many of these artistic experimenters were directly involved in shaping the technologies. An abundance of government funding in the 1960s and 1970s allowed corporations and agencies developing digital imaging to invite artist-engineers to help them explore the aesthetic, conceptual, and technological possibilities. Yet despite a wealth of resources pouring in from government and military sources, access to the early technologies remained restricted along gender, race, and class lines.