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Joseph Nechvatal (born January 15, 1951) is an American post-conceptual digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom computer viruses.
Joseph Nechvatal was born in
KM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe lecture page ''Joseph Nechvatal: Immersion Into Noise'' and has taught art theory and art history at the School of Visual Arts. He has had many solo exhibitions and is one of five artists that art historian Patrick Frank examines in his 2024 book ''Art of the 1980s: As If the Digital Mattered''. His work in the late 1970s and early 1980s chiefly consisted of postminimal gray palimpsest-like drawings that were often photo-mechanically enlarged. Beginning in 1979 he became associated with the artist group Colab, organized the Public Arts International/Free Speech series, and helped established the non-profit group ABC No Rio. In 1983 he co-founded the avant-garde electronic art music audio project Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine. In 1984, Nechvatal began work on an opera called '' XS: The Opera Opus'' (1984-6) with the no wave musical composer Rhys Chatham. He began using computers and robotics to make post-conceptual paintings in 1986 and later, in his signature work, began to employ self-created computer viruses. From 1991 to 1993, he was artist-in-residence at the Louis Pasteur Atelier in Arbois, France and at the Saline Royale/ Ledoux Foundation's computer lab. There he worked on ''The Computer Virus Project'', his first artistic experiment with computer viruses and computer virus animation. He exhibited computer-robotic paintings at Documenta 8 in 1987. In 2002 he extended his experimentation into viral artificial life through a collaboration with the programmer Stephane Sikora of music2eye in a work called the ''Computer Virus Project II''. Nechvatal has also created a
''The Matrix of Sensations''
''VI: Digital Artists and the New Creative Renaissance'' * Joline Blais and Jon Ippolito, ''The Edge of Art'', Thames & Hudson Ltd, p. 213 * Frank Popper, ''From Technological to Virtual Art'', MIT Press, pp. 120–123 * Johanna Drucker
''Joseph Nechvatal : Critical Pleasure'' * Robert C. Morgan, ''Voluptuary: An algorithmic hermaphornology'', Tema Celeste Magazine, volume #93, p. 94 * Bruce Wands, ''Art of the Digital Age'', London: Thames & Hudson, p. 65 * Robert C. Morgan, ''Laminations of the Soul'', Editions Antoine Candau, 1990, pp. 23–30 * Margot Lovejoy, ''Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age'' Routledge 2004 * Joseph Nechvatal, ''Immersive Excess in the Apse of Lascaux'', Technonoetic Arts 3, no3. 2005 * Joseph Nechvatal
Into Noise''
Open Humanities Press in conjunction with the
''Conférence Report : Media Art in France'', Un Point d'Actu, L'Art Numerique, pp. 124–125 * Edmond Couchot, ''Des Images, du temps et des machines'', édité Actes Sud, 2007, pp. 263–264 * Fred Forest, ''Art et Internet'', Editions Cercle D'Art / Imaginaire Mode d'Emploi, pp. 48 –51 * Wayne Enstice & Melody Peters, ''Drawing: Space, Form, & Expression'', New Jersey: Prentice Hall, pp. 312–313 * Ellen K. Levy, ''Synthetic Lighting: Complex Simulations of Nature'', Photography Quarterly (#88) 2004, pp. 7–9 * Marie-Paule Nègre, ''Des artistes en leur monde'', volume 2, la Gazette de l'Hotel Drout, 2008, pp. 82–83 * Corrado Levi, ''È andata così: Cronaca e critica dell'arte 1970-2008'', ''Joseph Nechvatal intervistato nel suo studio a New York (1985–86)'', pp. 130–135 * Donald Kuspit, ''Del Atre Analogico al Arte Digital'' in ''Arte Digital Y Videoarte'', Kuspit, D. ed., Consorcio del Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, pp. 33–34 & pp. 210 – 212 * Robert C. Morgan, ''Nechvatal's Visionary Computer Virus'', in Gruson, L. ed. 1993. ''Joseph Nechvatal: Computer Virus Project'', Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans: Fondation Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, pp. 8–15 * Sarah J. Rogers (ed), ''Body Mécanique: Artistic Explorations of Digital Realms'', Columbus, Ohio, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University * Edward A. Shanken, ''Art and Electronic Media''. London: Phaidon, 2009. , pp. 42, 285, 160
Joseph Nechvatal's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nechvatal, Joseph 1951 births Living people 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists School of Visual Arts faculty American conceptual artists American digital artists American expatriates in France Artists from Chicago Artists from New York (state) Cellular automatists American experimental composers Genetic programming American installation artists Mass media theorists American new media artists American noise musicians American postmodern artists Robotic art American sound artists American male classical composers 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians American contemporary painters 20th-century American male artists Techspressionist artists
Life and work
Joseph Nechvatal was born in Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. He studied fine art and philosophy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Cornell University and Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy of Art and Technology at the Planetary Collegium at University of Wales, NewportKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe lecture page ''Joseph Nechvatal: Immersion Into Noise'' and has taught art theory and art history at the School of Visual Arts. He has had many solo exhibitions and is one of five artists that art historian Patrick Frank examines in his 2024 book ''Art of the 1980s: As If the Digital Mattered''. His work in the late 1970s and early 1980s chiefly consisted of postminimal gray palimpsest-like drawings that were often photo-mechanically enlarged. Beginning in 1979 he became associated with the artist group Colab, organized the Public Arts International/Free Speech series, and helped established the non-profit group ABC No Rio. In 1983 he co-founded the avant-garde electronic art music audio project Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine. In 1984, Nechvatal began work on an opera called '' XS: The Opera Opus'' (1984-6) with the no wave musical composer Rhys Chatham. He began using computers and robotics to make post-conceptual paintings in 1986 and later, in his signature work, began to employ self-created computer viruses. From 1991 to 1993, he was artist-in-residence at the Louis Pasteur Atelier in Arbois, France and at the Saline Royale/ Ledoux Foundation's computer lab. There he worked on ''The Computer Virus Project'', his first artistic experiment with computer viruses and computer virus animation. He exhibited computer-robotic paintings at Documenta 8 in 1987. In 2002 he extended his experimentation into viral artificial life through a collaboration with the programmer Stephane Sikora of music2eye in a work called the ''Computer Virus Project II''. Nechvatal has also created a
noise music
Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music include ...
work called '' viral symphOny'', a collaborative sound symphony created by using his computer virus software at the Institute for Electronic Arts at Alfred University. In 2021 Pentiments released Nechvatal's retrospective audio cassette called ''Selected Sound Works (1981-2021)'' and in 2022 his ''The Viral Tempest'', a double vinyl LP of new audio work. In 2025, he joined the roster of artists/musicians at Table of the Elements with two CD/book releases: ''Selected Sound Works (1981-2021)'' and ''The Marriage of Orlando and Artaud, Even''.
From 1999 to 2013, Nechvatal taught art theories of immersive virtual reality and the viractual at the School of Visual Arts in New York City (SVA). A book of his collected essays entitled ''Towards an Immersive Intelligence: Essays on the Work of Art in the Age of Computer Technology and Virtual Reality (1993–2006)'' was published by Edgewise Press in 2009. Also in 2009, his virtual reality art theory and art history book ''Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances'' was published. In 2011, his book ''Immersion Into Noise'' was published by Open Humanities Press in conjunction with the University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
Library's Scholarly Publishing Office. Nechvatal has also published three books with Punctum Books: '' Minóy'' (noise music—ed.—2014), ''Destroyer of Naivetés'' (poetry—2015) and ''Styling Sagaciousness'' (poetry—2022). In 2023 his art theory cybersex farce novella ''venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even'' was book published by Orbis Tertius Press.
The Joseph Nechvatal archive is housed at The Fales Library ''Downtown Collection'' at the NYU Special Collections Library in New York City.
Viractualism
''Viractualism'' is an art theory concept developed by Nechvatal in 1999 from Ph.D. research Nechvatal conducted at the Planetary Collegium at University of Wales, Newport. There he developed his concept of the ''viractual,'' which strives to create an interface between the actual and the virtual.Footnotes
Further reading
* John Johnston, ''The Allure of Machinic Life: Cybernetics, Artificial Life, and the New AI'', MIT Press, 2008, cover * Donald Kuspit''The Matrix of Sensations''
''VI: Digital Artists and the New Creative Renaissance'' * Joline Blais and Jon Ippolito, ''The Edge of Art'', Thames & Hudson Ltd, p. 213 * Frank Popper, ''From Technological to Virtual Art'', MIT Press, pp. 120–123 * Johanna Drucker
''Joseph Nechvatal : Critical Pleasure'' * Robert C. Morgan, ''Voluptuary: An algorithmic hermaphornology'', Tema Celeste Magazine, volume #93, p. 94 * Bruce Wands, ''Art of the Digital Age'', London: Thames & Hudson, p. 65 * Robert C. Morgan, ''Laminations of the Soul'', Editions Antoine Candau, 1990, pp. 23–30 * Margot Lovejoy, ''Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age'' Routledge 2004 * Joseph Nechvatal, ''Immersive Excess in the Apse of Lascaux'', Technonoetic Arts 3, no3. 2005 * Joseph Nechvatal
Into Noise''
Open Humanities Press in conjunction with the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
Library's Scholarly Publishing Office. Ann Arbor. 2011
* Johanna Drucker, ''Joseph Nechvatal : Critical Pleasure'', Redaktion Frank Berndt, 1996, pp. 10–13
* Mario Costa, ''Phenomenology of New Tech Arts'', Artmedia, Salerno, 2005, p. 6 & pp. 36 – 38
* Dominique Moulon, ''L'art numerique: spectateur-acteuret vie artificielle'', ''Les images numeriques'' #47-48, 2004, pp. 124–125
* Christine Buci-Glucksmann, ''L'art à l'époque virtuel'', in ''Frontières esthétiques de l'art'', Arts 8, Paris: L'Harmattan, 2004
* Brandon Taylor, '' Collage'', Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2006, p. 221
* Dominique Moulon''Conférence Report : Media Art in France'', Un Point d'Actu, L'Art Numerique, pp. 124–125 * Edmond Couchot, ''Des Images, du temps et des machines'', édité Actes Sud, 2007, pp. 263–264 * Fred Forest, ''Art et Internet'', Editions Cercle D'Art / Imaginaire Mode d'Emploi, pp. 48 –51 * Wayne Enstice & Melody Peters, ''Drawing: Space, Form, & Expression'', New Jersey: Prentice Hall, pp. 312–313 * Ellen K. Levy, ''Synthetic Lighting: Complex Simulations of Nature'', Photography Quarterly (#88) 2004, pp. 7–9 * Marie-Paule Nègre, ''Des artistes en leur monde'', volume 2, la Gazette de l'Hotel Drout, 2008, pp. 82–83 * Corrado Levi, ''È andata così: Cronaca e critica dell'arte 1970-2008'', ''Joseph Nechvatal intervistato nel suo studio a New York (1985–86)'', pp. 130–135 * Donald Kuspit, ''Del Atre Analogico al Arte Digital'' in ''Arte Digital Y Videoarte'', Kuspit, D. ed., Consorcio del Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, pp. 33–34 & pp. 210 – 212 * Robert C. Morgan, ''Nechvatal's Visionary Computer Virus'', in Gruson, L. ed. 1993. ''Joseph Nechvatal: Computer Virus Project'', Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans: Fondation Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, pp. 8–15 * Sarah J. Rogers (ed), ''Body Mécanique: Artistic Explorations of Digital Realms'', Columbus, Ohio, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University * Edward A. Shanken, ''Art and Electronic Media''. London: Phaidon, 2009. , pp. 42, 285, 160
External links
Joseph Nechvatal's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nechvatal, Joseph 1951 births Living people 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists School of Visual Arts faculty American conceptual artists American digital artists American expatriates in France Artists from Chicago Artists from New York (state) Cellular automatists American experimental composers Genetic programming American installation artists Mass media theorists American new media artists American noise musicians American postmodern artists Robotic art American sound artists American male classical composers 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians American contemporary painters 20th-century American male artists Techspressionist artists