ACiD Productions (ACiD) is a
digital art group. Founded in 1990, the group originally specialized in
ANSI artwork for
BBSes.
More recently, they have extended their reach into other graphical media and
computer software development. During the BBS-era, their biggest competitor was
iCE Advertisements.
[Hargadon, Michael A.]
Like City Lights, Receding: ANSi Artwork and the Digital Underground, 1985-2000
" ''Concordia University'', 2011-03-18. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
History
ACiD Productions was founded in 1990 as ANSI Creators in Demand
[Sadofsky, Jason Scott.]
BBS: The Documentary
. ARTSCENE Episode. 2005-05-21. by five members:
RaD Man
__NOTOC__
Christian Wirth (born in the 1970s), better known by the pseudonym RaD Man, is an American computer artist and historian. He works in the field of ANSI art, a method of creating art using a limited set of Code page 437, text characters ...
, Shadow Demon, Grimm, The Beholder, and Phantom. Their work originally concentrated in
ANSI and
ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable (from a total of 128) characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant chara ...
, but the group later branched out into other artistic media such as
tracker music
Tracker may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Tracker (''G.I. Joe''), in the ''G.I. Joe'' universe
* Tracker (''PAW Patrol''), in the animated television series ''PAW Patrol''
* Tracker Cameron, in the television series '' ...
,
demo coding, and multimedia
software development
Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invol ...
(e.g., image viewers). Membership rose from five members in 1990 to well over seven hundred by 2003.
[ACiD-100 All-time memberlist](_blank)
(1990–2003)
In the mid-1990s, ACiD created subsidiary groups responsible for these broader areas. For example, Remorse is the official ACiD sub-label responsible for ASCII art and other
text-based graphics. Similarly, pHluid is responsible for module tracking and music production, and ACiDic handles bulletin board software modification and enhancement.
Following the post dial-up BBS era, ACiD focused largely on the preservation of
digital art history,
talk radio news, the sale of their
DVD-based artscene archives, and sponsorship of
demoparties.
In 2008, the
San Francisco gallery 20 goto 10 featured an exhibit of ACiD artists Somms and Lord Jazz.
In 2013, members from ACiD collaborated with 21st century ANSI art collective
Blocktronics to produce "Blocktronics ACiD Trip", a scrolling ANSI measuring lines tall. This ANSI artwork debuted at
Demosplash at
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
where it was awarded first place in the ANSI and ASCII category.
Works
ACiD has produced a variety of well-received works and services. A select list follows:
Demos
Demos may refer to:
Computing
* DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system
* DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR
* Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems
* plural for Demo (computer programming)
...
* "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"
Image viewers
* ACiD View
* SimpleXB
* RemorseView
Image editors
* ACiDDraw
* Empathy
*
PabloDraw
PabloDraw is a cross-platform text editor designed for creating ANSI and ASCII art, similar to that of its MS-DOS-based predecessors; '' ACiDDraw'' (1994) and ''TheDraw'' (1986).
A notable feature of PabloDraw is its integrated multi-user editing ...
Metadata
Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...
protocols and
binary image standard
*
SAUCE
*
XBin
Music disk
Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...
s
* pHluid
Disk magazines
* ''The Product''
* ''Lancelot II''
* ''ACiDnews''
Radio programming
* The ARTS (
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
/
talk radio)
* pHluid Radio (music)
* ACiD Radio (music)
See also
*
Aces of ANSI Art
Aces of ANSI Art (abbreviated as ) was the first group of artists specifically organized for the purposes of creating and distributing ANSI art. The group was founded and operated by two BBS enthusiasts from California, "Zyphril" and "Chips Ahoy ...
(
)
* ANSI art
* ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable (from a total of 128) characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant chara ...
* List of artscene groups
* List of text editors (ASCII art section)
References
External links
* {{official website, http://www.acid.org, name=ACiD Productions
Artscene groups
Bulletin board systems
Tracker musicians
American artist groups and collectives
Arts organizations established in 1990
Computer-related introductions in 1990
Internet properties established in 1990
1990 establishments in the United States