Computer and Digital Art Network (CDAN) Project

Computer and Digital Art Network (CDAN) is a Digital Humanities project developed from the V&A’s Hubs, Nodes and Networks: a new history of British digital art Project. It explores and visualises the early history of digital art from the 1960s to the early 2000s through data-driven methods.

The project draws on two primary data sources: compart-compArt daDA: the database Digital Art, developed at the University of Bremen, and the V&A’s Computer Arts Society archive. These collections document artists, institutions, exhibitions, events, and publications that played a foundational role in shaping digital art as an artistic field.

By structuring and analysing relational data across these collections, Tracing Early Digital Art, the project reveals patterns, connections, and historical developments that are difficult to perceive through traditional narrative approaches. An integrated interface combining network, timeline, and map visualizations allows users to explore artistic collaborations, institutional infrastructures, and geographic circulation over time. Blending archival research with visual analytics, Tracing Early Digital Art functions both as a research tool and a public-facing platform, offering new perspectives on the interconnected history of digital art and its lasting impact on contemporary practice.

The team