Leicester and Leicestershire has an important role in the development of digital and computational art. Starting with Stroud Cornock and Ernest Edmonds at Leicester Polytechnic in the late 1960s, the region has an unbroken chain of artists who have worked with computers and computational processes up until the present day.

Interact Digital Arts and the Computer Arts Archive are now working together to document this history through the collection of artworks, ephemera and artist interviews. This small exhibition is an initial presentation of some of the work collected so far. As the collection develops we plan to exhibit it more widely across Leicester, Leicestershire, and further afield.

A key figure in the development of digital art in the area is Ernest Edmonds who started working at Leicester Polytechnic in the nearly 1970s, before moving to Loughborough University in the 1980s, then Australia, before taking up a role at De Montfort University (formerly Leicester Polytechnic) in the 2010s.

The artwork being shown at the Beta X space has been split into two parts. In part one (9th - 16th March 2022) the exhibition includes images by Ernest Edmonds and Sean Clark. In part two (4th April - 22nd April 2022) there is work by Stephen Scrivener and Stephen Bell, plus a different piece each by Ernest Edmonds and Sean Clark. Sean Clark, Stephen Scrivener and Stephen Bell all studied for PhDs under Edmonds.

April 2022: Sean Clark

This exhibition has been made possible by: