The digital in digital art

Theorising over the relation between art and digital technology is challenging, because a new layer of analysis on the artistic use of computers was added in the 1960s over a debate on art that was far from over. Some technological and sociotechnical aspects of computers must be taken into ac-count to form a more complete picture on what is going on in digital art. Technological characteristics of computers depend on the physical properties of their components, while their sociotechnical aspects derive from the fact that these artefacts are conceived, designed, built, and deployed in society. Dealing with electronics on the one hand and with companies on the other may not look relevant for a discourse in aesthetics, but computers are fundamentally dependent on these aspects of reality and, thus, an enquiry on what digital art is must take off from this standpoint.