The catalogue was edited by the exhibition’s curator, Leslie Jones; with the foreword by Michael Govan; preface by Hannah B Higgins; and texts by Bronac Ferran, Patrick Frank, Tiffany Funk, Meredith Hoy, Leslie Jones, Jennifer King, Lisa Gabrielle Mark, Joel McKim, Britt Salvesen, Edward Shanken, Staci Steinberger, Grant D. Taylor, Bobbye Tigerman, Debora Wood.

Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982 explores how the rise of computer technology, together with its emergence in popular consciousness, impacted the making of art in the age of the mainframe. International and interdisciplinary in scope, Coded examines the origins of what we now call digital art, and features artists, writers, musicians, choreographers and filmmakers working directly with computers, as well as those using algorithms and other systems to produce their work. Whether computer-generated or not, the many artworks considered here reflect the simultaneous wonder and alienation that was characteristic of the 1960s and ’70s, along with the utopian and dystopian possibilities associated with these new machines. The examination in Coded of the years leading up to the advent of the personal computer is especially relevant, even imperative today, in order to fully appreciate art and culture in what can now be characterized as the age of the computer.

The jury was impressed with how Coded deftly weaves together histories of art, technology and media theory, affording scholars and artists new insights into a foundational period of modern art, and producing a rich, ambitious, scholarly document that offers a wealth of information in its nimble texts and substantial illustrations.