The Arts and Computational Culture: Real and Virtual Worlds

A Paradigm Shift and Defining Moment in the 21st Century: Fuelled by the convergence of computational culture, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, arts and culture are experiencing a revolutionary moment poised to change human life and society on a global scale. There is the promise of the Metaverse, with extended reality (XR) and immersive virtual worlds. For the first time, reality and virtuality are merging with these new developments. The proposed book is among the first to address the context, complexity, and impact of this multi-faceted subject in detail – for up close and personal engagement of the reader, while evoking a landscape view. As digital culture evolves to computational culture, we embark on a digital journey from 2D to 3D, where flat computer screens for the Internet and smart phones are evolving into immersive digital environments. This is while new technologies and AI are increasingly embedded in every aspect of daily life, the arts, and education.

Introduction.- Part I: Prelude to 21st Century Computational Culture: Pioneers of Art and Science.- Part II: Curating Art: A Paradigm Shift from Digital to Computational Culture.- Part III: Art and Emerging Sociocultural Global Movements.- Part IV: The Metaverse.- Part V: Education in the Age of Computational Culture.- Part VI: Human States of Being: Real and Artificial Consciousness.- Part VII: The Arts on the Global Virtual Stage.- Part VIII: The Future of Computational Arts and Life.

Jonathan P. Bowen FBCS FRSA is an Emeritus Professor of Computing at London South Bank University in London, UK, an Adjunct Professor at Southwest University in Chongqing, China, and Chair of Museophile Limited, a UK consultancy company in the field of museums and IT. In 1994, he founded the Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp), part of the WWW Virtual Library, later adopted by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). He was invited to be the Honorary Chair of the first Museums and the Web conference in 1997 and was a regular contributor subsequently. More recently he has been co-chair of the annual EVA London Conference on Electronic Visualisation and the Arts. In 2013. he was a co-editor of Electronic Visualisation in Arts and Culture, published in the Springer Series on Cultural Computing. In 2017, he co-authored The Turing Guide, on the life and work of the computing pioneer Alan Turing, published by Oxford University Press and, in 2019, he co-edited Museums and Digital Culture, again in the Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Professor Bowen is a Life Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS), a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), and an Emeritus Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT).