The computer is no arcanum. Like its predecessors, it will not take any responsibility off Man's shoulders. But it is a challenge to the artist to ask of the computer what he asks of other media. Even the computer has its reality, and no simulation can obscure that.

The rise of every new medium seems to be distinguished by the fact that seemingly everybody is trying to imitate the forerunner(s). The reason for this phenomenon may be the intention to compare the possibilities of the new medium with these of the traditional ones and finally outdo the latter. Whenever in the Arts a new medium appeared, something characteristical happened: The "old" media freed themselves with the rise of the new (and mostly faster ones) of the burden of representing reality - or, as they say in computer language, simulation of reality - and found their own, immanent realities. The development of Computer Arts in this respect is not at all different from the development of, say, photography or film. Dazzled by the fascination of the new techniques/technologies, we again occupy ourselves with the creation of images, the demarche of which is only too well known, and that would be no issue at all if just painted on canvas. It seemed that the fast calculating machines would promise new worlds to us. The computer artists' statements mostly show a euphoric high spirit concerning their tool, that seems to be linked to the hope for a better world. This is why so many works come along with esoteric titles and deal in or with promising phantasy landscapes where everything weightlessly floats towards infinity. Walt Disney and buddhistic illumination in a plastic box. (E. Fontanilles)