Michael Spalter: four decades of collecting digital art

Leyla sat down with Michael Spalter, co-founder of the Anne and Michael Spalter Digital Art Collection - one of the world’s most important collections of computer and digital art. They discuss the collection’s history, the pioneers of the field, and the life and legacy of Charles Csuri.

spalterdigital.com
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction
00:46 – Michael and Anne Spalter’s journey into digital art
05:08 – Building the Spalter Digital Art Collection
09:05 – The pioneers of computer art
15:34 – The extraordinary life and work of Charles Csuri
20:40 – MoMA’s early acquisition of Hummingbird
22:55 – Discovering and collecting Csuri
31:51 – Artistic value versus market value
35:12 – Museums rediscover computer-art pioneers
39:59 – NFTs, Art Blocks and generative art
44:39 – Why Csuri remained outside the traditional art market
52:15 – Collecting as stewardship
56:17 – Csuri’s later 3D ribbon works and legacy
1:00:00 – Closing thoughts