Digital art did not begin with NFTs, artificial intelligence, or even the internet. Artists have been experimenting with computers and code since the 1960s, extending a much longer history of using new technologies to make and think about art. Today, those practices encompass everything from generative systems and artificial intelligence to immersive environments and decentralized networks.

Episode 1 of Decoding Art in the Digital Era, ‘What is Art in the Digital Era?’, traces this evolution, positioning digital art within a much longer history of artists adopting and responding to new technologies. Looking across six decades of experimentation, the episode shows how digital tools have challenged established ideas of what art can be, while reflecting a culture in which technology increasingly shapes how we communicate, create, and experience the world.

Featuring artists Beeple, Manfred Mohr, Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, and Sougwen Chung; curator Christiane Paul; gallerist Sofia Garcia; critic Shumon Basar; and UBS art advisors Matthew Newton and Carola Wiese, the episode draws connections between earlier technological shifts in art history and the changes taking place today. Together, their perspectives suggest that the distinction between ‘digital art’ and art itself is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain – and may eventually disappear altogether.