I’ve been making digital art since 1985 — a journey marked by wonder, discovery, and, at times, grief. Over the decades, I’ve watched the old question “But is it art?” evolve, especially as new technologies emerge.
Duchamp famously reframed this question by declaring that art is what the artist designates, shifting focus from the object to the maker. His challenge targeted institutional gatekeeping, not just materials — yet he could hardly have imagined today’s digital tools and the complexity they introduce.
It’s tempting to see digital works as the products of merely “upgraded tools,” comparing brush-made paintings to computer-generated images. But this misses the deeper shift: the expanding gap between human intention and image-making. We’ve moved beyond the raw immediacy of early digital experiments into a realm where authorship, agency, and meaning are increasingly diffuse.
Since retiring, I’ve closely followed the rise of AI and its sweeping cultural impact. Its influence on digital art is now unmistakable — and, for many, deeply unsettling.
What follows is my attempt to address some of the most pressing questions in both these areas. I suggest looking seriously at Ivan Illich’s Tools for Conviviality (1973), which offers an essential lens.
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Convivial Digital Images (CDI): A New Movement in Digital Art
Why CDI?
Convivial Digital Images (CDI) represent a deliberate reframing of digital art. Rather than viewing AI-assisted or digital works as derivative, mechanical, or devoid of meaning, CDI positions them within a framework inspired by Ivan Illich’s concept of convivial tools: tools that empower, connect, and preserve human scale and agency.
In today’s art world, digital and AI-assisted works are often met with skepticism or dismissed as “soulless” or “inauthentic.” This reflects a deep cultural discomfort with tools that seem to bypass traditional skill or personal labor. CDI challenges that narrative by asserting that digital images — when transparently and responsibly made — can serve as tools of human expression, accessibility, and shared engagement.
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What Defines a Convivial Digital Image?
A CDI is:
• Transparent: Open about its process, clarifying where digital tools assist and where human intention shapes.
• Accessible: Created to empower a broad range of users and viewers, not just elite practitioners.
• Invitational: Designed to encourage interpretation, dialogue, or further transformation — never locked or final.
• Human-Scaled: Mindful of its place within a larger human and ethical context, avoiding grandiosity.
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Our Purpose
The CDI movement seeks to:
• Normalize conviviality as a positive, practical standard in digital art.
• Offer artists and viewers a new lens for evaluating and appreciating digital works.
• Encourage ongoing reflection on the tools we use and how they shape not just images, but culture and understanding.
⸻
A Cultural Shift
Committing to CDI principles won’t resolve every debate, but it offers a platform for dialogue, reflection, and shared meaning — without rancor.
By adopting the term Convivial Digital Image (CDI), we invite artists, critics, and audiences to rethink the purpose of digital art. Rather than asking, “Is this real art?” we ask, “Does this tool empower, connect, and engage meaningfully?”
CDI offers a pathway to reclaim digital spaces as human spaces — where making is assisted and enhanced, not replaced or erased, by technology.
A Work Progressing 
A New Movement
I’ve been making digital art since 1985 — a journey marked by wonder, discovery, and, at times, grief. Over the decades, I’ve watched the old question “But is it art?” evolve, especially as new technologies emerge.
Duchamp famously reframed this question by declaring that art is what the artist designates, shifting focus from the object to the maker. His challenge targeted institutional gatekeeping, not just materials — yet he could hardly have imagined today’s digital tools and the complexity they introduce.
It’s tempting to see digital works as the products of merely “upgraded tools,” comparing brush-made paintings to computer-generated images. But this misses the deeper shift: the expanding gap between human intention and image-making. We’ve moved beyond the raw immediacy of early digital experiments into a realm where authorship, agency, and meaning are increasingly diffuse.
Since retiring, I’ve closely followed the rise of AI and its sweeping cultural impact. Its influence on digital art is now unmistakable — and, for many, deeply unsettling.
What follows is my attempt to address some of the most pressing questions in both these areas. I suggest looking seriously at Ivan Illich’s Tools for Conviviality (1973), which offers an essential lens.
⸻
Convivial Digital Images (CDI): A New Movement in Digital Art
Why CDI?
Convivial Digital Images (CDI) represent a deliberate reframing of digital art. Rather than viewing AI-assisted or digital works as derivative, mechanical, or devoid of meaning, CDI positions them within a framework inspired by Ivan Illich’s concept of convivial tools: tools that empower, connect, and preserve human scale and agency.
In today’s art world, digital and AI-assisted works are often met with skepticism or dismissed as “soulless” or “inauthentic.” This reflects a deep cultural discomfort with tools that seem to bypass traditional skill or personal labor. CDI challenges that narrative by asserting that digital images — when transparently and responsibly made — can serve as tools of human expression, accessibility, and shared engagement.
⸻
What Defines a Convivial Digital Image?
A CDI is:
• Transparent: Open about its process, clarifying where digital tools assist and where human intention shapes.
• Accessible: Created to empower a broad range of users and viewers, not just elite practitioners.
• Invitational: Designed to encourage interpretation, dialogue, or further transformation — never locked or final.
• Human-Scaled: Mindful of its place within a larger human and ethical context, avoiding grandiosity.
⸻
Our Purpose
The CDI movement seeks to:
• Normalize conviviality as a positive, practical standard in digital art.
• Offer artists and viewers a new lens for evaluating and appreciating digital works.
• Encourage ongoing reflection on the tools we use and how they shape not just images, but culture and understanding.
⸻
A Cultural Shift
Committing to CDI principles won’t resolve every debate, but it offers a platform for dialogue, reflection, and shared meaning — without rancor.
By adopting the term Convivial Digital Image (CDI), we invite artists, critics, and audiences to rethink the purpose of digital art. Rather than asking, “Is this real art?” we ask, “Does this tool empower, connect, and engage meaningfully?”
CDI offers a pathway to reclaim digital spaces as human spaces — where making is assisted and enhanced, not replaced or erased, by technology.
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