Micro Arts Group – Generative Digital Art and Story Text in 1980s
“This is my site for Micro Arts, a computer art forum I founded in 1984 in London, to promote computer art into the new home computer market, which at the time was dominated by computer games.
Computer art is permanently new and controversial.” Geoff Davis, 2025.
Geoff Davis at Leicester LCB Depot Micro Arts exhibition 2021
Minimal from Micro Arts MA2 Various Unusual Events 1984 is now running until August 2027 at the Computer Arts Society ‘Drivers’ exhibition at BCS Moorgate London.
See this for more about Minimal Pixel Art.
Geoff with new figurative art animation Pattern City (2025) also at CAS Drivers Exhibition
Summary
Micro Arts Group is a generative computer art collective founded in 1984 by Geoff Davis in London, along with an international group of young artists and programmers with notable gender balance. The group distributed pioneering digital art on data cassettes (1984) and via the Prestel teletext network (1985) – pre-web net art.
Geoff Davis’s Micro Arts 1980s Achievements:
- Public distribution outside traditional art world – Generated art and story text distributed to the public via data cassettes, competing with games, outside academic, gallery and research circles
- Networked art – Distributed from 1985 on the Prestel network (UK), contemporaneous with exhibition “Arte On-Line” (Brazil) showing Eduardo Kac’s poetic teletext
- Pixel Art – Created “Minimal” (1984), before anyone had thought of the pixel as a worthy ‘thing’, which is now running for 2 years at Computer Arts Society, in the British Computer Society office London
- Art with an Idea – DADA text generator, math art comedy, mixed figurative/abstract, etc
- AI story generation – Story Generator (1985), described by curator Georg Bak as “a precursor of ChatGPT”, exhibited in London (1985) and many times since in London, Berlin, Essen, and Zurich
- First published Paintbox art – Featured in the free print magazine (1984)
- Feminist agit-prop animation – Based on Valerie Solanas’ SCUM Manifesto (1984)
- Inspired by London Film-Makers Cooperative LFMC and London Video Arts LVA
- Worked with London “pirate” TV station NetWork21 (“a group of artists and pranksters”)
- Gender balanced team – Equal numbers of males and females as shown in the 1985 magazine credits (unusual then and now, though not remarked upon at the time)
Geoff’s work challenged the status of “computer art” – a field that tends toward the overly serious while remaining conceptually constrained (denigrated as decorative graphics or equipment demos) and socially disconnected.
He countered this through creating a new social group and art that functioned as both education and ambient entertainment, paired with conceptual pieces that either satirized or illuminated the ambiguous, much derided space that computer and digital art inhabits. Even the story generator was a parody of a news article about the repercussions of a viral pandemic (in 1985).
This tension has only intensified with AI-generated art, which displaces (though cannot replace) human creativity even more dramatically.
Micro Arts was well reviewed at the time, in the computer press and fashion magazines like Blitz, but was unknown to the academic or gallery world, and so still retains its original alternative dimension.
Geoff Davis is now an AI and Arts researcher at UAL London, and founder/editor of the AI Creative Anthology. His art is exhibited internationally and held in collections including the Computer Arts Archive UK, Francisco Carolinum Museum Linz Austria, Art-Science Franke Foundation Berlin Germany, The National Museum of Computing TNMOC UK, elementum Zurich Switzerland, and the Le Random collection.
His fiction has been published by PEN and several indie presses in the 1980s and 1990s, alongside authors Ben Okri, Tom McCarthy, Iain Sinclair, Deborah Levy, Peter Ackroyd and Hanif Kureishi. A new novel Pattern City is forthcoming from Leopard Print Publishing 2025.
Drivers Exhibition, Computer Arts Society, London 2025
Two artworks by Geoff Davis
Pattern City Animations (2025)- generative animations using AI illustrations from scenes in Geoff’s new novel – original art and also a comment on AI overproduction. For more on this see the Geoff Davis website
Minimal Pixel Art (1984) – Micro Arts from MA2 Various Unusual Events – concept art. A full run of this very slow program, which takes nearly 2 years to complete a display, started 17 September 2025 at 12:00 UTC. A comment on the computer graphic and art obsession with high speed and high resolution, which is still ongoing today.
8-bit Exhibition, Phoenix Leicester UK
Group exhibition featuring generated art and story text images from Geoff Davis, plus Martin Rootes (also from Micro Arts), and Dan Cooper (USA). Curated by Dr Sean Clark, Chair of the Computer Arts Society UK.
At the Phoenix Cinema and Art Gallery, Leicester UK, 10th January – Monday 31 March 2025.
Micro Arts Infographic
Micro Arts Geoff Davis generated art and text 1984 1980sMA1 “Abstract Originals” (1984)
Geoff Davis MA1 “Abstract Originals” features seven generative art displays with menu control. The title uses deliberate quotation marks: is it “abstract” – a human description? Is it “original” – when computer-generated art can create vast numbers of possibilities?
“Abstract Originals” addresses the technology/human debate which still rages in 2025. I explore this in the AI Creative Arts Anthology which I founded in 2023, now in its third edition.
Distribution Methods: Data Cassettes to Prestel Network
1984: Physical data cassette distribution – art program bytes recorded as audio (converted via DAC) on tape for conversion back on microcomputers. This format is almost incomprehensible to younger people now.
1985: All art and articles uploaded to Prestel videotext, a pre-web network (invented before Minitel). This allowed art software to be downloaded to individual microcomputers – early net art.
Pioneering Story Generator (1985)
“Geoff Davis’s Story Generator (1985) is an early precursor of ChatGPT” – Georg Bak, historian and curator.
This pioneering text generation software creates unsettling variations on the story “Cow Boils Head” about animal insurrection. The software replaces words from the original story with themed synonyms, generating new narratives at a hypnotic pace. More information about Story Generator here.
The 1980s Releases
- MA1: “Abstract Originals” – Geoff Davis (7 segued long form generative art programs, with menu control) 1984
- MA2: Various Unusual Events – Geoff Davis (6 events including pixel art “Minimal”, SCUM Manifesto “Money Work System”, “Piano Bar”, “Dada” word generator) 1984
- MA3: Volume 1 – Martin Rootes (animated art programs based on Muybridge, Duchamp etc.) 1984
- MA4: Story Generator – Geoff Davis (AI text story generator from short story seed) 1985
MA2 Highlights
‘Minimal’ featured pixel-focused slow art – each of 90 pixels took 21.5 minutes to place (max system pause), requiring 2 years to fill the whole screen.
‘Piano Bar’ was a scrolling generative piece referencing weaving and pre-computer systems. Piano Bar version with music here
Micro Arts Magazine
This was an educational edition, distributed by Arts Express to galleries, museums, community centres etc.
For more information see the Magazine page scans.
Above: Quantel paintbox art 1984 from Michèle Gauthier Carr-Brown, featured in Micro Arts Magazine (in monochrome)
Micro Arts People
Many of the contributors have written reminiscences of the time.
Recent Exhibitions & Events
Story Generator at REIMAGINE TOMORROW 1954–2024 (Essen AI Biennale, November 2024)
From Expanded Art, curated by Anika Meier
Large exhibition featuring Geoff Davis alongside Refik Anadol, Sougwen Chung, Mario Klingemann, Ai-Da Robot, Herbert W. Franke, Frieder Nake, Paul Brown, and others.
V&A London Digital Art Communities (November 2024)
Talk by Catherine Mason (Computer Arts Society), hosted by Pita Arreola (V&A) featuring Micro Arts history.
Generative Art Summit Berlin (July 2024)
Geoff Davis was Guest Speaker on Pioneers day at the Herbert W. Franke Foundation Generative Art Summit in Berlin, July 3-6, 2024. “From Camera to Artificial Intelligence 1954 – 2024 – International Conference.” More information
TIME SPECTRUM Solo Exhibition (Berlin, December 2023)
Solo Exhibition – 1-12 December 2023 at Expanded.Art Berlin
Generative abstract art for display with remixable colors. Opening party sponsored by fxhash.
Computer Arts Society Exhibition (BCS London, July 2023)
Over 50 artworks by over 40 artists including Geoff Davis with Pattern City. Visit CAS Exhibition 2023
BCS Moorgate, Ground Floor, 25 Copthall Avenue, London, EC2R 7BP
The Thinking Machine (Berlin, June 2023)
Exhibition from Expanded Art / Anika Meier in Berlin, June 6-27, 2023. More information
Featured 25 international artists including Ai-Da Robot, Herbert W. Franke, Frieder Nake, Mario Klingemann, and Geoff Davis presenting MA1 “Abstract Originals”.
elementum Zurich Launch (February 2023)
Gallery show and drop of new Micro Arts Cube videos and Micro Arts Grid 88 with elementum.art Zurich, curated by Georg Bak.
LCB Depot Leicester (June 2021)
Curated by Dr Sean Clark. Featured live running 1980s generative art, print displays, micro hardware, data cassettes, and the Magazine.
Publications & Resources
AI Creative Anthology (2023-2025)
GET YOUR FREE COPY (PDF or EPUB) – AI Creative Arts & Writing Anthology
Edited by Geoff Davis – Third Edition, 490 pages. Featuring Ana María Caballero, Sasha Stiles, Patrick Lichty, James Bloom, Herbert W. Franke, and many others.
Academic Paper
Professor Sean Clark: Revisiting and Re-presenting 1980s Micro Computer Art
History Book
Detailed book: History of Micro Arts 1984-85
Collections & Platforms
- Computer Arts Archive CAA, UK
- Francisco Carolinum Museum, Linz, Austria
- Franke Foundation Collection, Germany
- The National Museum of Computing TNMOC, Bletchley Park, UK
- Le Random collection
- elementum.art (curated by Georg Bak)
- Expanded.Art
Historical Context
Micro Arts was founded in 1984 during a period of radical change in computer technology. The group operated outside the traditional art world, aiming directly at the public through the emerging home computer market. Connected to London’s experimental art scene including:
- London Film-Makers Co-op LFMC
- London Video Arts LVA
- London Musicians Collective LMC
- Alternative spaces: B2 Wapping, The Diorama Regent’s Park
- NeTWork21 pirate TV station
The artists were mixed gender and diverse, unusual in computer art at the time. Micro Arts had a radical approach to art distribution – at the time, computer art came only from high-end research, scientific, Hollywood, and academic art labs.
Technology
Micro Arts used readily available home microcomputers:
- Sinclair ZX Spectrum – 48K RAM, simple architecture, cheap and accessible
- Acorn BBC Micro – More complex, used extensively in education
The choice of consumer hardware was deliberate – to promote computer art in the nascent domestic computer market dominated by games.
About Geoff Davis
Geoff Davis is a pioneering digital artist with over 40 years at the forefront of computational creativity. His work explores boundaries between algorithm and aesthetics, challenging conventional understandings of originality and abstraction.
He is an AI and Arts researcher at UAL London, editor of the AI Creative Anthology (third edition), a PEN-published author, and serves on the Computer Arts Society committee. He is a professional member of the British Computer Society (MBCS) and holds a Masters in non-linear narrative and interface design. Visit https://geoffdavis.org
Contact & Social Media
geoffdavis5 at gmail dot com
@microartsgroup