Summary

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.

Micro Arts Exhibition Leicester 2021

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

Minimal (in set MA2 Various Unusual Events) Geoff Davis 1984
Minimal (in set MA2 Various Unusual Events) Geoff Davis 1984 – running at CAS Drivers exhibition

See this for more about Minimal Pixel Art.

Geoff Davis artist Pattern City 2025

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.

Current Exhibitions 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.

Geoff Davis Pattern City 2025 and Minimal 1984 CAS London 2025 Exhibition
Geoff Davis Pattern City (video) 2025 and Minimal (small screen at bottom) 1984 CAS London 2025 Exhibition

8-bit Exhibition, Phoenix Leicester UK

Phoenix Exhibition 8 bit 2025 Geoff Davis Micro Arts
Phoenix Exhibition 8 bit 2025 Geoff Davis Micro Arts

 

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 1980s

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

Data cassette 1984
1984 physical data cassette distribution

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

Solanas SCUM Manifesto Warhol
Solanas SCUM Manifesto Warhol
Minimal pixel art
‘Minimal’ after 90 pixels – each took 21.5 minutes

‘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.

Quantel paintbox art 1984 from Michèle Gauthier Carr-Brown

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)

Geoff Davis Micro Arts Story Generator Essen AI Biennale 2024
Geoff Davis Micro Arts Story Generator 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)

Micro Arts Geoff Davis Prestel and Data Cassettes 1984 1985
Digital Art Communities: Hubs, Nodes & Networks, V&A 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)

Generative Art Summit Berlin

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)

Time Spectrum 2023 Berlin Expanded Art
Time Spectrum 2023 Berlin Expanded.Art

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)

CAS Exhibition

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)

Geoff Davis Georg Bak Zurich 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)

Exhibition Leicester 6-26 June 2021 LCB Depot
Exhibition Leicester 6-26 June 2021 LCB Depot

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)

Geoff Davis AI Anthology Writing and Arts Edition 2.5 July 2024

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

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

Additional Resources