Spotlight on Arts – Sean Clark and the Unwritten History of Computer Art

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In this episode of Spotlight on Arts, John Coster and Rob Watson are joined by Sean Clark, a Leicester-based digital artist, technologist, and the curator behind the Computer Arts Archive. What unfolds is a wide-ranging and reflective conversation tracing Sean’s early creative experiments on the BBC Micro through to his pioneering use of the internet in the early 1990s—and his current mission to uncover and document the overlooked stories of digital creativity.

Sean shares how his interest in visual patterns and computer graphics began with drawing geometric designs on graph paper before evolving into generative art using early programming languages. He describes how his fascination with systems, structures, and creative processes led him to become one of the UK’s early web designers, creating one of the internet’s first 100 websites—eventually working with the influential electronic music group The Shamen.

Throughout the conversation, Sean emphasises the importance of collaboration and curiosity. His projects—from developing apps for community news to archiving forgotten moments in digital art—reflect a consistent theme: technology is only meaningful when it helps people share, express, and understand stories. For Sean, archiving is not about nostalgia, but about recognising the historical significance of experiments that didn’t fit the mainstream canon of art history.

Topics explored include:

• The creative potential of constraints in early computer graphics
• Leicester’s little-known but internationally significant contributions to digital art
• The role of collaboration in shaping emerging art and media practices
• Why young people should cultivate diverse interests to prepare for futures not yet invented

Sean also reflects on how to amplify quiet voices in a media landscape dominated by algorithms and spectacle. He reminds us that the value of technology lies not in its novelty but in how it can enable meaningful, inclusive participation—whether in art, media, or everyday storytelling.

This episode offers an insightful look into the roots of computer art and the people working to ensure that its lesser-known stories are not forgotten. It’s also a compelling call to reimagine how we use digital tools—not just to create, but to connect, document, and preserve.

Listen now and consider: whose digital stories have yet to be told—and who gets to tell them?