'Can Computers Be Programmed To Appreciate Art?': The Machine As Viewer, In 1977

With the recent release of Magnus, an app that can recognize artworks using visual data, we turn back to the Summer 1977 issue of ARTnews, in which the editors wondered if it was possible for a computer to appreciate art. "Would there be a call for computer art critics?" the editors asked. No, Magnus does not meet that description, but it is being called "Shazam for the art world," and it can tell you titles, artists, mediums, and prices when viewers take pictures of the work in question with their phones. The 1977 article follows in full below. He goes on to an interpretation of the "collection of data" that is an artwork as a program of the sort fed into a computer.