Art And Technology

Featured image: Sparrow

Art and technology. Changing Times.

What moves things forward and becomes knowledge? Is it the past and history? So, what is propelling knowledge today?

Today as we progress to the future, what is going to trigger this movement forward in the art world? What will be learned from the past? We haven't answered the question about learning from the past in the art world. We keep on repeating what happened in modernism. When we answer the question from the perspective of the modern, there is a glimmer of hope about moving forward – the recent space travel explorations, Virgin Galactic VSS Unity and Space X. Very exciting.

What is propelling knowledge today within our culture? Is it things like Virgin Galactic and Space X? But, with art that is another issue. If it is technology for art, then yes, art will definitely have changed. In my heart the change just doesn’t feel good. Something is missing and I can’t put my finger on what it is.

There's artwork that's done with technology that I definitely think fits the criteria for being an art object. They are unique, one-of-a-kind, original, and the artist's hand is definitely in the work mainly through the concepts that they are working with. For example, many artists are using videos projected onto a wall. These videos take away the object-ness of an artwork and at the same time devour the viewer into the electronic space. The MOMA’s exhibition titled “The New Order: Art and Technology” definitely has many examples of this objectless form of art.

To date, many of the technological works wanting to be art are based on design and the elements and principles of design. It's because of this that they seem to be missing something. But, I can’t put my finger on just what it is. If I were to use my usual criteria for art on the many technological works I find, it would be absent as many technological works are all based on techne, following the rules of design and that would exclude them from being art. Design has never been art, art and design are very different, yet there is design in many works of art that work as art, but design is not the overpowering element of a work of art. Again, I return to the red pill and the blue pill. Perhaps this art form that is trying to move forward our knowledge of art, just isn’t real. Which begs the question, '"What is real?" Again, the red pill or the blue pill.

I just don’t see how technology, even though it is current, new and exciting, will move the knowledge of art forward like the technology that have moved space exploration forward. The excitement is definitely not there for the arts like it is for space exploration.