Sunday, January 15, 2012

New Media: art for the digital age


For centuries, art has been used to inspire, challenge our current perspectives and to present an alternate reality. New media joins the art world with digital technology and opens up a new area of possibilities by asking the audience to join in.

Art and new media are illusive concepts. What makes a picture art? What makes a video on a website new media? Their definitions are subjective. But both concepts span multiple disciplines to create something new. Art draws upon history, politics, philosophy, and other areas for inspiration. New media spans across the same disciplines but adds modern-day skills to the mix, including photography, web design and filmmaking.

Innovative technology and software are being developed that will allow us to communicate with our viewers and listeners in a way that traditional art could have only dreamed of. New media will not replace art; it simply transforms it into its next form on the evolutionary scale.

Still developing

One of the most intriguing aspects of new media is the sense that this new medium is still developing. We can participate in this digital revolution. The boundaries are still being drawn and there is still time to sneak in.

As the entrance fee into the art world lowers, and the cost of production crashes, art once again belongs to the masses. The abundance of cheap, portable and easy-to-use technology and software has opened the doors to millions of people to allow them to become creators of new media and not just consumers.

Not everyone would agree. But just like art, the world of new media is subjective.

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