After reading the articles “Introduction to Digital Media,” by Christiane Paul and “Seven ways of Misunderstanding Interactive Art,” by Huhtomo, I wrote a response based on my own thoughts and interpretations.
“Seven ways of Misunderstanding Interactive Art,” by Huhtomo
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In the article “Introduction to Digital Media,” author Christiane Paul sheds the light on what New Media Art is in today’s society. According to Paul, New Media Art is a very broad art genre that is constantly being redefined. As technology continues to advance, the possibilities of combining technology with art seem to become endless in nature. Added to that, because New Media involves a broad range of exploring a many different technologies, Digital Media is hard to categorize in a specific genre of art. Coming from a studio art perspective, this concept is hard to understand, for there is no real definition of what constitutes as strictly New Media art. However, from my understanding, New Media art can involve traditional art with current technology to create something new and exciting.
On another note, New Media “artworks were first welcomed by science center’s rather than institutions,” according the Huntomo in the article, “Seven ways of Misunderstanding Interactive Art.” This may be true, but I feel that anything using technology and art can be safely categorized in both categories, since both use some aspect of the others background. As a heavy influence, technology also affects the absence of the creator of the work. If a piece is instantly uploaded to the web, then the piece can be immediately viewed without any real physical interaction with the original creator of the piece. As a result, the artist’s purpose is slightly redefined consequently.
As interactive art becomes more engaging, there seems to be the idea of the “Death of the author.” In the article Seven Ways of Misunderstanding Interactive art, people claim that since the author is not present the creator is becoming obsolete. For me, this is partly true. The author is obsolete in a sense that he or she does not have to be present for the audience to experience the work. After the creator is no longer needed for the work, the work could become independent meaning the artist is not necessary after the work is created or established. The works can operate at certain times, spaces, and various locations where the author’s presences is not relevant.
“Introduction to Digital Media,” by Christiane Paul
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In contrast, the author is not obsolete because the work could not exist if the artist didn’t create the interactive piece. Added to that the work could not also be created in the way the artist intended the piece to be. The author could have intentionally made the interactive piece in a specific or particular way that makes it unique to them or their style of work. For example that could made the interactive work at a specific location, or they could make the piece engage people only in specific kind of way. Moreover, the artist can make the work an online website that would only pop up if users searching specific search words.
