New
Media is a fascinating genre of artworks. It is both inclusive and exclusive
toward traditional art forms.
This
duality is brought about by several factors. Right off the bat, the
not-so-secret origins of this genre is reinterpretations of tradition media or
artwork in new and exciting ways. For example, one ancestor to modern “new
media” pieces is the Zoetrope, which took the already established art forms of
illustration and photography and reinterpreted them. It did not necessarily alter
the ideas put forth by these genres, but rather presented them in a different
way: it took drawings and photographs and put them into a spinning cylinder,
which, when viewed, spawns the deception of motion.
This
idea of reinterpretation of what came before lives on in modern New Media art
pieces even though, as a very diverse art genre, sometimes this
reinterpretation is harder to spot than others. Performance art, for example, takes
the basic idea of theatrical production and presents it in a more artistic
presentation venue and understanding. In this sense, this reinterpretation
becomes more free-form or alterable compared to the sometimes more rigid dramatic
presentations that need to be staged in a specific location or fallow a certain
order or script.
These
reinterpretations are really about taking traditional media and presenting them
in modern ways. For example, the idea of Light Art draws upon the notion of
using light as an art medium. Now, this notion is far from new as we have seen
the medium of light used in stained glass works created centuries before the
light bulb was invented, but modern Light Art reinterprets painting with these
rays of electromagnetic radiation and makes them be produced by electric
currents rather than from bodies of celestial origin. This reinterpretation can
also be an exhibition of traditional art forms in modern ways. In the past
century we have developed numerous methods in which to communicate and
sometimes those methods have been used by traditional artists to transmit their
original pieces. Back in the 1980s when the commercialized fax machine was a
relatively newer device, we saw this transmission method be used to transmit
artwork (it must be noted* that in 1985 Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol and Kaii
Higashiyama – all of whom considered more or less traditional artists in varying
degrees – contributed to an art piece consisting of drawings by said artists
which were then reinterpreted via the facsimile machine into Fax Art).
Now,
sometimes these modern ways are not as inclusive toward traditional artworks. Digital
art, for example, can be compared to painting or drawing but instead of a
physical canvas the art is on a computer. Working on a digital format requires
a different knowledge set: instead of knowing about brushes, pencils, paint and
the like, one must have a working understanding of whatever drawing program the
artist has chosen to use. Likewise, although other disciplines can be traced to
more traditional methods, they require different skill sets thus making them not
as inclusive toward traditional artists.
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Footnote: The above essay was exactly 500 words long. I must say I did focus on the Types category from the Wikipedia article (with some bits from the PDF). I mention this specific area because I do not want any part of the essay to be viewed as "present[ing] texts from other authors" (as stated in the rules). Most points are drawn merely from the Types categories themselves (with examples coming from the PDF or my own knowledge), but I did note* when I listed a fact found on the Fax Art Wikipedia page which I thought was rather fascinating. Hopefully these adjoining pages are viewed not as separate pieces (since they are merely disciplines of New Media) and thus my use (in a plagiarizing manor) of examples is valid and I will receive credit for my work.
I don't think those pages would be considered separate, but I wanted to put this note just to be sure. Let me know if there is a disagreement.
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