Paul – new media
With a new form there will always be foreseen and unforeseen complications. Accepting “new media art” into institution caused a few problems for both the viewer, the artist and the curator. Time is a major problem for these three groups of people and one that cannot be necessarily avoided. One of the problems that people face is the mix of fast and quick means of creating the art. There is a new Do-it-your-self attitude making digital art more available to those with the means to create it. There is also a large learning curve on new assembly. This part in particular effects the curator side of things. If a curator has to cover, manage and maintain a piece of equipment its desirability may go down. They have to hire a whole other
Transforming these new medias into interactive works are key in moving them in “open system.” In some of these medias an audience member may see of experience a completely different form of art work and reaction than another one. These systems may not seem as beneficial to the viewer and again be less appealing. An example of this would be processing, “a visual programming environment and electronic sketchbook for developing ideas,” (245) which are meant for involved engagement from the participant making it increasingly difficult to involve common gallery space. This lake of materiality contributes to the over all idea of Paul’s preserving new media.
One of the benefits of the media is the interaction and collaboration between audience and artist. These collaborative models are different from when an artist or museum hires a group to build of create components according to instructions but rather individuals who are there to create something aesthetic within a framework. The open system in this case desires an “openness” (256) to work from the audience. This kind of involvement can also be helpful in the curatorial process.
The online databases of art have brought new media to a whole new level yet still manage to keep it within the realm of “art.” I believe this is where all the parts of Galerie de Deformite came together for me as a whole in this piece. The benefit of having online vs physical space is the “opening” and “closing” of an exhibit. On the net there is no closing date and if that there is always an achive of some sort. Nothing from the web is ever truly gone. The “cultural archive” and its “translocal community” (265) exists forever in an area with everything else that is related. The other benefit is that there is no need to be affiliated with an institution like academia or publication or museums. The idea of multiple curators and the individuals perspective helps in the process of immateriality.
One of the things that I was curious about while reading Christiane Paul’s piece on New Media Art was where Galerie de Deformite fell into the categories provided. Where the contributing exhibits part of a collaborative artist framework or where they part of the audience? I believe the exhibits were a part of the original framework, which can continue to be added to. We are the audience as the author still had some control over how we explored the work. If we were to read Galerie from start to finish in page order in the traditional matter we would not be following the instructions and may miss the point by loosing concept of what is happening.
I distracting aspect of the piece was when the MOMA was brought up and I realized, in relation to the multiple times I’ve been there, the lack of awareness that I had that I was viewing new media. Perhaps it’s the generation that we grew up with but there does not seem to be an much of a separation. There is now a link between the art that resides in the Louvre, the art in the MOMA and the “art” that I can create on my personal computer.
I continue to wonder how much more we can expand within our own abilities technologically and academically. Will we ever run out of new medias, or new ideas, or new ways of creating whatever is it. Will we run out of restrictions? Each time a new form of technology that has some relation to an old media or none at all I wonder when will there be no more.