AllenRisley

VSAR405
LisaHutton
25March2015
NewTechnologyandItsImpactonArt
Thetwentiethcenturymadecountlessnewformsofartpossiblelargelyinparttonew
technology.Amongthesetechnologicaladvanceswerethecamera,thecomputer,andthe
Internet.Eachrealmoftechnologyhasledtodifferentmanipulationsbydifferentartiststo
createnewmethodsofproducingart.Ingeneral,thecreativeprocesshasbeengreatlyaffected
forthebetterbythesenewtypesoftechnology.Withoutallofthisnewtechnology,artwould
notbewhatitistoday.
Whendiscussingtechnologiesthatcreatenewformsofart,oneinstantlythinksofthe
camera.Beforethecamera,stillartconsistedofthreedifferentrealms:paintings,sculptures,and
printmaking.Eachofthoseformsofartrequiredarelativelylargeamountfortheartistto
transferwhattheysawintotheirspecificmedium.Withthecamera,however,whatevervisual
spacewasinfrontofthelenscouldbetransferredontothefilm(andlater,theprocessor)rather
quickly.Sure,thefirstversionsofthecameraweresomewhatslow.Butashutterexposedfora
fewminutesisstillwildlyfasterthanapainterinfrontofacanvasforhoursorevendays.Just
asphotographyfreedthehandoftheartisticfunctionsofdelineatingreality,wheretheeye
perceivesmorequicklythanthehandcandraw,theprocessofpictorialreproductioncouldkeep
pacewiththetrainedmindsfunctioning.(Lovejoy43)Photographyopenedupawholenew
worldofpossibilitiesforartistswhowantedtodepicthumanandnaturallifemorerealistically

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andtruthfully.Photographerscouldgointojustaboutanypartoftheworldanddocument
whatevercouldfitintotheirfocallenswithoutanybias.Someweresentoverseasduringwarsas
photojournalists,whileotherscapturedthemanydifferenttypesoflifeathome.Therewerealso
differentartisticformsthatwerecreatedafterthephotographsweretaken.Filmprocessing
requiredcertaintechnicalknowledgeandskills,andmanipulationofthosetechniquesresultedin
differentartisticforms.Inmanyways,thecameraallowedartiststocreatenewtypesofart.
Themovingimagewasagroundbreakingformofartwhenitwasfirstintroduced.Video
camerascouldcaptureobjectsmovinginrealtimeandpresentthemtoaviewerinasequence
thatimitatedtheirtruemotions.Inotherwords,artistscouldreproduceevenmoreportionsof
humanlife.InJanuaryof1893,thefirstmoviestudioEdisonsBlackMariastarted
producingtwentysecondshorts(Manovich2)Likethestillcamera,filmsevolvedrather
quickly.Thefirstmovieswereveryshort,butastimewentonandmoreartistsstartedusing
filmcameras,moviesbecamelengthier.Alongwiththeamountofcontent,thequalityand
meaningofthecontentevolved.Filmmakersstartedtoadaptplaysandbooksforthebigscreen.
Filmimageswouldsoothmovieaudiences,whoweretooeagertoescapetherealityoutside,the
realitywhichnolongercouldbeadequatelyhandledbytheirownsamplinganddataprocessing
systems.(Manovich2)Thevideocamerawasalsousedtodocumentreallife.Fromsporting
eventstopoliticalspeechestocourthearings,videobecameanevenmorerealisticmediumfor
audiencestogetinformation.Justlikeprocessingfilmuniquely,theuseofvideoeffectshas
expandedintoawholenewformofartwithseeminglyendlesspossibilities.Movingimagesare
usedtocreateoneofthemorediversetypesofart.

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Computershavemadedigitalartpossibleandhavemadetheconstantadvancementsin
digitalartpossible.Thefirstcomputerswerebuilttoperformmathematicalcalculations.This
typeofautomationwaseventuallyusedindifferentwaysforart.Discreterepresentationof
informationanditsnumericalcodingallowtoautomatemanyoperationsinvolvedinmedia
creation,manipulationandaccess.(Manovich4)Thistypeofrepresentationtranslatestothe
useofpixelstocreateimagesonadigitalscreen.Fromthere,digitalvideouseseachdigitalasa
singleframethenplaysbackthatsequenceofimagesrapidly.Imageeditingprogramsallowed
formanipulationofpixelsandimagesinamethodsimilartopainting.Thisthenledtothenext
stageinmediaevolution:theneedfortechnologiestostore,organize,andefficientlyaccessthese
media.(Manovich6)Justlikeprintedphotographsandreelsoffilm,digitalimagesandvideo
takeupspace.Butinsteadofphysicalspace,digitalartoccupiesdigitalspaceonaharddrive
(betterknownasmemory).Asthequalityandspaceofdigitalphotosandvideosevolved,so
didthecomputer.Storagedevicessuchasharddrivesandmemorycardsstartedtoholdmore
information,andcouldwriteandreadthatinformationandafasterpace.Theabilitiesandspeed
ofmoderncomputersandotherformsofdigitalartwouldbeunimaginabletosomeoneatthe
beginningofthetwentiethcentury.
Thefinalstepintheprocessofanytypeofartisdistribution.Anindividualcancreatean
endlessnumberofmasterpieces,buttheyllneverbecalledasuccessfulartistuntilothersview
theirart.Untilthecameracamealong,artcouldonlybeseeninperson.So,upuntilthe
twentiethcentury,artwaslimitedintermsofitsglobalreach.Butrecenttechnological
advancementshavegivenawholenewmeaningtodistribution.Formusic,itwastheradio.For,
paintingsandsculpturesitwasprintmedia.Forvideo,itwasthetelevision.Manyvariationsof

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complexityandmodelsofdisplaydevelopedassoftwareadvanced,collaborationsformed,and
channelsofdistributionputartistsintouchwithotherartistswithoutregardtogeography.
(Hutton,www.artisnice.net)TheInternetconnectedartistsallovertheworldandgavethem
multipleandrelativelyeasywaystodistributetheirart.Notonlydiditdothat,theInternet
connectedallthedifferentformsofartbyofferingnumerouswebsitesforeachandeveryformof
art.Alongwithdistribution,theInternetservedasawholenewmediumfornewformsofart.
ManytypesofWebArtinvolvedparticipationfromtheviewer(DeMarco)whileothersstood
ontheirownandusedwebcodingtoformmovingimages(Sinn).Byconnectingartistsand
otherformsofart,andcreatingevenmoreformsofart,theInternetpushedarttonew
unimaginableheights.
Digitalarthasopenedupworldsofpossibilitiesforalltypesofcreativepractices.The
processofcreatingarthasbeenspedupthankstothemanytechnologicaladvancesofthepast
century.Withadigitalcamera,aphotographercantakehundredsofpictureswithoutusing
numerousrollsoffilm.Notonlythat,thesamephotographercaninstantlyreviewtheirphotosto
seeiftheyneedtomakeadjustments.Thesamegoesforfilmmaking.Digitalvideocamerasare,
forthemostpart,muchmoreportablethanfilmcameras.Thecomputerhastransformedthe
editingprocessaswell.Withthecomputer,videoeditorsareabletopracticeanondestructive
formofediting.Thismeansthattheycancut,copy,andpastetheirvideoclipsasmanytimesas
theywant.Photoshopandothercomputerprogramshavegivenphotographersaneasyand
extremelydiversewaytoprocesstheirphotographs.Also,thoseprogramshaveopenedupnew
possibilitiesformagazineandnewspapereditors.Thecreativeprocesshasalsoseenbenefits
fromtheInternetaswell.Artistscansharetheirworkwiththewholeworldthroughavarietyof

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outletsontheWeb.Notonlythat,buttheInternetcanbeusedasameansofcollaborationwith
otherartistsnomatterwheretheyare.TheInternethasalsoaffectedtheviewer.Inapost
industrialsociety,everycitizencanconstructherowncustomlifestyleandselectherideology
fromalarge(butnotinfinite)numberofchoices.(Manovich,NewMediaUsersGuide8)The
creativeprocessdoesntseemsodauntingwhendigitalartisinvolved.
WorksCited
Lovejoy,Margot."TheMachineAgeandModernism."DigitalCurrents:ArtintheElectronic
Age.Routledge,2004.3661.Print.
Manovich,Lev.NewMedia:AUsersGuide.PDFFile
Hutton,Lisa.Week64.ArtIsNice:VSAR405.N.D.Web.25Mar2015.<
http://www.artisnice.net/week64.html>.
DeMarco,Nick."Crash"byNickDeMarco2013.1Jan.2013.Web.25Mar.2015.
<http://www.demarconia.com/crash/>.
Sinn,Tara.GreatBigNothing.GreatBigNothing.1Jan.2013.Web.25Mar.2015.
<http://greatbignothing.com/>.

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