A new artistic environment

 

We can read everywhere comments like art is not anymore what it was, art is dead, no way for new art… those typical apocalyptic expressions. That we will hear always, maybe we just have to get used to it. But the real point is that Art is more alive than ever, or better said, is as alive as always. The only answer is: the artistic paradigm has changed dramatically in the last years. That’s a fact, and computers and internet have a lot to do with that.
During last century, art has been getting more and more distant from the concept of Aura, concept impressively described in Walter Banjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (please check here)

The mass media reproduction systems: videos, printings, CDs, DVD… the “democratization” or “popularization” of the image have changed incredibly our world and the concept we have of it. Thanks to images we changed our “image of reality”: cinema showed us how to kiss, how to be rebel or how to have breakfast in front of a jewelry shop. Art, as a mirror of our reality, has used all this new ways of reproduction from the beginning and POP Art is just a clear example.
So the uniqueness of the object has started not to be the main challenge of an artwork. For plenty of artists, Aura is not relevant anymore and Galleries have tried to adapt as soon as possible to this new paradigm. Solutions like creating limited and special editions of DVDs, CDs, etc. looked more like a way of filling a hole than fixing it.
At the 80s, globalization and Postmodernism also showed us that other cultures apart of the occidental had the right to be called contemporary. They got out from their impossed “etnic” status and opened widely the concept of what art was.

In this line, internet became the next step: art could be reproduced globally and infinitely. So, Art is not dead, the entire contrary: it is approaching a great challenge. Furthermore, it is little by little implementing a new element: interactivity.
Web 2.0 opens new doors not only for artistic creation, but also for market and art reviews. Art phenomenon is not longer unidirectional, let’s get up to date!

One Response to “A new artistic environment”

1. Garrett says:

   August 11, 2006 at 4:26 pm

   Art is not dead but has been perhaps redirected or maybe even recycled. Kind of like a piece of plastic. The plastic maybe burnt, vaporised or pulverised but it will always be there as piece of plastic. As life, economy and technology changes so quickly the things we see everyday change quickly also, so in fact, life itself is being cast aside re-used and recycled or like the pice of plastic surfacing in another form. Following this vein, art has morphed over the years and been re-used and re-cycled.peace.