Media Arts: History & Theory

Electronic media and art produce some of what is arguably the best art we have ever seen. From Nam June Paik’s video art to A.I. art, the digital world has changed the artistic landscape forever. In the times we live in now, with the rise of artificial intelligence, it is important that we acknowledge and understand what it means Many people argue that artificial intelligence will be the downfall of artists, but I do not believe that. Artificial intelligence’s popularity and ability is growing at an alarming rate, it is true. But if we want to get ahead of it, we must learn with it. Take art for example. Artificial intelligence makes the art, yes, but not the idea . An artist's idea is what makes them the artist. Without the idea, there would be nothing for the A.I. to go off of. Artificial intelligence, and digital art as a whole, is not the downfall of art, but rather another step towards advancing it. GRQs 1. 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering 2. E.A.T. 3. Sputnik 4. The Two ...

Following the inventions of the radio, television, digital media, and more, we started to see as artists were taking these technologies and experimenting with them to create new masterpieces. The rise of experimental filmmaking was one of the new arts from this time. Experimental film has no actual rules, sort of like performance art. There were no guidelines or outlines to follow in order to make sure you had made an experimental film. It was powerful in this way, especially with its 9 main ideas: creative freedom, spontaneity, personal expression, social expression, creative betterment, taking risks, unique voice, no wrong answers, and it's a world of its own. Maya Deren was a notable experimental filmmaker, as she took many risks in her new and very avant-garde films.  Happenings were also popular during this time. They were the precursors to performance art, and were initially named by Allan Kaprow. Essentially, they were collages of actions and sounds together. They started as...

I think that the innovation and journey of electronic media is fascinating, and it is something everyone should learn. We are all impacted by it everyday, whether we realize it or not. We all use our laptops or phones or tablets or TVs everyday, none of which we would have if not for the risk takers and inventors and artists of history (see Blog Post #16 for a detailed account of this). Without art, inventors would not have the creativity or inspiration to come up with something new and change the world as we know it.  I personally have a unique interest in this topic. I have always enjoyed learning about art and its history, but the digital age is something I am much more intrigued by. I am a film and media arts major, so this subject is directly related to my major. I can see how the ideas and innovations of the past still influence today, and learning about the connection is a journey of discovery I will always enjoy going on. GRQs 1. Hans Richter, Hans Richter 2. Ruttmann 3. Re...

Hello and welcome back! We are now embarking on a journey that will take us through the rise of electronic media. One of the fist electronic media devices was the telegraph invented by Samuel Morse. Morse was an inventor and artist, having made the Gallery of the Louvre .  Like Morse, Guglielmo Marconi was fascinated by electronic media. Maconi gave us radio, with the first broadcasts coming from Pittsburgh (that’s my home city!). Radio broadcast became a new medium for artists to use, like Orson Wells' War of the Worlds broadcast. Using different creative techniques, he was able to give off the illusion that it was real over radio. I think that it’s amazing how they used what they had at the time to create an authentic sounding sci-fi world.  John Logie Baird followed these men, and earned himself the name as the “Father of Television”. His mechanical television was what paved the way for the TVs we use now. He started off with simple broadcasted figures, then progressed int...

Grace Gilmore, Quiz #3 1. Futurism 2. Giacomo Balla 3. Constructivism 4. Supremacist 5. Suprematism 6. Bauhaus 7. Hugo Ball 8. Retinal art 9. Cabaret Volataire 10. Readymades 11. Postmodernists 12. "Combine" 13. Joseph Beuys 14. Etienne Jules Marey 15. Muybridge 16. Louis le Prince 17. kinetograph 18. kinetoscope 19. cinematograph  20. mechanical TV 21. electronic TV 22. sensors 23. experimental 24. Surrealist

I find the changes that art went through during this time to be truly fascinating. It is interesting to see how the different movements each changed the art world in their own way, and contributed to breaking from the past and each other. The main eras that people refer to when talking about recent art are Modern, Postmodern, and Contemporary.  Modern Art (1860s-1970s) was all about throwing out the old ways of doing things and embracing new ways. It was heavily tied to the Industrial Revolution, which gave way for new changes in technology, including transportation of ideas and photography. Things like dreams and experiences became artists' new subjects.  Postmodern Art (1960s) is the period in which artists started to raise questions such as "What is art?".  Things like performance art, mix-media, installation, and conceptual art all started appearing during this time.  Contemporary Art (today) is hard to define, as the term was brought up to signify the end of Mod...

The timeline of art and some of its sub-groups is a fascinating journey through which creativity and risks are essential for growth. We are going to start this particular journey back in the early 1900s with Futurism.  Futurism was another step towards contemporary art. The artists of this period wanted to rile people up and invoke discussion. There was a heavy emphasis on motion and geometry. Marinetti was a proud supporter of this movement, and Mussolini. The Futurists wanted to tear everything down and thought of war as a type of cleansing. Boccioni was a sculptor at this time, and his sculptures captured motion in an elegant and geometric way. Other Futurist artists included Giacomo Balla, a painter; and Russolo, who experimented with sounds.  Rayonism was popular in the 1910s. It can be thought of as a combination of Impressionism and Cubism. These painters painted in a sort of fourth dimension, attempting to capture a more spiritual realm and blurring the line between ar...

We wanted something that would shock our audience, and really start to make them think about how the hate the Barbie movie received has affected women, and by extension how society treats women. Eventually, we landed on our final idea. We made a video that included clips from the Barbie movie, new reports, award shows, and other various forms of Barbie/women-related media. We also all bought Barbie dolls or toys, and brought scissors and sharpies and duct tape. We titled our performance "What Were We Made For?".  We started by putting duct tape over our mouths, to show how we are silenced. Then, we started playing the video. While the video played (linked below), we walked silently around the room and destroyed our dolls. We cut their hair, tore their limbs, drew on them, etc. This was meant to represent how society has made us as women feel on the inside, while we outwardly present as put together dolls. As we destroyed the dolls, we placed pieces of the dolls in front of pe...