Overview of new media-expanded practice
Overview of New Media and Expanded Practice
The studios proposed in the New Emphasis Proposal represent established practice in contemporary art as well as exiting new opportunities for the creation and presentation of art.
Below are resources that document New Media and Expanded Practice in Art as recognized in Cultural and Educational Institutions.
Artists • Projects
Here is a short list of well-known artists whose work entails new media/expanded practice.
Mariko Mori- digital image, video, installation w/technology and video
Ólafur Elíasson- interactive technology/light
Paul Pfeiffer - video, installation w/technology
Ann Hamilton - technology in installation, video
Elliot Earls- digital imaging, performance, video, sound, web, interactive technology
Bill Viola - digital image, video, video installation
Matthew Barney - digital image, video, technology, installation
Introductions
A good introduction to the history of "New Media" is Lev Manovich's
New Media from Borges to HTML. This essay is published in the
New Media Reader by MIT Press.
Manovich is author of the book
The Language of New Media.
Art in Technological Times is a project of the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art which presents online projects on their
e-space site.
Multimedia- From Wagner to Virtual Reality uses multimedia to introduce multimedia and its historic and cultural context.
New Media Encylopedia has numerous sample clips of important early works using video in/as art. Follow the link, then click on the word encyclopedia. The New Media Encyclopedia site is produced by the Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris, the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, the Centre pour l'image contemporaine Saint-Gervais Genève, Geneva, and the Centre national des arts plastiques (Fonds national d'art contemporain), Paris
New Media in Late 20th Century Art by Michael Rush
Current Thinking in Education
New Media artists, educators, and theorists are currently shifting their focus from technology as an end in itself to the social, cultural, organizational and collaborative aspects of using new media in context. Instead of using expensive, highly specialized technology to do esoteric work, the focus is on structuring cultural exchange using inexpensive or freely accessible technology that can be distributed widely. There is recognition that organizing programs by distinct technologies (video, audio, web) works against the integrative and social nature of real situations outside of education. These concerns are reflected in the work of the
Institute for Distributed Creativity (at University of Buffalo).
A recent Conference
Share, Share Widely addressed these perspectives in the organization of "new media education". The conference web site documents various issues and serves as an orientation to the field. the
Interviews section serves as a quick overview of issues and leaders in the field. The
links section is a useful connection to additional resources. Much of the current discourse is consistent with the way the new emphasis is organized; around cultural practice, while incorporating training in technology.
Curated Surveys of Current Art
To gain an idea of the prevalence of New Media and Expanded practice in contemporary art practice, two respected projects are investigated. Each of these projects make a point of representing a range of work and are highly selective and deliberately curated. Each project includes a significant proportion of artists and projects that use technologies or strategies addressed in the new emphasis proposal.
1.
Creative Capital is an organization that regularly gives grants to contemporary American artists. Creative Capital was started in response to the ending of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships to Individual Artists. Follow this link to an index of
Creative Capital Grantees.Of the 158 projects that Creative Capital has supported in it's 6 years of giving grants to american artists, 42 of the projects are in areas that would be addressed in the proposed new emphasis.
2. Whitney Biennial is an important regular program of the
Whitney Museum of American Art. The Biennial is large curated exhibition of new and established artists. The 2004 exhibit is available online with links to artist's works and assigned "mediums". Of the 108 artists selected for the exhibition 66 of them have designated mediums that would be addressed in the proposed new emphasis.
To review these artists go to the
2004 Whitney Biennial site. Once the site has loaded click on "Explore Biennial Art and Artists", then click on "organize artists by medium". From here you can select various media or themes and view the artists projects. Areas addressed in the new emphasis include: installation, video, performance, digital art, conceptual ideas, net art, and sound.
Online Projects
Many Museums and Cultural organizations are extending their curatorial and organizational projects to include the web as a context of presentation. These include:
Artist Web Projects is curated by the DIA Center.
Rhizome is the online project of
The New Museum of Contemporary Art. The site includes
Artbase an uncurated online archive of new media art containing more than 1500 works. They also present
Rhizome exhibitions which are shows comprised of works from the ArtBase selected by invited net artists, curators, and writers.
AdaWeb is a project of the Walker Art Center.
New Institutional Forms
Here are a sampling of projects and programs that engage New Media and Expanded Practice in clear and special ways.
Public Art and New Artistic Strategies, Bauhaus University, Weimar
In their studies, students focus on art projects that go beyond the protective space of the museum and gallery. The points of departure are the different strategies and interventions of artists working in public space today. Urban configurations, parks and gardens, landscapes and new media are all included within the definition of public space. The definition also includes works which are communicated through radio, television or the internet.
The goal of the course of study is to prepare the students to deal with the particular situation of art in association with and in the public realm, and to enable effective artistic interventions in public space.
"
Creative Time presents the most innovative art in the public realm. From our base in New York, we work with artists who ignite the imagination and explore ideas that shape society. We initiate a dynamic conversation among artists, sites, and audiences, in projects that enliven public spaces with free and powerful expression." - Creative Time Mission
Creative Time has no fixed space so every project takes on unique consideration of context of presentation. Projects engage public space using various forms of Extended Practice. Of particular interest in New Media are the projects
The 59th Minute, projects shown on the large screen in times square, and
Art in the Anchorage which included numerous media exhibitions, performances, and sound works in the Granite base of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany
As a cultural institution, the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe holds a unique position in the world. It responds to the rapid developments in information technology and today's changing social structures. Its work combines production and research, exhibitions and events, coordination and documentation.
Fused Space
International Competition for New Technology In/As Public Space.
Kevin Hamilton was one of the finalists for this competition.
Missing File (/emphasis/uploads/02%2002%20Cranbrook%20Calling%20-%20In%20from%20the%20Outs.m4v) Video Podcast (36mb download)
Faculty member Elliott Earls discusses a set of collaborative design/video/performance projects the studio produced in teams and took the Venice to share with students at
Fabrica. (Podcasts are shot/recorded using easily accessible technology and made available for free on servers on the web. Most podcasts are audio only. This one has audio and video. On Macintosh view in Itunes).
Ars Electronica
More than two decades of work with international media art and cutting edge technologies and the discussion of their influences on life, work and society offer a rich basis for the transfer of knowledge and skills. Up-to-date courses at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Upper Austria, are complemented by the Symposiums as parts of the annual Festival and the ever growing resources of the Online Archives.
Soft Cinema: Ambient Narrative
Soft Cinema project mines the creative possibilities at the intersection of software culture, cinema, and architecture. Its manifestations include films, dynamic visualizations, computer-driven installations, architectural designs, print catalogs, and DVDs. In parallel, the project investigates how the new representational techniques of soft(ware) cinema can be deployed to address the new dimensions of our time, such as the rise of mega-cities, the "new" Europe, and the effects of information technologies on subjectivity.
Vectors, Journal of Culture and Technology
Vectors maps the multiple contours of daily life in an unevenly digital era, crystallizing around themes that highlight the social, political, and cultural stakes of our increasingly technologically-mediated existence. As such, the journal will speak both implicitly and explicitly to key debates across varied disciplines, including issues of globalization, mobility, power, and access. Operating at the intersection of culture, creativity, and technology, the journal focuses on the myriad ways technology shapes, transforms, reconfigures, and/or impedes social relations, both in the past and in the present.
Books
The Language of New Media by Lev Manovich
Relational Aesthetics by Nicholas Bourriaud
Theory in Art Since 1985 edited by Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung
Practices of Looking by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright
Sweet Dreams: Contemporary Art and Complicity by Johanna Drucker
The Interventionists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life by Nato Thompson
Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art by Grant H. Kester
One Place after Another : Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity by Miwon Kwon
Link to this Page
- old index last edited on 9 March 2006 at 11:41 am by pm865-25.dialip.mich.net
