Analysis and Interpretation of Art Works - Essay Example

Analysis and interpretation of artworks According to research done on artworks from the mid-1990s, the development ofnew media art has been noted as one of the most significant forces for both cultural development and economics worldwide. It is due to this research that the concept of the artworks has been able to establish its institutions. Intersections of art, technology and science based on the collaborative trans-disciplinary research have also gained a lot of institutional support. According to Manovich, he states that the use of digital computing as one of the cultural forms is noted as a new media which is fundamental and also includes unprecedented properties which are able to establish new relationship between the user and the media (Manovich, 334). Kay and Goldberg also wrote in their 1977 manifesto with regards to multimedia computing that it is a new metamedium which is active and can be able to respond to experiment and queries in order to allow the messages to involve all the learners (Kay & Goldberg, 175). This paper is going to analyse the artworks that are described by Benjamin’s ‘Work of Art’, Kay and Goldberg’s ‘Personal Dynamic Media’ as well Mavovich’s ‘Software Takes command’. The concepts that are going to be analysed in detail based on these theoretical frameworks are reproducibility, metamedia and multimedia. Media art more or like contemporary art exhibits some critical aspect. The media art concept involves integration of culture and social-political conditions of media. New media does not only expand the possibilities of art but it also gives a broader perspective into the social implications of technology and science as well as aesthetic applications. Reproducibility focuses on the possibility surrounding reproducing instead of the actual reproduction.Reproducibility of art refers to the limitation of the improvements of a productive capitalist society as well as the political interests of the consequences. This assumption is based on Benjamin’s findings and thus he insists that it should not be underestimated. Even though the reproducibility of most artworks has been noted for quite sometime with that of advent of photography, the concept of reproduction has not been looked at in detail. Benjamin Work of Art tends to analyse the effect that is brought out by reproduction as well as the art of film in its traditional form. With regards to art Benjamin asserts that the art of work has always been reproducible. For example, the works of masters may be copied by other apprentices but it is clear that the aspect of originality always comes up. Benjamin states that the Greeks only knew two forms of reproducing art which were stamping and funding. However, modernism brought up mass mechanical reproduction. Even though the concept of lithography offered a platform for the mass production of painterly artworks it was changed based on the adaption of mass printing and photography. As a result photography foresaw film and based on this the artistic tradition was greatly transformed (Benjamin, 251). The uniqueness of any artwork is based on its location both in time and space. According to Benjamin, artwork evolves through space and time thus authenticity is regarded as a dubious modern concept since it depends on a copy relation. However, this assumption has changed with the introduction of photography as the process of reproduction. Mechanical reproduction hasintroduced colossal expansion of the knowledge involved in artwork such as reproduction of sound recordings or even paintings (Benjamin, 255). With all the improvements brought about by mechanical reproduction that which weakens is the aspect of aura which surrounds the basis of tradition or culture in general. The introduction of film has brought about a lot of changes with regards to the human perceptions in terms of history and psychology. According to Benjamin, art cannot be termed as an imitation of what is there in reality but it should be regarded as an expression of that which is desired. Destruction of an aura that is an object is the mark of a perception that is based on uniqueness. The uniqueness of any artwork cannot be separated from its being which is based on tradition. It is well known that tradition changes with time. Artworks in the past were based on cult value and later own the exhibition value. Cult value mainly relied on the aspect of place. The introduction of mechanical reproduction brought up the aspect of exhibition value as well as the mass distributions of films. The exhibition values over powers the cult value. The introduction of film and photography mainly defended the concept of artwork. Mechanical reproduction thus separated the basis of art in cult. Film and photography transformed the meaning and nature of art (Benjamin, 390). Therefore, Benjamin realised that there was an ambiguity that came out from reproduction. With regards to the destruction of aura, present artefacts as well as single actors tend to mediate a reality that is absent and thus they appear greater than life. Technical production was aimed at representing major advancements in civilization. When cultural products and artworks are separated from their unique origins, they are used by many more other people who gain access to them. Reproduction mainly involves understanding from a different perspective that is from a singular expression to a social communication. According to Benjamin reproduction is a planned activity together with the social implications. Examples of this are newspapers and books. In comparison with the printing press, technologies for disseminating and recording of sound evolved much later. It is after this that sound events such as musical performances, to natural environment as well as political speeches could therefore be preserved as a form of cultural heritage. Digital technologies are able to reproduce and recombine any form of past media representation and enable them to interact on a single platform thus such media combination are regarded to as Meta technologies. During the introduction of personal computers Kay and Goldberg referred to them as metamedia. The concept that the two were trying to put across is that with computers digital media is joined image, sound and text in some many genres both old and new. Being a mode of interaction, there is integration of forms of communication through digital media.Meta technologies have advanced the basis of a face to face setting form of communication. With the use of mobile phones technology has been thoroughly embraced thus making the use of mediatedspeech to be prominent in the coordination of private and public affairs (Kay & Goldberg, 107). Meta media tends to represent a conceptualization of the digital media. Mass media has greatly changed overtime and more so with the modern form of digitization. Digitization has modernized the concept of media from the past media such as newspapers, broadcasting and periodicals. The use of telephone and internet can be regarded as forms of metamedia. The internet for instance enables people to be able to communicate from different locations in various unprecedented ways. Such ways are based on the many genres that are found in Meta communication. The development of software has been used to replace some of the diverse arrays of mechanical, electronic and physical technologies that were used prior to the 21stcentury in order to create, distribute, store and interact with some cultural artefacts. Manovich tends to focus on the history of the modern personal computer based on the work of Kay in the conceptualization of the computer Manovich also looks at the various techniques that are used by software media applications, the social and cultural effects that are brought about by softwarization of the media (Manovich, 336). Media software has replaced most of the media technologies that had emerged between the 19th and the 20th century. The contemporary media is accessed via the use of cultural software. According to Manovich he illustrates that the personal computer metamedium refers to the specificity of that particular media. For instance special properties of video, design or film that are features of a field exploration based on the modern avant-garde cannot be regarded as the properties of the media but they are the properties of the software. This is so due to the fact that the software is responsible for controlling the tools and techniques that are used for navigating and accessing as well as sharing the documents on the media. The transfer that is encountered by the media specificity occurs mainly at the point of access. Manovich argues out that media has evolved to become similar in that most of its language is shared but there is some relative degree that is retained. Another argument is that any media be it an audio clip, an image, a tree dimensional graphic or a film can be referred to as the connection of a set of algorithm and a data structure which actually operates on the data structure (Manovich, 338). Cultural software according to Manovich includes services and tools that are specifically made for sharing information as well as knowledge and also for communication. Examples of cultural software include web browsers, email clients, search engines, service instant messaging clients and blog editors. However, people do not exchange every information online and thus there is the use of person al information management tools which include data applications, project managers as well as simple text editors. Cultural software has improved the concept of metamedia. Software is regarded to as the cause of the digital experience that people are enjoying communicating with others. There are a lot of aspects that are supported by software with regards to digital media and its evolution up to now. Manovich looks at the visual aesthetic that is brought up by new media. Digital culture is used to modularize the media content. This means to reward and enable the users to be able to create, re use and distribute the media content on various scales (Manovich, 330). For instance, animations that are looped can be used as the set backgrounds for three dimensional objects and videos which can be put on blogs and websites. Based on a research conducted by Manovich before the beginning of 2000, the applications which were developed were meant to run only on a user’s computer. As time progressed companies began to produce more capable computers that could handle more complex operations. New digital media according to Manovich has greatly changed over the years. Meta media which involves a collection of connected media has changed the face of communication in many ways. The use of mobile phones applications has increased the SMS service which as a form of multimedia has gained a lot of popularity. Manovich elaborates the concept of software and how it is vital for any of the new digital media that are gaining more popularity in the industry. His work tends to impact more on improving the era of personal computers that were brought up by Kay and Goldberg. It is also noted that the development of new and improved software platforms resulted to the increase of media type application like the media up loaders. In conclusion, the concept of new media has brought about a lot of changes with regards to media art. There have been many genres that have been introduced to analyse the aspects of reproducibility, Meta media and multimedia. Media has changed with regards to the contemporary culture that has over the years evolved to be more advanced. Reproducibility focuses more on the uniqueness of an object rather than the imitation.Reproduction mainly involves understanding from a different perspective that is from a singular expression to a social communication. It is as result of this statement that the Work of Art by Benjamin focuses more on media that is unique even the perception of copying still plays a major role in most of the values. Kay and Goldberg in their book Personal Dynamic Media tend to focus on the introduction of personal computers and how they have changed the face of the media with regards to Meta communication and Meta media. Media technologies have merged to bring up unique technologies that have been able to change the perception of contemporary culture. As much as there has been growth of print media the most noted new development has been that of social media. There are lots of applications that are used on the web with regards to cultural software. Manovich better illustrates how cultural software is regarded in the field of media. Most of the digital technologies rely mostly on software and thus the visual aspect brought about by software is essential in media art. Reproducibility, metamedia and multimedia exhibit a close relationship to the introduction of new media. Works Cited Alan Kay, Adele Goldberg.Personal Dynamic Media,1977.Print Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. United States?: Prism Key Press, 2010. Print. Manovich, Lev. Software Takes Command. , 2013. Print. Read More