New Media Art - Coursework Example

New Media Art Introduction The new media art genre is a newly emerged field in which art is expressed using new media technologies and scientific advancements. This has been developing over the decades and has become one of the most attracting art techniques ever used. ART+COM Studios are working towards the new media art and they have created many projects that have shocked the people as they use creative ideas and media technologies to portray their artistic capabilities. This paper will assess the importance and application of new media art and how ART+COM Studios have been able to successfully project new media art techniques in their work. The term new media art was introduced first in the late nineties and it referred to any form of art which dealt with the new media technologies. Many artists also began to use the media technologies into their contemporary art and thus new media art was also referring to the art forms that used new media technologies in some way or the other. Many artists have contributed to this field and developed art into a new shape that attracts the viewers of the 21st century. New media art has combined the contemporary art forms to the contemporary media technologies believing it to be a medium through which art can be more interactive and modern1. New media art covers computer graphics, digital art, virtual art, 3D printing, animation, and interactive art, which is the most important element of the new media art. Interactivity is the major purpose of the new media art as it changes the framework of art from ‘one to one’ to ‘many to many’2. This also promotes the model of teamwork and reaching the mass audience. New media art started from the late twentieth century when video projectors, multimedia performances, and new video technologies were used for art to reach a larger number of audiences. In today’s world, the framework of new media art has expanded as art is now used through graphics, animation, internet, and web based designing. This has been known as the contemporary art as new media technologies have been incorporated in all aspects of our lives. Artists have learnt more creative ways to represent their art that goes with the modern techniques and cultural objects. This is why new media art has been considered as one of the majors in art universities. It is believed that new emerging artists must be able to interact with the audiences through newest techniques and technologies. Innovation in art is the key feature in any era and so new media art promotes innovation and interactivity in a new sphere of modernity3. The new media art influences and affects the art practices today as they focus more on technology and media rather than the traditional art styles of paintings or sculpture. Art is today more incorporated in our lives in our businesses, healthcare sector, architecture, and in our daily lives. Art is used as a medium through which we interact and innovate new and creative things. The new media art has influenced art to a great extent. It has allowed artists to use their ideas and creativity and collaborate it with media technologies to communicate with the audiences4. ART+COM Studios was founded in 1988. They have been working for international clients in many fields. Their main function is to design and develop new technologies in media and incorporate them into art. They have understood the importance of new media technologies and they have a team of artists and designers that work for the new media spaces and installations. ART+COM mean art plus communication hence their agenda is to create art that is more interactive and that can communicate with different expressions and information. New technologies are used in the studios as a medium for art an expression to communicate complex information. Throughout this process, the team members are improving the technologies and working to develop more potential for art and communication. ART+COM design media installations and sculptures according to their locations. The art projects are for public space and also a part of their own initiative. The studios create complex content and target to turn information in an interactive and innovative experience. There are many exhibitions held by ART+COM worldwide where they display their creations. They display the new media art through independent exhibitions as well as in cooperation with businesses and academic institutions. Duality, 2006, is a project of ART+COM Studios installed in Tokyo, Japan. It is a public art creation installed in Tokyo for an office site. The public art is installed in a walkway which is covered and links an underground station with a residential building and office complex that lies adjacent. The place is a walkway that serves as a public transit and there is a large artificial pond created alongside the walkway. The specific portion of the walkway is a springboard and it shows the integration of the solid and liquid. The solid path and the water of the pond interplay with one another when any person walks across the pathway. This concept is used to display the connection between the footsteps of the walkers with the waves created in the pond. The connection is displayed by the lights and waves as the walkers put their steps on the walkway, there are artificial waves made through the LED lights and the real waves are in the water. The walkway patch which is associated with the art installation is 4 x 4 meters with white monochrome LED panels that are installed on it. The walkway is covered with sandblasted opalescent glass. There are load cells installed under the glass tiles which measure the position and force of every footstep that is kept on the walkway. Then, there is a trigger that corresponds with the virtual ripples on the LED panel. These ripples of light hit the edge of the pond and mechanical actuators seamlessly forward these patterns in the form of physical waves in the water pond. The Duality has been a creative idea initiated by ART+COM Studios. It is a joint effort of artists and designers who deeply studied the media technologies and integrated it into their artistic ideas. They believe art is something that inspires and enhances the daily life experiences of the people. Through this art installation, the pedestrians have a change every day to enhance their experience and communicate with the physical space. The message is not just artistic or creative, but it is also innovative and technological. The footsteps of the pedestrians connect with the actual physical space and it reacts together to the footsteps. The Duality is loved by the pedestrians and they exclaim it to be an interesting and pleasing experience while they are walking. It gives the pedestrians a pleasing experience as they walk past it and allows them to feel the jot of connecting with the art. This innovative way connects the public as they walk by with a physical experience of waves being created in the water as they walk by. The Duality project has been one of the most creative depictions of new media art by the ART+COM Studios giving their message of communication, innovation, and technology clear enough. Mobility, Reflective Kinematronic II, 2010 World Expo Shanghai, China was another major project of ART+COM Studios. This project was displayed in the China World Expo Shanghai 2010 and now it has become a permanent part of the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria. This project was another attempt of ART+COM Studios to use art in communication and in new media technologies. There have been a lot of techniques and styles used in this artwork with the purpose of reflecting to the audience a unique experience that would please them and enhance their experience of communication and technology. The basic purpose of the Mobility Reflective Kinematronic II is to refer to a form of communication that has been used since centuries. In fact, this technique used to be used in the traditional societies to communicate over long distance using the mirror and the sunlight. The mirror reflected the sunlight and letters were made to exchange information over distances. The art installment includes a grid of a hundred white hands that are actuated by stepper motors that enable them to rotate in their own axis. These prosthetic hands are mounted on a single flat wall. These hands hold a small mirror each and they are adjusted using a calculated alignment. There is a bright source of light which is places adjacent to the wall of mirrors and it shines light on the wall which is about four square meters. The hands which are holding the mirror are constantly moving and thus the light that sparks on these hands result in small light spots that are moving across the physical space. These small lights tend to move across the place and create a chaotic pattern. However, sooner this chaotic pattern takes position and reveals the complex computer operated choreography to a central point. At first, these hundred small light spots move towards a central point like a bunch of insects, and forms an impression of a three dimensional space. Eventually, these tiny lights converge to form Chinese characters through movement and action. The movement of these tiny spots and hands is computer operated and designed using a wide range of variations that attract the viewer and keeps them engaged. The movement and variations of the lights cause a strong connection between the corporeality and the repetitiveness of the hands representing the immaterial expression of moving lights. This project brought a great experience to the audience that attended the exhibition and experienced this innovative creation of moving lights and a technique for communication. The audiences loved the experience and stood there for minutes just to follow and watch the moving lights and their formations. The technique used great deal of new media art through which new technologies were used and artistic techniques were used that attracted the viewers greatly. As an experience on daily life, this project can be understood as giving the viewers a way to communicate or learn how communication can be enhanced and advanced. Since this project refers to the mode of communication that was used years ago, it can connect to the audience as they experience the innovation and the changes in the communication techniques that took place over the years. The specialty of ART+COM Studios which can be analyzed through the examples of their projects above, is the ability to creatively connect art with technology and be able to communicate with others. They understand the function and relation of art with technology which is why they create artworks which connect the art with the real world experiences. Art generally is the way to creatively interact with the world and express the techniques. As technologies have greatly expanded around us, so have the possibilities of art. ART+COM Studios have the specialty of understanding how technology can increase and expand the scope of art such as in engineering, construction, architecture, and businesses. There might be a different type of value or satisfaction in the traditional ways of art such as paintings and sculptures, but creativity and innovation can be more displayed through the new media art. The generation is also changing and so the focus is on how technologies can be used to connect with humans and give them new experiences5. This is the specialty of ART+COM Studios which has been depicted clearly through their projects in which they communicate and interact with the audiences. They have overall done a great effort to be able to bring new media art techniques to the audiences and introduced the viewers with their projects which have been loved. They have successfully displayed that new media art is a unique and innovative technology that can serve as contemporary art in our contemporary culture. ART+COM Studios have collaborated with other artists and build up their team and formed a board that works together towards the new media art technologies and techniques. They have collaborated with media designers, media artists, IT developers, programmers, skilled IT professionals, communication and product designers, engineers, scientists, and project managers. All these people form a team that works together to come up with a successful project. Projects are developed in small teams and then brought together. The company is owned by its employees. Andreas Wiek is the Chairman and main shareholder. Joachim Sauter is the co-founder of the company and the Head of Design. It is a non-listed company. Art is no more the work of an individual artist like traditional societies. Traditionally, artworks were created by an individual artist with his own idea, own execution, and own creation. This made art unique and exclusive. Today, things are different in the new media art. The new media art is all about a team working together and creating something new and creative that enhances the experiences and uses new media technologies. ART+COM Studios is also comprised of a team which works together to create new ideas and execute them using different techniques. It is the work of a team not an individual that results in such successful and amazing projects. Today, new media art consists of an idea, creativity, graphics, construction, engineering, IT analysis, and so many other things that need to be controlled and considered before finally completing the project. An artist comes up with an idea or a plan, which is then shared by the engineer, who analyses the construction materials and techniques, and then the animator who creates the plan and the design, and then the constructors who finally construct the piece. Above all these people is a head that manages and supervises all the work. It is a work of a team not an individual as it includes scientific technologies, techniques, and arts all together6. Art is no more as simple as it used to be once. It has become more complex and complicated with the use of new media techniques. These tasks need skilled labor and workers who would execute the ideas of the artist and designer. Even in businesses, artists are needed to design products, advertisements, and web designs and for that they need artists, designers, graphics designers, and animators. All these people work together to finally come up with the project. Similarly, in new media art, it has been analyzed that art is a group now; it is not an individual person7. There are about 20-30 people behind a single piece of artwork today. This may be one great difference between traditional art and contemporary art. Conclusively, new media art is an innovative and advanced way of art which uses newest technologies to be creative and innovative and give viewers the best possible experience. ART+COM Studios have done great efforts in bringing art and communication together and introducing audiences to new media art technologies. Some projects such as the Duality show how new media art has the ability to capture the attention of audiences and connect them with the physical space. References Rinehart Richard. 2014. Re-collection: Art, New Media, and Social Memory. USA: MIT Press Read More