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Essay on Impact of Technology on Art

Students are often asked to write an essay on Impact of Technology on Art in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Impact of Technology on Art

Introduction.

Technology has greatly influenced art. It’s added new tools, mediums, and ways to express creativity.

Artistic Tools

Digital tools like Photoshop have replaced traditional paint and brushes. Artists can now create without physical limitations.

Online Platforms

The internet has made art accessible. Artists can share their work globally, and viewers can appreciate art without visiting a gallery.

3D Printing

3D printing has revolutionized sculpture. Artists can now create intricate designs impossible with traditional methods.

Technology has significantly impacted art, expanding possibilities and making art more accessible.

250 Words Essay on Impact of Technology on Art

Technology has profoundly impacted art, revolutionizing its creation, display, and consumption. This intersection has birthed a new era of digital art, challenging traditional notions of what art can be.

Transformation of Art Creation

Technology has democratized art creation. Tools like Photoshop and Illustrator allow artists to experiment without the limitations of physical media. 3D printing, virtual reality, and augmented reality have expanded the canvas beyond two dimensions, enabling artists to create immersive, interactive experiences.

Digitization and Accessibility

The digitization of art has made it more accessible. Museums and galleries now offer virtual tours, bringing art to people’s homes. Online platforms allow artists to showcase their work globally, reaching audiences they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Art Consumption and Interaction

Technology has also altered how we interact with art. Social media platforms have become spaces for art appreciation and critique, fostering a more engaged audience. Interactive art installations, driven by technology, encourage active participation, transforming passive observers into integral parts of the artwork.

The impact of technology on art is profound and multifaceted. It has democratized creation, enhanced accessibility, and transformed interaction, challenging and expanding our understanding of art. As technology continues to evolve, so too will its influence on art, promising an exciting future of limitless possibilities.

500 Words Essay on Impact of Technology on Art

Technology has been a driving force behind numerous changes in various sectors, including art. The impact of technology on art is profound, as it has revolutionized the way artists create, exhibit, and sell their works. It has also expanded the definition of art, providing new platforms for expression and interaction.

Technological Tools and Artistic Creation

Traditionally, art was created using physical tools such as brushes, chisels, and canvas. However, the advent of technology has introduced digital tools that have transformed the creative process. Software such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, 3D modeling programs, and even virtual reality tools have opened new realms of possibilities for artists. These tools have not only made the process more efficient but also empowered artists to experiment with new forms and mediums that were previously unimaginable.

Art Exhibition and Technology

The way art is exhibited and consumed has also changed drastically with technology. Virtual galleries and museums have made art accessible to a global audience, breaking the geographical barriers. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have further enhanced the viewing experience, allowing viewers to interact with art in immersive environments. These technologies have also enabled artists to create experiential artworks that engage viewers in novel ways.

Art Commerce and the Digital Revolution

The commercial aspect of art has also been influenced by technology. Online marketplaces and social media platforms have democratized the art market, making it easier for artists to sell their work directly to consumers without the need for galleries or agents. Furthermore, the emergence of blockchain technology and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) has disrupted the art market by providing a new way to authenticate and monetize digital art.

Art, Technology, and Society

Lastly, technology has shaped art as a medium of social commentary. Artists use digital platforms to address contemporary issues, engage with audiences, and provoke discussions. This interaction between art, technology, and society has given rise to a new form of participatory art that blurs the line between artist and audience.

In conclusion, technology’s impact on art is multi-faceted and transformative. It has redefined the creative process, exhibition, and commerce of art, and has also reshaped the role of art in society. As technology continues to evolve, it will undoubtedly continue to influence art, providing artists with new tools and platforms to express their creativity. Despite these changes, the essence of art remains the same – to evoke emotions, provoke thought, and reflect the human condition. Therefore, while technology has changed the way art is created and consumed, it has not changed the fundamental purpose of art.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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How Recent Technology Impacts Audiences and Artists: A Study on Social Media and Big Data.

Yuanyuan zhou by  | jan 13, 2021.

Introduction

Technology has had a significant impact on the production of art, one can for instance think about the effects of the Industrial Revolution on European art in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 1960s, artists started to attempt to bring digital technology into their process of creating art, and use of technology in the art field caused raising debates since then. Recently, there have been two main changes that happened in the past ten years: the rise of social media and big data. This essay focuses on these two recent technological developments. It examines how social media impacts audiences’ preference and how it affects artists for their artwork creation, with an example of the revival of Yayoi Kusama ’s exhibition on Instagram. It also analyzes how artists use big data as a source to create a design with a case study on Moritz Stefaner ’s “Your Better Life Index” project.

The Use of the Internet and Social Media

The most recent 2019 definition by Merriam-Webster, sees social media as “forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content.”[1] The appearance of social media and its prevalent usage are considered to be one of the most influential changes in technology that happened in the past ten years. The recent statistics show that the number of social media users increased by three times in the past decade and reached a user number of almost three billion in 2020.[2] Social media narrows the gap between people, and keeps them occupied for a significant time in their daily lives. It has also become an experimental field for artists and audience analysis researchers.

According to a 2013 study, the use of websites and social media raise the efficiency for illustrators in various aspects of their work.[3] First, social media promotes the spreading of knowledge and information. It makes knowledge more accessible and affordable for artists who constantly seek professional skill improvements. Second, social media also makes the cost related to online self-promotion, marketing, and establishing small and micro-businesses greatly reduced for startups. There are several studies about art marketing in the U.S. that proved small art businesses grew rapidly on multiple social media platforms in recent years.[4] However, many scholars argue that social media blurs the line between audiences and professional artists. It offers an unprecedented opportunity for amateurs to pursue a profession in illustration, and may lead to rising competition in the field. Third, social media has become a bridge for all the parties in the industry; art programmers and directors can access illustrators faster by reaching out to their personal websites or social accounts instead of communicating by posts or emails. Illustrators and artists are able to access their market and audiences directly and take quick actions based on their feedback. The faster and accurate response to feedback from the part of the artists also shapes audiences’ decisions for their entertainment choices.

Besides all the advantages social media brings, there are also some potential risks. As a result of the Internet and social media’s emergence, geographic barriers are reduced, and globalization is taking place in the illustration field as well. There is a phenomenon of “illustrations look so similar” or “webpage/homepage designs look the same.”[5]

With all those changes made by the Internet and technological support, a new working process is forming for art managers and small businesses, and the audiences are more directly exposed to the artworks. The audiences’ feedback carries more weight for illustrators in terms of decision making for their art projects if they attempt to achieve a goal of public acceptance or look for commercialization of their products. Audiences have high expectations, as now they are exposed daily to a massive number of artworks. Second, based on a 2016 study, there is a rising culture of participation in the “networked public.”[6] And, third, due to the habit of smartphone usage, the audience is now more used to scan or skim reading for a convenient and fast experience, which may result in shortening of the attention span. 

Social media has interestingly become a display of young generation identities, and it is also the platform through which audiences can gain self-esteem and self-actualization. A recent study examined the main features of most-popular works and the interaction between the artist and the follower (the audience) on Instagram.[7] They found that photographs featuring the artist’s face and their own art pieces, or the working process of the artwork, generally received more “Likes.” “Face attractiveness is based on universal perceptual mechanism and cultural influences.”[8] Seeing artists’ faces can make audiences feel more related to the artists on a human level, and it helps to develop one’s relationship with them to a nearly personal level. The research also qualitatively analyzed the most liked and most commented posts, and these findings show that artists gained quicker growth on “Likes” by asking questions and feedback about their works while interacting and creating a deep exchange with audiences. On the other hand, audiences feel involved in the process of art-making. Another key element for the most-liked post formula is to add curiosity, interest, and empathy, which are strongly associated with humanistic care, to the artwork.

impact of technology on art essay

Fig. 1. Yayoi Kusama, Exhibition, Infinity Mirrored Room-The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away , 2013, The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.

Yayoi Kusama (b.1929) is a well-known Japanese contemporary artist. Her works often express psychological and sexual content and are presented in a wide range of art forms including sculpture, installation, and painting. Kusama gained her early fame with traditional mediums and later benefited from revived popularity on Instagram as audiences hashtagged her distinct style of polka dots and her exhibitions.[9] In addition to her outstanding talent, unique biography, and artistic style, her work is distinguished by the interaction it gives to the audiences. That is one of the primary factors her works became re-popularized on Instagram. Starting from her earlier works “infinity net,” she has tried to build her own world of infinity with polka dots. In her show “Infinity room” (fig.1, 2, and 3), she created a space of the infinity world and attracted audiences to step in, walk around, and immerse in both conceptually and physically.[10] During some of her exhibitions, she invited audiences to be part of the show. For instance, visitors were encouraged to stick their own polka dot sticker in the exhibition. This created a playful, lighthearted open-ended exploration of the audience experience. Kusama also explored her own psychology—looking for a cure in her art. Audiences, even if they do not necessarily share similar life experiences with the artist, can still feel that Kusama’s work resonates with their own life and their own psychological world. Even children have found their own way to enjoy Kusama’s polka dot world. With a hashtag, the audience has posted photos of their own experience and stories from the exhibitions. The dip involvement and experience-based process is the crucial factor for Kusama’s works to become even more well-known today.

impact of technology on art essay

Fig. 2. Yayoi Kusama, Exhibition, Life is the Heart of a Rainbow , 2018, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane

impact of technology on art essay

Fig. 3. Yayoi Kusama, Exhibition, The Obliteration Room , 2011, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane

Based on a fairly new definition provided by Codd’s relational model, “Big data is where parallel computing tools are needed to handle data,” so mathematical analysis from a large set of data with low information density reveals relationships and dependencies, or predicts outcomes and behaviors.[11] Big data refers to a massive amount of data collection and analysis by processing software. It provides a capability to process data in a whole new order of magnitude than traditional software. It is now widely used in the science and business fields. Big data could be also highly relevant to arts and culture. Instead of a less efficient extensive mode of an audience’s rating, the audiences’ tastes and preferences can be analyzed more precisely. Their primary time seeking entertainment can be also targeted at a fine-grained level by using big data. Based on a 2014 study, it can be helpful to create and measure values for arts and cultural organizations with their social media data of activities and monitor their popularity and influence.[12] It can be also a powerful tool to develop creative business models and experiments.

Big data also shows a direct impact on illustrators’ content and artistic style which can be expanded with data collection. There is an emergence of “data artists” that create artworks aiming for data visualization and illustrations that make data more visually accessible.

impact of technology on art essay

Fig. 4. Moritz Stefaner, UI design for OECD, “Better Life Index,” September 26, 2015.

Moritz Stefaner is a contemporary German data visualization artist. His works create a balance between the analytical data information and aesthetic aspects of mapping complex projects. His works are generally being used as user interface design to provide data for audiences. His best-known project (fig.4 and 5) shows how Stefaner turned big data into an artwork design. This design is an interactive tool titled, “Your Better Life Index,” which was launched in 2011 by OECD (the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). It had been designed to rank forty countries’ performance on the quality of life they provided for their citizens. The dimensions they examined are housing, income, jobs, community, education, environment, governance, health, life satisfaction, safety, and work-life balance. Each country was represented by a flower, and one dimension by one of its own petals. The length of the petal indicates how well-performing the respective country is in that specific dimension.

impact of technology on art essay

Fig. 5. Moritz Stefaner, UI design for OECD, “Better Life Index,” September 26, 2015.  

Stefaner’s working process is very distinctive. Unlike most artists who create a design based on data being analyzed and the associated results, the German data visualization artist works through with his clients starting from finding the data source. For data visualization, grasping the audience’s attention in the fast turnaround network we have is important. The concept, therefore, should be very simple, clear to the point, also visually appealing. Working through the process of data collecting and analysis allows the artist to see what the data is really about, understand why it is interesting for audiences, and realize the unique perspective on the topic. The concept of the flower Stefaner decided on was a brilliant choice to represent human happiness because it is “coherent, and has a plausible shape.”[13] It implants an image of thriving in audiences’ minds, makes audiences feel positive, and invites them to dig further into the topic.

Another highlight of Stefaner’s design is humanity. The German artist mentioned multiple times in different interviews that bringing the humanity aspect to the concept design is very important.[14] Though there are increasing arguments dealing with how technology may potentially take away humanistic aspects from artworks, because “the more common the technology is, the more difficult it is for an artist to retain their individuality,”[15] many artists who rely on technology as mediums or sources mentioned they make sure to have an emphasis on humanity in their works, and it is for the artist to create the art; technology is just a tool to help in the process.[16] The concept of flowers in Stefaner’s work came out strong from “a metaphorical point of view (strong plants rise to the top) as well as a branding point of view (friendly, organic).”[17] The organic and uplifting force of the flower represents the development of countries and a positive vision of planning for the future. It creates a good balance with the scientific, rational spirit of data.

Many profound and lasting changes have happened in the field of technology in the past ten years. This essay focused on two of them: social media and big data, and examined how they have influenced artists and audiences. Social media has significantly changed audiences’ expectations. Viewers are seeking participation and engagement from art experience, they may also have shorter attention spans, and need artists to respond accordingly. Yayoi Kusama’s work shows how the artist successfully created an immersive experience for the audience with her exhibition. 

Big Data helps with audience analysis and also has been used as a source and inspiration for artists. Moritz Stefaner’s “Your Better Life Index” project has been examined, and it shows the importance of bringing the humanistic and aesthetic aspects to artworks. However, the utilization and dynamic integration of technology with art are unstoppable, and there are many innovative ways to approach the creation of illustrations today.

[1] Merriam Webster, “Social Media,” Merriamwebster.com. Accessed December 5, 2020. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media

[2] Statinvestor, “Number of Global Social Media Users 2010-2021,” Statinvestor. Accessed December 11, 2020. https://statinvestor.com/data/22389/number-of-social-media-users-worldwide/

[3] Kristin Thomson, Kristen Purcell, and Lee Rainie, “Arts Organizations and Digital Technologies,” Pew Research Center. January 4, 2013.  https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/01/04/arts-organizations-and-digital-technologies/

[4] Ibid.

[5] Anne Quito, “Why editorial illustrations look so similar these days,” Quartz. October 26, 2019.  https://qz.com/quartzy/1728767/why-editorial-illustrations-look-so-similar-these-days/

[6] Ben Walmsley, “From Arts Marketing to Audience Enrichment: How Digital Engagement Can Deepen and Democratize Artistic Exchange with Audiences,” Poetics 58 (2016): 66-78.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304422X15300383

[7] Xin Kang, Wenyin Chen, and Jian Kang, “Art in the Age of Social Media: Interaction Behavior Analysis of Instagram Art Accounts,” Informatics 6(4) (2019): 52.  https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9709/6/4/52

[8] Ibid.

[9] Tim Adams, "Yayoi Kusama: the World’s Favourite Artist?,” theguardian.com. September 23, 2018.  Accessed November 12, 2020.  https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/23/yayoi-kusama-infinity-film-victoria-miro-exhibition

[10] David Bell, “Rethinking Yayoi Kusama: Neuroaesthetics, Adobe and the Creative Practice,” The International Journal of Arts Theory and History 12, issue 3 (2018):77-92.  http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.mica.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=04ff5abc-d3dd-40c1-bb57-639fe91dcbf6%40sdc-v-sessmgr03

[11] Wikipedia, “Big Data,” Wikipedia. Accessed Dec 5, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data

[12] Juan Mateos Garcia, “The Art of Analytics: Using Bigger Data to Create Value in the Arts and Cultural Sector,” Cccblab. February 18, 2014. http://lab.cccb.org/en/the-art-of-analytics-using-bigger-data-to-create-value-in-the-arts-and-cultural-sector/

[13] Moritz Stefaner, “OECD Better Life Index,” Truth and Beauty Studio. Accessed November, 2020. http://truth-and-beauty.net/projects/oecd-better-life-index

[14] Global Economic Dynamics, “Data, Visualization and Stories 3: Interview with Moritz Stefaner,” Youtube. November 25, 2013.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkRFOk0MlBg&t=135s

[15] Daria Sofina, “Transcending Humanity: Evolution of Technological Art,” ITMO News, September 12, 2018. https://news.itmo.ru/en/science/life_science/news/7835/

[16] Jonathan Follett, “Making Art with AI: Toward Data Science,” Towardsdatascience.com. December 11, 2020.  https://towardsdatascience.com/making-art-with-ai-cc1acb332d0

[17] Stefaner, “OECD Better Life Index.”

Yuanyuan Zhou

Yuanyuan Zhou is a student at MICA, majoring in MFA Illustration Practice. A graduate of the Accounting and Finance department, Zhou later found a passion in illustration and has been illustrating for one year.

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The impact of technology on art: blending tradition and innovation.

Technology in art

Art has been an integral part of human life for centuries, with the ability to express emotions and ideas in a way that words simply cannot. However, as technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed, it’s not surprising that art is also being influenced by these advancements. From digital painting tools to virtual reality installations, technology is changing the way we create and experience art. But what does this mean for traditional techniques and mediums? Can they coexist with innovative technologies? Let’s delve into the impact of technology on art and explore how artists are finding new ways to blend tradition and innovation in their work.

What is Technology?

Technology has had a profound impact on the field of art. By providing new mediums and tools for artists to work with, technology has expanded the possibilities for artistic expression. At the same time, it has also made traditional forms of art more accessible to a wider audience.

Digital technologies have particularly transformed the way that artists can create and distribute their work.

Traditional forms of art are not being left behind in this digital age – far from it. Technology has made it possible to restore and preserve works of art that might otherwise have been lost to history. It has also made it easier for people to access and enjoy these works, whether they are visiting a museum or browsing an online gallery.

In many ways, then, technology is helping to keep the tradition of art alive while also opening up new possibilities for its expression. As the two continue to blend together, we can only imagine what exciting innovations lie ahead.

How Technology Has Changed Art

Technology has had a profound impact on art, from the way artists create their work to the way it is experienced by audiences. Perhaps the most obvious way that technology has changed art is in the tools and materials that artists use to create their work. For example, traditional painters now have access to a wide range of digital tools that allow them to experiment with color, composition, and lighting in ways that would have been impossible just a few years ago.

In addition to changing the way artists create their work, technology has also changed the way audiences experience art. Thanks to advances in digital technology, audiences can now enjoy art in new and innovative ways, such as through virtual reality experiences or by interacting with artwork using augmented reality apps.

Benefits of Technology on Art

Technology has had a profound impact on the world of art. In the past, artists had to rely on their own skills and talents to create works of art. With the advent of technology, artists can now use a variety of tools and techniques to create stunning works of art.

Some of the benefits of technology on art include:

1. Technology has made it easier for artists to create their work. With the help of computers and other devices, artists can now create complicated designs and patterns that would have been impossible to create by hand.

2. Technology has also made it easier for artists to share their work with the world. With the help of the internet, artists can reach a global audience and showcase their work to a wider audience.

3. Technology has also made it possible for artists to make money from their work. With the help of online platforms such as Etsy, Artists can sell their work to a worldwide audience and make a living from their art.

4. Technology has also helped preserve works of art for future generations. With the help of digital imaging and storage, works of art can be preserved in pristine condition and passed down through the generations

Examples of Technology in Art

1. Art is being created using 3D printing technology. This allows artists to create sculptures and other objects that would be difficult or impossible to create using traditional methods.

2. Augmented reality (AR) is being used to create immersive experiences that allow viewers to interact with art in new ways. For example, the app Blippar can be used to view AR versions of paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, and other masters.

3. Virtual reality (VR) is providing new ways for people to experience art. For example, Tate Modern in London has launched a VR app that allows users to explore the museum’s collection from anywhere in the world.

4. Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used by some artists to create completely unique works of art. For example, an AI-created painting sold for over $400,000 at a recent Christie’s auction.

Challenges Faced by Artists When Using Technology

As technology continues to evolve, so does the art world. While some artists embrace new technologies, others find themselves struggling to keep up.

1. Keeping up with the latest trends and technologies: Just as fashion designers have to stay on top of the latest trends, so do artists.

2. Learning how to use new technologies: Even if an artist is open to trying new technologies, they still need to take the time to learn how to use them properly.

3. Making art that is meaningful: In a world where anyone can create art with a few clicks of a button, it can be hard for artists to make work that is meaningful and stands out from the rest. Technology has made it easier than ever for people to create art, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all of it is good art.

Alternatives to Traditional Art Forms

There are a number of ways to create art without using traditional art forms. Technology has made it possible to create art in a variety of new ways. Another type of alternative art form is performance art. This type of art involves the use of the body as a medium for expression.

There is also the option of creating art using found objects. This type of art is sometimes called ” assemblage.” Found object artists collect everyday items and arrange them in a way that creates an aesthetic effect. This type of art can be created with almost anything, from bottle caps to pieces of trash.

Technology has undoubtedly had a significant impact on art. By blending traditional methods with modern innovations, artists have been able to create new and exciting works of art that can captivate audiences in ways never before imagined. Whether you’re an artist looking for new tools to express your creative vision or a viewer seeking out unique experiences, technology can help open up the possibilities of what art is and what it can be.

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Proactive Creative – Guides for Visual Artists

Tech Impact on Contemporary Art Trends: Exploring Effects

A group of people looking at their phones in an art gallery.

You’ve probably noticed that art isn’t what it used to be. It’s not just about painting on canvas or chiseling marble anymore. Thanks to technology, today’s artists are exploring new mediums and techniques, taking creativity to another level.

But it’s not all bright and shiny. This digital revolution has its critics, with some fearing it dilutes authenticity and stifles creativity.

And let’s not forget the audience. The way you engage with art has changed, too. Social media and the internet have made art more interactive and reshaped your expectations and behavior. Do you buy tickets months in advance or minutes before the show?

This article will delve into how technology impacts contemporary art trends, the concerns it stirs, the opportunities it presents, and how it’s changing your art experience. So, let’s dive in and explore this fascinating intersection of art and technology.

How Technology Influences Art

An image of a woman with colorful paint on her face.

You’ve seen how technology has infiltrated every corner of our lives, but have you considered its transformative impact on the world of contemporary art? It’s taken creativity to new heights, helping artists translate their vision into unimaginable pieces in the pre-digital era.

Technology’s influence is undeniable, whether it’s digitally created music, e-books, or 3D-printed sculptures. Yet, it’s more than just a tool; it’s also a medium. Artists like David Hockney have even turned to their iPads for inspiration, proving that age isn’t a barrier to embracing tech.

However, this digital revolution isn’t without controversy. Some fear it could dilute the authenticity of art, while others worry it could stifle creativity as artists become too absorbed in tech’s capabilities.

Expanding Creative Horizons

An image of a woman with a cell phone on her head.

Imagine the boundless possibilities now at your fingertips, as the digital realm has dramatically broadened the canvas for your creative explorations. Traditional mediums no longer restrict you. With technology, you can blend paint with pixels or harmonize acoustic tunes with digital beats.

The world is your studio and the digital tools, your brushes. You can craft 3D-printed sculptures or design immersive VR experiences. Your art can be interactive, inviting audiences to participate and influence the outcome.

But technology isn’t just expanding your creative horizons; it’s also granting you a global audience. You can share your creations, inspire others, and spark conversations with the internet.

So, embrace the digital revolution and redefine the boundaries of art.

Concerns and Criticisms

A colorful splash of paint on a blue surface.

Despite the many exciting opportunities, it’s critical also to address the concerns and criticisms surrounding the marriage of art and technology.

Some artists and critics worry that digital art is an inauthentic version of the discipline with the potential to dilute the intrinsic value of traditional art. There’s also a fear that the overwhelming capabilities of technology could stifle creativity rather than enhance it.

  • Authenticity : Critics argue that graphic designers’ and hackers’ reproductions and alterations of famous paintings strip digital art of its authenticity.
  • Dampened Creativity : The limitless options provided by technology can be so absorbing that they hinder, rather than foster, artistic creativity.
  • Quality Concerns : As technology increases competition for arts organizations with other entertainment forms, there’s a concern it may negatively impact the quality of live performances.

Changing Audience Expectations

A painting of people in a futuristic city.

As digital innovations continue to reshape our world, they’re also revolutionizing how we experience and engage with art, pushing audience expectations to new frontiers. You’re no longer just a spectator; you’re an active participant.

The internet has made art more accessible and interactive, allowing you to delve deeper, learn more, and even create alongside the artist. But these advancements come with new challenges. With a wealth of art just a click away, competition for your attention is fierce. Artists and organizations must adapt, offering quality and an immersive and engaging experience.

And while technology has opened up a world of possibilities, meeting these rising expectations on limited budgets can be daunting. So, don’t just consume art; be part of its evolution.

Challenges and Opportunities

A painting of a woman with a robot face.

You’re navigating a new terrain where opportunities and challenges go hand in hand, right?

Technology has been a game-changer in the art world, offering countless possibilities for art creation and distribution. Yet, it’s not without hurdles.

You’re competing with a myriad of entertainment forms, aren’t you? Digital art may be accessible, but it’s also challenging to monetize, especially regarding copyright and fair payments.

A colorful painting of a city in the sky.

You’re also grappling with the reality of shorter attention spans and increased smartphone usage during performances.

But don’t fret. Remember, technology can also be your ally. It helps you reach diverse communities globally, break geographic constraints, and engage audiences in more immersive, interactive experiences.

You need to adapt and evolve. Don’t you agree?

Follow us on  Pinterest  for more tips, tutorials, and artist reviews! 

impact of technology on art essay

Outmane is the founder of Proactive Creative. He is an artist/designer.

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The Intersection of Art and Technology: A Creative Revolution

Art and technology have always shared an intricate relationship, with each influencing and shaping the other. In today's digital age, this synergy has given birth to a creative revolution that is redefining the way artists create, share, and engage with their art. In this blog post, we'll explore the profound impact of technology on the world of art, the opportunities it presents, and how artists are embracing this dynamic intersection.

The Evolution of Art and Technology

Art and technology have been interwoven throughout history, but the digital age has accelerated their convergence. Here's a glimpse of this evolution:

1. Digital Art:  The rise of digital art has paved the way for artists to create stunning, immersive works using software, graphics tablets, and digital tools.

2. Augmented Reality (AR):  AR technology has allowed artists to overlay digital elements onto the physical world, creating interactive and captivating experiences.

3. Virtual Reality (VR):  VR takes art to new dimensions by immersing viewers in digital environments and sculptures created by artists.

4. AI and Machine Learning:  Artists are using AI to generate art, enhance their creative process, and even create unique styles and patterns.

5. Blockchain Technology:  Blockchain is being used to prove the authenticity of digital artworks and streamline the sale of art through NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

The Impact of Technology on Art

Technology's impact on the art world is profound and far-reaching:

1. Accessibility:  The digital age has made art more accessible. Artists can share their work globally, reaching wider audiences.

2. Collaboration:  Technology enables artists to collaborate across distances, making it easier to work on joint projects.

3. Experimentation:  Artists can experiment with various digital mediums and tools to push the boundaries of their creativity.

4. Preservation:  Digital art can be easily preserved and archived, reducing the risk of physical deterioration.

5. Interactivity:  Digital art often involves viewer interaction, offering a unique and engaging experience.

The Opportunities for Artists

As technology continues to evolve, it offers artists new and exciting opportunities:

1. NFTs:  Artists can sell digital art through NFTs, providing a new revenue stream and proving ownership of their work.

2. Online Galleries:  Artists can exhibit their work in online galleries, reaching a global audience without the need for a physical space.

3. Collaboration:  Tech allows artists to collaborate with creators from different disciplines, broadening their creative horizons.

4. Art Education:  Online platforms and tutorials make art education accessible to a global audience, helping artists refine their skills.

5. Art Curation and Discovery:  Technology assists in curating and discovering art by using algorithms to match viewers with artworks they may like.

Real-Life Examples of Technological Innovation in Art

Refik Anadol:  Anadol is known for using data as the material and algorithms as the brush to create mesmerizing digital artworks.

Heather Dewey-Hagborg:  Dewey-Hagborg uses DNA from found objects to create facial reconstructions, blurring the lines between science and art.

Olafur Eliasson:  Eliasson is known for his immersive installations that incorporate light, space, and technology to engage viewers in thought-provoking experiences.

The Creative Revolution Continues

Art and technology's evolving relationship is opening up endless possibilities for artists. As they continue to explore new mediums, engage with digital tools, and harness the power of technology, the creative revolution is set to reshape the art world in ways we have yet to fully comprehend. Embracing this dynamic intersection offers artists the chance to expand their horizons, engage with global audiences, and redefine what it means to be a creator in the digital age. The future is bright, and the canvas of possibility is vast, waiting for artists to paint their stories.

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ARTS & CULTURE

7 ways technology is changing how art is made.

Technology is redefining art in strange, new ways. Works are created by people moving through laser beams or from data gathered on air pollution

Randy Rieland

Randy Rieland

Pollution art main

Where would the Impressionists have been without the invention of portable paint tubes that enabled them to paint outdoors?  Who would have heard of Andy Warhol without silkscreen printing? The truth is that technology has been providing artists with new ways to express themselves for a very long time.

Still, over the past few decades, art and tech have become more intertwined than ever before, whether it’s through providing new ways to mix different types of media, allowing more human interaction or simply making the process of creating it easier.  

Case in point is a show titled “Digital Revolution” that opened earlier this summer in London’s Barbican Centre. The exhibit, which runs through mid-September, includes a “Digital Archaeology” section which pays homage to gadgets and games that not that long ago dazzled us with their innovation. (Yes, an original version of Pong is there, presented as lovable antiquity.) But the show also features a wide variety of digital artists who are using technology to push art in different directions, often to allow gallery visitors to engage with it in a multi-dimensional way.

Here are seven examples, some from “Digital Revolution," of how technology is reshaping what art is and how it’s produced:

Kumbaya meets lasers

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Let’s start with lasers, the brush stroke of so much digital art. One of the more popular exhibits in the London show is called “Assemblance,” and it’s designed to encourage visitors to create light structures and floor drawings by moving through colored laser beams and smoke. The inclination for most people is to work alone, but the shapes they produce tend to be more fragile. If a person nearby bumps into their structure, for instance, it’s likely to fall apart. But those who collaborate with others—even if it’s through an act as simple as holding hands—discover that the light structures they create are both more resilient and more sophisticated. “Assemblance,” says Usman Haque, one of the founders of Umbrellium, the London art collective that designed it, has a sand castle quality to it—like a rogue wave, one overly aggressive person can wreck everything.

And they never wet the rug

Another favorite at “Digital Revolution” is an experience called “Petting Zoo.” Instead of rubbing cute goats and furry rabbits, you get to cozy up to snake-like tubes hanging from the ceiling. Doesn’t sound like fun? But wait, these are very responsive tubes, bending and moving and changing colors based on how they read your movements, sounds and touch. They might pull back shyly if they sense a large group approaching or get all cuddly if you’re being affectionate. And if you’re just standing there, they may act bored. The immersive artwork, developed by a design group called Minimaforms, is meant to provide a glimpse into the future, when robots or even artificial pets will be able to read our moods and react in kind.

Now this is a work in progress

If Rising Colorspace, an abstract artwork painted on the wall of a Berlin gallery, doesn't seem so fabulous at first glance, just give it a little time. Come back the next day and it will look at least a little different. That’s because the painting is always changing, thanks to a wall-climbing robot called a Vertwalker armed with a paint pen and a software program instructing it to follow a certain pattern.

The creation of artists Julian Adenauer and Michael Haas, the Vertwalker—which looks like a flattened iRobot Roomba —is constantly overwriting its own work, cycling through eight colors as it glides up vertical walls for two to three hours at a time before it needs a battery change. “The process of creation is ideally endless,” Haas explains.

The beauty of dirty air

pollution art device

Give Russian artist Dmitry Morozov some credit—he’s devised a way to make pollution beautiful, even if his purpose is to make us aware of how much is out there. First, he built a device, complete with a little plastic nose, that uses sensors which can measure dust and other typical pollutants, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and methane. Then, he headed out to the streets of Moscow. 

The sensors translate the data they gather into volts and a computing platform called Arduino translates those volts into shapes and colors, creating a movie of pollution. Morozov’s device then grabs still images from the movie and prints them out. As irony would have it, the dirtier the air, the brighter the image. Exhaust smoke can look particularly vibrant.

Paper cuts you can love

impact of technology on art essay

Eric Standley, a professor at Virginia Tech, is one artist who doesn’t use technology to make the creation process simpler. Actually, it’s just the reverse. He builds stained glass windows, only they’re made from paper precisely cut by a laser. He starts by drawing an intricate design, then meticulously cuts out the many shapes that, when layered over one another, form a 3-D version of his drawing. One of his windows might comprise as many as 100 laser-cut sheets stacked together. Standley says the technology allows him to feel more, not less, connected to what he’s creating. As he explains in the video above, “Every efficiency that I gain through technology, the void is immediately filled with the question, 'Can I make it more complex?'” 

And now, a moving light show

It’s one thing to project laser light onto a stationary wall or into a dark sky, now pretty much standard fare at public outdoor celebrations. But in an art project titled “Light Echoes,” digital media artist Aaron Koblin and interactive director Ben Tricklebank executed the concept on a much larger scale. One night last year, a laser they mounted on a crane atop a moving train projected images, topographical maps and even lines of poetry into the dark Southern California countryside. Those projections left visual “echoes" on the tracks and around the train, which they captured through long-exposure photography.  

Finding your inner bird

impact of technology on art essay

Here’s one last take from the “Digital Revolution” show. An art installation developed by video artist Chris Milk called “Treachery of the Sanctuary,” it’s meant to explore the creative process through interactions with digital birds. That’s right, birds, and some are very angry. The installation is a giant triptych, and gallery visitors can stand in front of each of the screens. In the first, the person’s shadow reflected on the screen disintegrates into a flock of birds. That, according to Milk, represents the moment of creative inspiration. In the second, the shadow is pecked away by virtual birds diving from above. That symbolizes critical response, he explains. In the third screen, things get better—you see how you’d look with a majestic set of giant wings that flap as you move. And that, says Milk, captures the instant when a creative thought transforms into something larger than the original idea.

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Randy Rieland

Randy Rieland | | READ MORE

Randy Rieland is a digital media strategist and contributing writer in innovations for Smithsonian.com.

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Table of Contents

  • Introduction: Evaluating the Arts in America
  • Section 2: Organizational Technology Use
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  • Section 5: Technology and Organizational Function
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The arts organizations represented in the survey tend to agree with the notions that the internet and social media have “increased engagement” and made art a more participatory experience, and that they have helped make “arts audiences more diverse.”  They also tend to agree that the internet has “played a major role in broadening the boundaries of what is considered art.”

Figure 22

Yet at the same time, the majority of arts organizations surveyed also thought that mobile devices, ringing cell phones and texting create “significant disruptions” to live performances, and that technology contributes to an expectation that “all digital content should be free.” Survey respondents were split regarding their opinions of whether technology had negatively impacted audience attention spans for live performance, but they uniformly  dis agree that it has “diluted the arts” by opening new pathways to arts participation and arts criticism.

Figure 23

Despite comments in open-ended responses, only 35% of respondents agree with the statement that the internet has shifted arts organizations’ focus towards marketing and promotion, and even fewer (22%) thought that the internet and its endless offerings are leading to a decrease in attendance at in-person events.

Predicting impacts of technology and social media

Asked to forecast the impact that technology and social media will have on the field as a whole in the coming years, respondents mentioned everything from practical implications to broader, soul-searching ideas about the future of creativity.

From a practical standpoint, many organizations state that technology will make them more efficient:

[We have the] ability to serve more people and at a lower cost.

The internet makes it possible for our organization to market ourselves more effectively through online advertising, blog presences, and social media exchanges. We have been able to decrease our budgets and increase revenue by utilizing online resources effectively.

It is also greatly facilitating their ability to book talent, and to know what to expect:

For arts programmers, the access to high quality media to review artists in advance of assessing them live has been a huge step forward.  Spotify alone has made it so much easier to get a first impression of an artist–no more waiting for press kits, accessing only what they’ve posted on their websites, etc.

Others commented on how technology is changing the behavior of the ticket-buying public:

Last-minute ticket-buying and the trend away from traditional subscription packages will probably continue, as the internet has freed people up from having to plan for most event attendance far in advance. This will affect the predictability of revenue. On the positive side, social media has been a wonderful tool for word-of-mouth marketing.

While it is impossible to know what internet and digital technologies will be like in 10 years, the trend of more information communicated more quickly to a more finely targeted audience with more immediate feedback from the recipient is likely to continue. We believe that this leads people to delay their decision-making about how they will spend their leisure time. For our field, this has generally meant a decline in subscriptions, a decrease in advance ticket sales, and an increase in last-minute box office sales.

Moving beyond the practical, one of the prevailing positive themes is that technology increases – and will continue to increase – access to the arts. In some cases, technology is simply seen as a way to improve marketing and communication to get more “butts in seats,” but many respondents noted its power to broaden and deepen the audience experience.

Technology is helping them introduce more audiences to art:

The digital world is a very populist force, leveling the world between rich and poor, educated and uneducated. In our case, an organization with a name like “Historical Society” has an invisible shield that bounces people who are below median income, do not hold college degrees, who hold blue collar jobs, who are a racial or cultural minority, off.  The ubiquity of the computer, whether through your home machine, school, or local library, means that all of those things that cause discomfort don’t matter.  That is a big deal!

It has extended our visibility to many isolated individuals who may never have heard about our services, explored the artform, or who may have financial barriers to membership. We show to them every day what we do, rather than expect them to find a printed annual report and program summary. Social media are concrete and immediate examples of our living community in action.

Technology is also helping arts organizations extend their impact, far beyond a one-time performance or event:

The internet and digital media provide an amazing opportunity for arts organizations to extend the impact of the arts. A live performance can be complemented greatly by opportunities for further engagement and education, and the ability to share information online maximizes our ability to provide these opportunities at a more in-scale investment ratio. We can reach many more people with an article or video than with a one-time lecture, for example.

We are able to provide artwork that dates back more than 25 years to the communities we have worked with over the years. For many, these archives represent the only media history of their community.  The use of the internet has deepened and expanded the access for our constituencies that are often transitional, without a landbase, or have been historically isolated due to geography.

Technology is increasing access to the arts by breaking geographic constraints:

I think that it will greatly improve accessibility to the arts field – from a monetary standpoint and from a logistical standpoint. People who live outside of urban areas will be able to experience performances that are somewhat limited to large urban areas. Arts organizations will need to reconsider the level/type of interaction with their audience.

Technology is helping organizations reach more diverse communities – even on a global scale:

The greatest impact will be the ability for non-profit organizations to share educational content and stimulating art and performances worldwide.  It will also spark conversations between diverse communities and help individuals develop a greater understanding – and hopefully, a life-long appreciation for the arts.

The internet will enable the performing arts to reach beyond a local audience, promote tourism, and make cultural arts created within a region accessible to the nation – and world.

Technology is making it possible to  create  community around a piece of art:

There is a powerful opportunity for the arts to create communities around performances, shows, exhibitions and their themes and history.  For example, a Broadway show like ‘Next to Normal’ could (and probably has) created communities to discuss and share resources on mental illness.

Some organizations enthusiastically talk about the democratization of art and creation, while others expressed excitement about the challenge of meeting new demands and expectations:

Continuing the transition from passive to participation, from hierarchical to democratic, from traditional media to online media, from single art-form to inter-disciplinary.

The possibility to greatly expand and create a more diverse audience is very exciting because traditionally our audience has been older and whiter than the area we live in.  Increasingly, we’re seeing some of our content getting traction in surprising nooks and crannies of the internet – which definitely means a shifting audience.  The challenge will be for that audience to identify our content with the creators and the institution, and not simply have it exist as more entertainment or noise out on the internet.  In the next couple of years, the role of mobile devices will only continue to shift how people curate their own experience and engage with artistic content. In radio, this presents an exciting AND daunting challenge in terms of our funding structure and station loyalty.

The challenges that digital technology present

These arts organizations realize that with these benefits come drawbacks. While digital technologies have led to the creation of ever-more dazzling tools and apps, many arts organizations worry about the long term effect on audiences, the field, and their very mission.

A number of respondents worry about meeting increased audience expectations:

People will have higher expectations for a live event. For audiences to invest the time and effort of going to a live performance, the work they see will have to be more engaging and of higher quality. Events will have to be more social and allow for greater participation and behind-the-scenes access. The event spaces will have to be more beautiful, more comfortable, more inviting and more accessible.

The audience has already moved from “arts attendance as an event” to “arts attendance as an experience.”  This desire for a full-range of positive experience from ticket purchase, to travel, to parking, to treatment at the space, to quality of performance, to exit – this will only increase over the next 10 years.

The greatest impact of the internet on independent publishers will be audience expectations. Audiences will expect everything to be available digitally, and will require an engaging experience instead of a static one.

Some point out the problem of meeting audience expectations on a limited budget:

Managing expectations. The internet and digital technologies are powerful tools.  The public expects content to be free. There is a lack of awareness of the resources (funding and staff) that it takes to manage and preserve digital content.  These costs will need to be passed on to users.

Others express concern that the effort to meet audience expectations will influence artistic choices, even entire art forms:

Some ideas cannot be condensed into 140 characters or less. I hope technologies do not negatively affect the playwright.  I hope the playwright does not write solely for a Twitter generation.

Live performance will be diminished.  Younger people don’t want to show up at a specific time, specific place for live performance — they want to download music at their own convenience.  The power of live performance is lost and the civic convening – the community building is lost.

Some arts organizations have recognized this change, and are doing their best to adapt:

I believe digital technologies are here to stay, and we as an artform should embrace them and learn how to work alongside them.  We provide scripts to those sitting in our tweetseats, so they get the quotes right. We must work alongside or face alienating them.

I believe that audiences will continue to have shorter and shorter attention spans and will insist upon being able to use smartphones and other devices in the context of a performance.  As an industry, we should stop fighting and try to find ways to incorporate that reality into our daily lives.

We will need to become much less tied to live, in person programming and certainly less ties to anchored seats in concert halls. Programming will need to incorporate much more personal involvement by the consumers or they will not be interested in engaging.

A number of respondents worried about audiences’ decreasing attention spans, and the long-term impact on the field:

As attention spans decrease, programming of longer works (e.g., Beethoven’s Symphony #9) will become more problematic.  As we move forward, we may need to consider ways to embrace the digital, connected world to better engage live audiences or run the risk of making live music performances irrelevant.

The greatest impact could be the expansion of our audiences, but the worst impact is the attention span of the moment of interaction.  I worry that it may shorten our artforms’ performance times.

Technology has blurred the lines between commercial entertainment and noncommercial art, forcing arts organizations to more directly compete with all other forms of entertainment:

Basically, we are competing for the “entertainment slot” in people’s schedules, and the more entertainment they can get via HD TV, Netflix, Video Games, etc., the less time they have for live performances, which also entails making an effort to get to the venue (as opposed to slumping on the couch in front of the HD screen). Also, movies, video games, etc., are both more convenient and cheaper than live performances.

It has also blurred the lines between a virtual and real experience:

As the realism of participatory digital entertainment (video games, etc.) and the immersion ability of non-participatory digital entertainment (3D movies, etc.) increases, it threatens the elements that make the live arts unique–the sense of immediacy, immersion, and personal interaction with the art.  We’ve long hung fast to the belief that there’s nothing like a live experience, but digital entertainment is getting closer and closer to replicating that experience, and live theatre will struggle to compete with the former’s convenience and cost.

Some respondents addressed issues specific to their field or discipline. Film and cinema organizations talk about the pressure they face to preserve the “specialness” of the big screen when on-demand home viewing is already prevalent:

As a cinema approaching our fifth anniversary, we have seen significant audience growth in spite of the fact that many of the films we play are being released “day and date” on-demand. While streaming and piracy are increasing, we’ve been able to deliver the message that seeing films on the big screen with an audience is a singular, important cultural experience. I can’t emphasize the importance of the internet and social media in our marketing efforts enough. It’s most certainly a net positive value.

As a film exhibitor, our challenge is to go through the digital convergence for projection and exhibition, a supremely costly change that doesn’t even have a long-range viability (these systems will have to be upgraded and/or changed every 3-5 years).  Finding the revenue for these digital systems is an enormous challenge and threat to our ongoing activities.

Others working in film worry that the quality and quantity of movies will diminish:

In the field of film production and distribution, more internet and digital access will result in far fewer movie theaters, as audiences have greater access in their homes to the medium. Already, as marketing dollars become more limited for films, production companies are shortening the movie lifespan in a movie theater and moving them to digital and television media sooner and sooner.

Organizations in the literary book tradition are facing similar challenges with ebooks:

Literature and the book are being very impacted by digital technologies due to the growing popularity of ebooks and to the influence of huge online booksellers like Amazon. There are both good and bad effects associated with these technologies. These days books are more easily accessible to a greater number of people however it is difficult for the book industry to produce a sustainable amount of income whether for individuals and for organizations. It is crucial that the public understand the importance of supporting nonprofit literary orgs, publishers, independent bookstores, libraries and other supporters of book culture and in turn it is crucial for foundations and government to provide this support.

All literary magazines are in peril right now, so if magazines such as ours continue to exist it will be because of a paradigm shift in how literature is funded as an art form in the U.S. I am loathe to believe that print publications will cease to exist because they are still more beautiful, but all publishers will eventually have to create simultaneous digital and print editions, I imagine, which will make the whole enterprise more expensive.

Some respondents worry that these disruptive technological and cultural forces will make it harder for some big scale artforms to survive:

I believe that the more expensive arts producers ­– symphony orchestras, for example – will find it more difficult to draw enough audience to continue in the same manner they’ve operated for the past decades. Smaller groups will find it easier to adapt because they’re more flexible (they don’t require a large stage and hall). I am very concerned about losing some of the greatest music ever written — symphonic music — for this reason.

Others pointed to innovative experiments — like the Metropolitan Opera’s performances in movie theatres — as an example of what big institutions with funding can do:

For opera, it has made it more accessible, by providing low-cost performance broadcast of Met performances. This has increased the potential audience for our live performances. It is our companies responsible to promote effectively to those audiences. Overall I believe the effect is positive.

Museums have a unique perspective on technology’s impact. It has greatly improved their cataloging efforts, but some worry that it will eventually reduce audience interest in the “real thing”:

It will radically shift the way in which we catalog and share information about collections; the museum as less the all knowing authority and more the conduit for rich institution-driven AND user-driven information. It will also allow regional collections the ability to link to similar collections worldwide – as such our local collections can be recontextualize and made meaningful in ways not possible without linked data and semantic web technologies.

Digital technology and the resulting accessibility of information and images, while fostering accessibility of collections online, have the negative impact of diluting the desire of individuals to visit the museum to see works of art in person.

A number of organizations mentioned the demise of trusted critics and filters, which has happened as print media — especially local newspapers — have cut back on staff and struggled with decreased ad revenue as part of this digital transition. Without critics, they worry about how arts audiences will gauge quality:

Digital technologies have essentially made it impossible for book critics to support themselves in traditional ways; possibly the next 10 years will bring the shift of book criticism to academic world, where salaries are paid for teaching, and reviewing is a secondary activity. Twenty-five years ago, working critics had full time salaries from newspapers, magazines, other publications. Today there are only a handful of critics able to do this.

Our chief concern for the literary arts is the increasing “validity” of self-publication among reviewers, readers, and writers. Online publishing and book sales through Amazon (for example) contribute to this problem. If there are no gatekeepers, it will become even more difficult to draw attention to works of genuinely high quality.

For some, the absence of critics and mainstream media previews of arts events means that arts organizations are shouldering an even greater burden:

The demise of daily and weekly newspapers and the increasing fragmentation of traditional radio and television media outlets combined with the increasing consolidation of media ownership due to revised FCC regulations has marginalized arts coverage and criticism to a point where it no longer plays a part in the larger civic conversation. Hence, it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach and engage potential audience members and arts participants, and has shifted the entire burden (and costs) to arts organizations that are ill equipped and unprepared to both engage in their traditional function (i.e., support the creation and presentation of art work) as well as build support structures to take the place of traditional media organizations.

Some responses addressed the future of artists themselves. There is recognition that today’s artists must also be entrepreneurs:

Digital technologies will level the playing field for all and old school, professional artists will be left behind. It is the advent of the amateur. For those who are savvy and ahead of the curve, there is money to be made if the content is strong. It means the complete reversal of a contributed based model founded on single funding sources and moves toward an earned revenue model and crowd sourced funding. Now more than ever, artists need to be entrepreneurs and not just artists. You can’t survive now as an artist unless you have a strong business model.

Yet others worried openly about how artists will make a living as traditional revenue streams shift or disappear:

[The internet] is becoming the major distribution platform for documentaries, which is what we do. The DVD will be gone in ten years. Artists are going to struggle to monetize their work on the Web.

Access will be good for educational purposes and to increase awareness of the arts especially historical material in performance of all types.  However, issues of copyright and payment for that material, such as in apps and in streaming or downloading, are murky and hard to navigate for artists themselves as to value and fairness of payments to the artist for original content.

There were also some contemplative responses about the impact of technology on culture. One respondent pointed out that the ability to collaborate globally could lead to more cultural homogeneity while another worried about the future of non-digitized art:

Digital technologies allows for students and artists all over the world to be inspired by one another.  In some ways this is fantastic, in other ways, this breaks down the cultural differences that is so beautiful about having multiple countries involved in an art form.

Materials we have that aren’t available digitally will be lost from the human record.

Finally, several respondents summed up the issues facing arts organizations, connecting the challenges of meeting audience expectations with limited funding options:

Attendance at live performances will favor more fervent fans and those with disposable incomes who reside in cities, and the increased prevalence of simulcasts and livestreams will alter the viewing experience while also making it more democratic and affordable. Audiences will expect the digital presence of institutions to be well maintained and curated.

Organizations will continue to need to adapt and incorporate digital technologies into their programming. This will be a good thing for art consumers and patrons by increasing accessibility and improving collaboration. At the same time, organizations will struggle with funding to keep up with technology. Funders so rarely fund some of the infrastructure necessary to create top-notch digital programming, and that will be a major struggle.

Survey results reveal that on a purely practical level, the internet, digital technologies and social media are powerful tools, giving arts organizations new ways to promote events, engage with audiences, reach new patrons, and extend the life and scope of their work. “We can reach more patrons, more frequently, for less money,” said one respondent. “That’s been a huge change in the 30 years I’ve been in the business.”

But, technology has also disrupted much of the traditional art world; it has changed audience expectations, put more pressure on arts organizations to participate actively in social media, and even undercut some arts groups’ missions and revenue streams.

Beyond the practical, the internet and social media provide these arts organizations with broad cultural opportunities. Comments in this survey reveal an array of innovative ways that arts organizations are using technology to introduce new audiences to their work, expose more of their collections, provide deeper context around plays and exhibits, and break down cultural and geographic barriers that, to this point, have made it difficult for some members of the public to participate. Their responses suggest that the majority of these arts organizations, with enough funding and foresight, are eager to use the new digitals tools to sustain and amplify their mission-driven work.

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Essay: Technology changes how art is created and perceived

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It used to be so simple. A book had an author; a film, a screenwriter and director; a piece of music, a composer and performer; a painting or sculpture, an artist; a play, a playwright. You could assume that the work actually erupted more or less full-blown from these folks. In addition, the book, film, musical composition, painting or play was a discrete object or event that existed in time and space. You could hold it in your hands or watch or listen to it in a theater or your living room. It didn’t really change over time unless the artist decided to revise it or a performer reinterpreted it.

Well, not any more. For years now numerous observers have described the process by which the very fundaments of art are changing from the old principle of one man, one creation. Songs have remixes through which anyone so disposed can alter the original music; videos have mash-ups that use footage to reposition and change the original meaning; the visual arts have communal canvases and websites; poetry has Flarf, which allows one to generate verse from random words; , and books have collages, like David Shields’ recent “Reality Hunger,” which was assembled entirely, paragraph by paragraph, out of other authors’ words. Recombinant art is the rage.

What all these forms have in common is appropriation and a sense of rampant collaboration in which every work of art is simply raw material for anyone who decides to put his or her imprint on it, which then allows someone else to put his imprint on the imprint, which allows still someone else to put his imprint on the imprint on the imprint, and so on ad infinitum. You could call it Wiki-Culture after its prototype, Wikipedia, because like Wikipedia, it is a new form of democratic cultural construction in which everyone can make a contribution.

Of course communal culture is not a new concept. The process began a long time ago in folk art — who is the artist of the Lascaux cave paintings? — and it eventually entered the precincts of fine art with the borrowings of Duchamp, Warhol, Johns, Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein and others who deployed the detritus of popular culture in their work, albeit reformulated by them. If art was about life and life was now increasingly a product of mass consumption, then popular culture was a vast warehouse to be rummaged through and repurposed. That made the industrial designer of the Campbell soup can label or the Brillo box a collaborator with Warhol, Betsy Ross a collaborator with Johns, or little-known comic book artists collaborators with Lichtenstein.

Still, with Warhol and the Pop artists, there is a commanding sensibility: an artist using the larger culture for, and in a way, subordinating it to, his or her own ends. But over the last five years or so — and it is happening at a head-snappingly fast pace — the degree of appropriation and the number of collaborators has proliferated to the point at which there are not only literally millions of new art objects but also millions of new “artists” working in conjunction with one another, so that the very notion of authorship is becoming attenuated and archaic. Where people are invited to add to or edit an object, whose sensibility governs and who gets credit for the evolving creation? The most logical answer, as with Wikipedia, is that the author is the collective whole.

Naturally the Internet has greatly facilitated this process. It brings together far-flung collaborators and gives them the technological wherewithal to ply their talents jointly on objects. The Johnny Cash Project, for example, solicits fans of the late singer to share their vision of Johnny “as he lives in your mind’s eye,” by providing an image of him and a customized drawing tool to reimagine it. “Your work will then be combined,” says the website, “with art from participants around the world and integrated into a collective whole.” Call it Wiki-Art.

But if the Internet facilitates this new form of cultural construction technologically, it also encourages it ideologically by attacking the old, increasingly discredited cultural hierarchy. Traditional art was largely top down — delivered from elite cultural commissars who had always determined what art was. On the Internet, however, everything is bottom-up. Of course, long before, the Internet people were taking up their cudgels against those commissars; popular culture is itself an attack on them. But never before has that war been so broad or so effective. Now, anyone with a computer and connectivity has the means to air his voice, his opinion, his own authorship and authority.

Seen this way, Internet technology may be more an outgrowth of cultural rebelliousness than a cause of it. In a skeptical world in which authority has often failed, in an increasingly democratic world in which everyone is privileged, and, alas, in a narcissistic world in which many people feel the need to launch their egos, collaborative art is a radical rebuke that allows no one to be privileged above anyone else, no single art object to be a product of one sensibility, and no gatekeepers to tell us what is and isn’t art. In effect, Wiki-Culture sends the peasants marching on the virtual Winter Palace.

The cultural implications of Wiki-Culture are numerous and enormous. When there is no authority, only everyone giving opinions, we may have democracy but we may also lose standards. When even facts are the product not of rigorous verification, but of majority rule, we may be living in what one analyst has called a “post-fact society.” And when everyone is an artist, we may risk losing the individual artistic sensibility. It is no wonder that traditionalists are terrified.

But where art is concerned the single most important effect of Wiki-culture may be what it portends for the very idea of a tangible art object like a book or painting and what this would portend for industries dedicated to art. Take the Johnny Cash Project again. Like much Wiki-Art, it is organic and ever-changing. The work may reside on the Internet, but, in truth, there is no work — no single art object. It is an ongoing, dynamic series, potentially infinite.

Or take video games, which have not only expropriated the look of movies but also increasingly their franchise to the point where they now generate greater profits than the movies do. We know where a movie resides: on the screen. But if a video game is a kind of participatory film, a new narrative form, where does that film reside? Since the experience is different every time for every player, it is really evanescent. A play or piece of music may differ in performance, but it remains on the page. The template for a video game exists — on the disc — but where does the experience of the video game as played exist?

What Wiki-Culture does is dislodge culture from its moorings in art, history, tradition, knowledge, even time and space, and set it afloat either in the ether or in our own consciousness. Traditional culture is memorialized on the page, the CD, the stage or the screen. Wiki-Culture, which is constructed by nearly everyone and is extremely ephemeral, is memorialized, to the extent it is memorialized at all, in our heads and nowhere else. It is there on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter et al, and then it isn’t.

That may be why the Library of Congress recently decided to archive the collected works of Twitter — 55 million messages daily. The librarians there realized that to the extent one can concretize a culture that is so fleeting, free-floating and expansive, the Complete Twitter may come closest to doing so because it is closest to capturing the new collective consciousness. In fact, it is possible that Twitter will provide the next “Remembrance of Things Past,” a collectivized novel in 140-characters, or that some YouTube mash-up will provide the next “Citizen Kane,” even though these things barely survive outside our own reception and memory.

That is the direction toward which Wiki-Culture is nudging art. When every book, via Kindle or the iPad, becomes a raw source for the reader to reorganize and edit what he or she reads; when every song becomes a raw source for a remix; when every film or video becomes a raw source for some customized mash-up; and when traditional art itself becomes a symbol of antiquated cultural control, the collaboration is everything, the resulting object very little. In such a world, art may still exist, but we won’t always know exactly where to find it, which can be a scary prospect.

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“Funder Perspective: Broadening Support for Arts and Technology”

By eleanor savage.

Eleanor Savage

Photo courtesy of Eleanor Savage

The global pandemic has highlighted and amplified technology’s central place in every aspect of our daily lives. But what is not so visible is the vital role of artists in the development and shaping of social and cultural tools and in world-building through technology. The National Endowment for the Arts’ Tech as Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Technology as a Creative Medium provides a timely exploration of this diverse sphere of artists, including essential information on the role of grantmakers. I invite a deeper conversation around expanding support for this imaginative and innovative work.

Many future-facing conversations in the philanthropic sector are centering on arts and technology. Grantmakers in the Arts’ 2020 virtual convening, Power, Practice, Resilience Remix’d , opened with a visionary keynote featuring Ruha Benjamin , Salome Asega , and Sage Crump , all of whom are creatively engaged with technology, sciences, and cultural work. The conversation, titled “Building the Future We Want,” highlighted the big questions that technology-centered artists such as Sasha Constanza-Chock and so many others are asking around the use of technology and who has input into its design and implementation.

Panelists praised Costanza-Chock’s book, Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need , for championing how design might be led by marginalized communities and dismantle structural inequality, advance collective liberation, and bolster ecological survival. They also recognized the work of Allied Media , a Detroit-based media network that models and supports collaborative technology-based initiatives, including the Design Justice Network’s network principles , a guide for collaborative, creative practices; Consentful Technologies , a community-developed guide for generating digital applications with consent; and A People’s Guide to AI (artificial intelligence), a demystifying of AI.

What this keynote conversation also raised was the issue of insufficient financial support for arts and technology, even in this moment when these artists, networks, and communities are creating vibrant new ways to construct experience and change narratives. Rather than just creating cool new apps or gadgets, they are modeling collaboratively built, non-hierarchical community power; making data visible and meaningful; providing resilient solutions; and building values-based tools, systems, and practices rooted in justice, consent, racial equity, accessibility, and open-source sharing of resources and knowledge. Technology-centered artists are leading critical work that challenges the tech industry around uses of surveillance, artificial intelligence, data tracking, cultural bias, digital divides, corporate mining, and monetization of hardware and software, and raises the stakes for developing ethical approaches to technology.

The vital nature of this work calls on funders to reconsider traditional frameworks of support and respond in ways that are as expansive and adaptable as the work itself.

Since the early 1990s, I have worked with artists in this sphere, in a production capacity at Walker Art Center and in a funding capacity at Jerome Foundation, and I can attest to the complex and dynamic learning journey. I hear from many colleagues in philanthropy that they don’t know how to categorize the work and find it hard to fit into traditional arts-funding frameworks. The wide-ranging creative approaches are experimental, process-oriented, time-based, participatory, collaborative, performative, immersive, virtual, interactive, modular, and variable.

The work is genre-defying and genre-expanding, continually adaptive and purposefully questioning. There are constantly new tools, new technologies, new expressions, though artists are rigorously building upon known areas of practice sourced from multiple sectors, within and outside of the arts. Such art eludes categorization, doesn’t follow a linear path, and can involve messy and uncertain processes. This universe of artists requires funders to step outside their comfort zones, trading the probability of success for greater potential impact.

I urge funders to be fearless in establishing an inclusive and equitable environment to better support this dynamic ecosystem of future-facing artists: embrace the values that support this work; make a concerted effort to build authentic relationships with the artists, organizations, and networks involved. It is important to engage with the artists and arts leaders involved to collaboratively build responsive and adaptable grant strategies, programs, guidelines, and direct funding to the priorities identified by this sector. These shifts of funder mindset, while focused on arts and technology, benefit artists across all sectors.

How do we make the leap to fund arts and technology? Rather than a program or strategy or theory of change, we need to look at core grantmaking values to prioritize the tech-centered sphere. Jerome Foundation’s values of “ innovation and risk ” define our priority of support for artists and organizations that are deepening and expanding as well as questioning and innovating traditional aesthetics, practices, and expression within and across artistic disciplines. Our value of “humility” centers artists and organizations as the best authorities to define their needs and challenges, and directs us to support those entities who embrace their roles as part of a larger community of artists and citizens and who consciously work with a sense of purpose, whether aesthetic, social, or both. Our value of “diversity” compels us to support a diverse range of artistic disciplines and forms created in a variety of contexts and for different audiences.

In a quick scan of other funders of the tech-centered universe, I found the following:

  • “ curiosity” as a charge to be open to new ideas and forms;
  • support for art with the “capacity to transform” communities;
  • artistic excellence defined as authenticity, inclusion, and the “ integration of technology” in all aspects of the creative process;
  • work that fosters “change and change-making” as priorities;
  • “participatory” grantmaking that engages those most impacted;
  • “inclusion, access, and equity” for all communities to all forms of art.

This list is greatly aligned with the ethos and creative expressions of artists working with technology. With the call for radical change (across all arts sectors) for funders to take immediate action to address issues of inequity, transparency, accountability, representation, lack of relationship, and cultural gatekeeping rooted in capitalism, colonialism, and systemic racism, there is much to learn from this realm of visionaries who are actively engaged in alternatives to these systems.

How do we move to relationship-based partnerships ? To be in relationship with artists and arts leaders in any community requires program staff to be rigorous in learning about artists, experiencing the work, and understanding how they are creating and where they are finding support. We know the systems of support are different by geographic region and by location—rural, remote, or urban. Artists who are Black, Indigenous, Native American or people of color (BIPOC); artists with disabilities; LGBTQ; and women tech-centered artists are impacted by the biases pervasive in every sector, though the arts and technology sector is much more diverse than the tech sector. There is no singular path to support for tech-centered artists, but given the values of this sector, the nuanced paths are discoverable. Practitioners are actively creating their own means of distribution and are freely sharing information and creating open access to their ecosystem, such as artist/technologist Amelia Winger-Bearskin ’s Wampum.codes and LaJuné McMillian’s Black Movement Project (BMP).

How do we center those most impacted in designing supportive grantmaking processes? “Nothing about us, without us, is for us,” the rallying call from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, is a refrain that helps focus this idea. Participatory and equitable grantmaking practices shift the decision-making from funders to the tech-centered arts community, which has the most knowledge and experience to inform the grant process, as well as accountability to their community. This changes the funder role from arbiter to facilitator and gives agency to the artists and arts leaders involved. The community develops the grant strategies and guidelines, shapes the application process and materials, and implements the grant-selection process and funding decisions, whether by panel, nomination, lottery, or some other process.   Jerome Foundation involves artists in every aspect of the organization—on our board, staff, and selection panels. We engage artists to inform the development of our programs. We are constantly adjusting our applications and work sample parameters based on feedback from artists. Our goal is to provide a process in which artists feel they can be their authentic selves and share materials that best communicate their work to panelists. In navigating the question of artistic disciplines, we invite artists to share how they self-define and what words they use to describe their work. Tech-centered art-making is a compendium of intersections: from a filmmaker exposing coded bias ( Shalini Kantayya ); to an immersive theater artist ( Janani Balasubramanian ) collaborating with astrophysicists on a project integrating new media, augmented and virtual reality, film, and literary fiction; to a composer ( Kathy McTavish ) working to humanize AI; to a creative technologist and media artist ( LaJune McMillian ) creating open-source motion-capture databases.

What are meaningful and generative funding levels? Funder expectations around appropriate levels of funding must be considered. Work with technology is complex, requiring access to skills, experience, and equipment that is expensive and rarely mastered by one person. The ethos of this sphere is collaborative and work with specialists is a necessity. Projects that authentically engage community members in the design, development, and implementation of a technology-based project will likely have an extended timeline and require considerable compensation for participation. Immersive digital performance experiences require a scale of production beyond what is typical for more traditionally staged theatrical works. Access to the tools and technology and time for coding or data-gathering are cost-prohibitive without institutional support. The call from this sector (and all arts sectors) is for increased flexibility: multiyear fellowships for artists or collectives/collaboratives; flexible general operating support for organizations; and support for field research, convenings, development of infrastructure, and collaborative initiatives that help create open-source tools, code, and practices.

Extending funding to commercial entities should be initiated and informed by artists and arts leaders because there is great risk for exploitation by profit-driven companies. The interest from the tech field in working with artists is strong. Artists are making a clear push to maintain their work in a democratized, non-capitalist space. Funders should beware of the interest by big and small tech companies to monetize this work. A simple rule of thumb: fund the artists and arts organizations directly rather than an intermediary. Give artists the agency to decide if they want to work with a tech company.

Artists working with technology are fostering integrated approaches to creating and experiencing art, addressing social and cultural issues, defining equitable and justice-based ways of working, and developing tools that help us adapt and thrive in the face of many challenges. Artists in this expansive and fluid sphere deserve the same respect and recognition for their work as that bestowed on older, more familiar forms. Funders must begin to prioritize this sphere, through relationship, partnership, funding, and advocacy. The call from artists is for radical trust and radical change. We are all witness to their radical vision and radical practice. I call on funders to respond with radical investment!

Eleanor Savage (pronoun flexible) is program director at Jerome Foundation , living on the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Dakota Oyate (also called Minneapolis, Minnesota). As a white butch, civic-minded, anti-racist advocate, Savage has focused their work in the field of arts philanthropy on racial equity and undoing racism.

Savage acknowledges this essay is directly informed by the work of artists of color, and specifically by Black and Native American women, transgender, queer, and butch artists. Additionally, Savage credits the Twin Cities Theaters of Color Coalition, the Minnesota Racial Equity Funders Collaborative, the Minnesota Artist Coalition -Radical Shifts initiative, Penumbra Center for Racial Healing , Grantmakers in the Arts and justice-minded artists, arts leaders, and philanthropic colleagues far and wide for ongoing learnings and accountability around racial equity and anti-racism practice.

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impact of technology on art essay

FAD Magazine

FAD Magazine covers contemporary art – News, Exhibitions and Interviews reported on from London

Embracing a New Era: The Impact of Drawing Tablets on Digital Art

By Gaston La-Gaffe • 10 May 2024 Share —      

impact of technology on art essay

The industry of drawing tablets has recently changed the way artists can create their  favourite titles  digitally, bringing together traditional and digital forms of realisation. The world of digital art is going through a dramatic change with the advent of drawing tablets. This essay will convey a dual perspective, showing the internal evolution of the theme and how the drawing tablet world passed from an initial disbelief to a full-reaching acceptance of the artist community while exploring the development, age and fascinating future of drawing tablets. Welcome to this complex interactive and multilayered change in the world of digital arts. Recently the art of drawing tablets has changed several things of the old art of digital drawing. The art world has overcome its doubts and is now fully embracing the multiple possibilities offered by drawing tablets. 

From Skepticism to Acceptance

Most traditional art practitioners were against digital art from the start, considering it a lesser form of expression than drawing or painting on canvas. Artists then, though working with digital media, brought with them the basic tools that would become the basis for the creation of drawing tablets. In turn, the perceived mind/body disconnect receded for as long as artists used those tools. 

Concerns over authenticity – would technology capture the ‘spirit’ and ‘feel’ of traditional art? – combined with the explicit detour between the artist and their work, provoked suspicion of digital art. In the view of many, artists could and would lose control of the tools and media, affecting both artistic production and reception. As artists delved deeper into digital tools for making art, however, abundant possibilities appeared: drawing tablets would allow you to make precise, detailed work through the possibility of error correction, reworking and playing with diverse ‘brushes’ and ‘textures’.

The people who make, sell and buy art eventually came to see that there were indeed opportunities to be explored in digital art and drawing tablets (interestingly, such misgivings had also met analog art and drawing tablets). Artists also realised that, somehow, they could harness the benefits of new digital techniques – being able to blend high-tech innovation with craft – to achieve visual effects that might not easily be achieved in other ways. With subversion, some professionals accepted the possibility of working with digital tools in new ways, and a new era of digital art – which has delighted many audiences around the world – seems to have been born from this.

Introduction of Drawing Tablets

Digital painting at the time seemed to herald an exciting new world of artistic possibilities: drawing tablets seemed like the long-awaited marriage between traditional freehand creative vision and virtual media, which would finally allow artists to seamlessly translate their freehand vision to the virtual canvas. Early drawing tablets granted artists a higher degree of freedom than before: they could add digital details and flow while maintaining the feel of a hand-drawn piece.

The introduction of  drawing tablets  signalled a new era in the world of digital art, providing artists with a tool that closely resembled the tactile experience of traditional drawing and painting. The ability to use a stylus to directly interact with a digital canvas revolutionised and enhanced the intuitiveness and naturalness of the creative process. Since it offered a comfortable transition to the new medium, this innovation attracted a lot of traditional artists who had previously been reluctant to try their hand at digital art.

Evolution and Innovation

The world of drawing tablets has seen progress and advancement in times. Modern devices now boast features like tilt response, enhanced pressure sensitivity and the ability to draw directly on the screen. These advancements have successfully recreated the tactile feel of drawing on paper, revolutionising the user experience and opening up possibilities for artists. As a result, artists can blend techniques with tools to explore the boundaries of artistic expression.

Moreover, the widespread adoption of drawing tablets has paved the way for creative communities to reshape how art is created and consumed. Thanks to drawing tablets, people from different backgrounds can easily engage in pursuits democratising art creation processes. Furthermore, events like  Digital Week London 2024  offer platforms for artists to present their work globally and connect with an audience. These gatherings foster collaboration among creators worldwide and create a sense of community that enriches the art landscape.

The Horizon of Future Innovations

These devices might be able to blend with augmented reality tools, revolutionising how we engage with and perceive art. Envision having the ability to fully submerge oneself in a digital piece of art, scrutinising it from every angle and viewpoint. It’s an exciting possibility that may deepen our appreciation and comprehension of art in previously undiscovered ways.

The fields of art and culture have already been profoundly impacted by drawing on tablets. From specialised instruments, they have developed into indispensable parts of the artist’s toolbox. By bridging the gap between traditional and digital forms, drawing tablets have increased art’s accessibility and inclusivity. They have enabled artists to produce and exhibit their work globally, fostering a livelier and more varied creative community

  • DIGITAL ART
  • digital art
  • Drawing Tablets
  • illustration
  • illustration & graphic design

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Gaston La-Gaffe

Gaston is a Belgian writer born in 1975. He writes on various subjects, Health, Fashion, Technology, CBD and Art for various publications including Spirou. He is based in Brussels.

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AI art show shakes up perceptions of art and technology

AI art show shakes up perceptions of art and technology

Images of two ancient Roman marble busts. One of the images was created by artificial intelligence, and the other is of a bust that was created by an actual sculptor in the second century CE. The image of the analog sculpture is courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum (artwork in the public domain). Can you guess which one is which? The answer can be found at the bottom of the page.

By Jordan Rogers

“Fool Me Once,” a two-site art exhibition focusing on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in visual art production, wowed students at the University of Miami when it opened this spring.

Nathan Timpano, associate professor and chair of the art and art history department at the College of Arts and Sciences , and Mark Osterman, the assistant director for technology and engagement at the Lowe Art Museum , collaborated with students enrolled in the ArtLab @ the Lowe course to curate the exhibit. The College offers this course every spring to students interested in gaining hands-on work experience in the museum field.

The “Fool Me Once” show, which opened on April 22, displays pairs of images of the same art object—one human-made and one AI-generated—and asks viewers to decide which image is which.

“The idea is to see if students are tricked or not into thinking that they are looking at the work of an actual artist,” Timpano said. “We drew from actual objects in the Lowe’s permanent collection that we believed look like they could have been created by AI software, but were, in fact, created by actual artists.”

Osterman and his team at the Lowe Art Museum—Tola Porter, the museum educator for academic and public programs, and Caitlin Swindell, a former curator for collections and exhibitions—supported on the technological side.

“The museum team took digital images from the Lowe’s database and fed these files into AI software,” Timpano explained. “The software generated a word description of these digital images, which we then inputted into a different AI software. The images that the second AI software generated were placed next to the actual works of art.”

The exhibition, which will run until December 22, 2024, prompts visitors to register their initial impressions, important data for understanding how people engage with the images. Visitors scan a QR code with their phones and take a survey, which asks them to guess which images were created by AI software.

In addition to the visual, the exhibit also explores the role of AI in creating written content in the context of an art space.

“We have two different didactic wall texts when visitors come into the exhibition spaces,” Timpano explained. “Students in the ArtLab course and I wrote one of the descriptive texts, so it was human-generated and analog. The other wall text was completely written by AI.”

As is the case with the images, the survey asks visitors to distinguish between the human-generated and AI-generated texts.

Thematically speaking, “Fool Me Once” features objects in the Lowe collection that address nature and the environment. “The Lowe Art Museum was also opening an exhibit on animals around the same time. We wanted the two projects to speak to each other,” Timpano explained.

The main exhibition was installed in the College’s new advising lounge in Suite 140 in the Ashe Administration Building. “We designed the show to activate that space and to allow for greater interaction between undergraduate students and those works of art,” Timpano said.

The Lowe has also joined in on the exhibit’s visual fun, hosting a smaller section of the exhibit on one of its walls. By extending “Fool Me Once” across two sites, Timpano and his team aim to have as wide a conversation as possible about the work and the questions it raises.

"Utilizing AI in curatorial and educational practices within museums presents transformative opportunities in how exhibits are conceptualized, curated, designed, and interpreted,” Osterman said. “However, challenges such as ensuring ethical use, maintaining authenticity, creativity, and originality must be carefully navigated to advance learning and cultural preservation in a provocative and meaningful way."

Addressing AI’s application to art also provided a valuable learning experience for this year’s ArtLab students.

“AI software can be scary because it is a new technology. But I think if we understand its potential as well as the pitfalls involved, we can use that as a pretty amazing tool in educating students,” Timpano said. “Obviously, AI is here to stay. However, moving forward, teaching our students how to properly utilize it is only going to be a boon for their future careers and for future course offerings on AI here at the University."

Answer to the question in the photo caption: The image on the left is of a bust that was created by an actual sculptor. The image on the right was created by artificial intelligence.

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How Technology Affects Our Lives – Essay

Do you wish to explore the use of information technology in daily life? Essays like the one below discuss this topic in depth. Read on to find out more.

Introduction

Technology in communication, technology in healthcare, technology in government, technology in education, technology in business, negative impact of technology.

Technology is a vital component of life in the modern world. People are so dependent on technology that they cannot live without it. Technology is important and useful in all areas of human life today. It has made life easy and comfortable by making communication and transport faster and easier (Harrington, 2011, p.35).

It has made education accessible to all and has improved healthcare services. Technology has made the world smaller and a better place to live. Without technology, fulfilling human needs would be a difficult task. Before the advent of technology, human beings were still fulfilling their needs. However, with technology, fulfillment of needs has become easier and faster.

It is unimaginable how life would be without technology. Technology is useful in the following areas: transport, communication, interaction, education, healthcare, and business (Harrington, 2011, p.35). Despite its benefits, technology has negative impacts on society. Examples of negative impacts of technology include the development of controversial medical practices such as stem cell research and the embracement of solitude due to changes in interaction methods. For example, social media has changed the way people interact.

Technology has led to the introduction of cloning, which is highly controversial because of its ethical and moral implications. The growth of technology has changed the world significantly and has influenced life in a great way. Technology is changing every day and continuing to influence areas of communication, healthcare, governance, education, and business.

Technology has contributed fundamentally in improving people’s lifestyles. It has improved communication by incorporating the Internet and devices such as mobile phones into people’s lives. The first technological invention to have an impact on communication was the discovery of the telephone by Graham Bell in 1875.

Since then, other inventions such as the Internet and the mobile phone have made communication faster and easier. For example, the Internet has improved ways through which people exchange views, opinions, and ideas through online discussions (Harrington, 2011, p.38). Unlike in the past when people who were in different geographical regions could not easily communicate, technology has eradicated that communication barrier. People in different geographical regions can send and receive messages within seconds.

Online discussions have made it easy for people to keep in touch. In addition, they have made socializing easy. Through online discussions, people find better solutions to problems by exchanging opinions and ideas (Harrington, 2011, p.39). Examples of technological inventions that facilitate online discussions include emails, online forums, dating websites, and social media sites.

Another technological invention that changed communication was the mobile phone. In the past, people relied on letters to send messages to people who were far away. Mobile phones have made communication efficient and reliable. They facilitate both local and international communication.

In addition, they enable people to respond to emergencies and other situations that require quick responses. Other uses of cell phones include the transfer of data through applications such as infrared and Bluetooth, entertainment, and their use as miniature personal computers (Harrington, 2011, p.40).

The latest versions of mobile phones are fitted with applications that enable them to access the Internet. This provides loads of information in diverse fields for mobile phone users. For business owners, mobile phones enhance the efficiency of their business operations because they are able to keep in touch with their employees and suppliers (Harrington, 2011, p.41). In addition, they are able to receive any information about the progress of their business in a short period of time.

Technology has contributed significantly to the healthcare sector. For example, it has made vital contributions in the fields of disease prevention and health promotion. Technology has aided in the understanding of the pathophysiology of diseases, which has led to the prevention of many diseases. For example, understanding the pathophysiology of the gastrointestinal tract and blood diseases has aided in their effective management (Harrington, 2011, p.49).

Technology has enabled practitioners in the medical field to make discoveries that have changed the healthcare sector. These include the discovery that peptic ulceration is caused by a bacterial infection and the development of drugs to treat schizophrenia and depressive disorders that afflict a greater portion of the population (Harrington, 2011, p.53). The development of vaccines against polio and measles led to their total eradication.

Children who are vaccinated against these diseases are not at risk of contracting the diseases. The development of vaccines was facilitated by technology, without which certain diseases would still be causing deaths in great numbers. Vaccines play a significant role in disease prevention.

Technology is used in health promotion in different ways. First, health practitioners use various technological methods to improve health care. eHealth refers to the use of information technology to improve healthcare by providing information on the Internet to people. In this field, technology is used in three main ways.

These include its use as an intervention tool, its use in conducting research studies, and its use for professional development (Lintonen et al, 2008, p. 560). According to Lintonenet al (2008), “e-health is the use of emerging information and communications technology, especially the internet, to improve or enable health and healthcare.” (p.560). It is largely used to support health care interventions that are mainly directed towards individual persons. Secondly, it is used to improve the well-being of patients during recovery.

Bedside technology has contributed significantly in helping patients recover. For example, medical professionals have started using the Xbox computer technology to develop a revolutionary process that measures limb movements in stroke patients (Tanja-Dijkstra, 2011, p.48). This helps them recover their manual competencies. The main aim of this technology is to help stroke patients do more exercises to increase their recovery rate and reduce the frequency of visits to the hospital (Lintonen et al, 2008, p. 560).

The government has utilized technology in two main areas. These include the facilitation of the delivery of citizen services and the improvement of defense and national security (Scholl, 2010, p.62). The government is spending large sums of money on wireless technologies, mobile gadgets, and technological applications. This is in an effort to improve their operations and ensure that the needs of citizens are fulfilled.

For example, in order to enhance safety and improve service delivery, Cisco developed a networking approach known as Connected Communities. This networking system connects citizens with the government and the community. The system was developed to improve the safety and security of citizens, improve service delivery by the government, empower citizens, and encourage economic development.

The government uses technology to provide information and services to citizens. This encourages economic development and fosters social inclusion (Scholl, 2010, p.62). Technology is also useful in improving national security and the safety of citizens. It integrates several wireless technologies and applications that make it easy for security agencies to access and share important information effectively. Technology is widely used by security agencies to reduce vulnerability to terrorism.

Technologically advanced gadgets are used in airports, hospitals, shopping malls, and public buildings to screen people for explosives and potentially dangerous materials or gadgets that may compromise the safety of citizens (Bonvillian and Sharp, 2001, par2). In addition, security agencies use surveillance systems to restrict access to certain areas. They also use technologically advanced screening and tracking methods to improve security in places that are prone to terrorist attacks (Bonvillian and Sharp, 2001, par3).

Technology has made significant contributions in the education sector. It is used to enhance teaching and learning through the use of different technological methods and resources. These include classrooms with digital tools such as computers that facilitate learning, online learning schools, blended learning, and a wide variety of online learning resources (Barnett, 1997, p.74). Digital learning tools that are used in classrooms facilitate learning in different ways. They expand the scope of learning materials and experiences for students, improve student participation in learning, make learning easier and quick, and reduce the cost of education (Barnett, 1997, p.75). For example, online schools and free learning materials reduce the costs that are incurred in purchasing learning materials. They are readily available online. In addition, they reduce the expenses that are incurred in program delivery.

Technology has improved the process of teaching by introducing new methods that facilitate connected teaching. These methods virtually connect teachers to their students. Teachers are able to provide learning materials and the course content to students effectively. In addition, teachers are able to give students an opportunity to personalize learning and access all learning materials that they provide. Technology enables teachers to serve the academic needs of different students.

In addition, it enhances learning because the problem of distance is eradicated, and students can contact their teachers easily (Barnett, 1997, p.76). Technology plays a significant role in changing how teachers teach. It enables educators to evaluate the learning abilities of different students in order to devise teaching methods that are most efficient in the achievement of learning objectives.

Through technology, teachers are able to relate well with their students, and they are able to help and guide them. Educators assume the role of coaches, advisors, and experts in their areas of teaching. Technology helps make teaching and learning enjoyable and gives it meaning that goes beyond the traditional classroom set-up system (Barnett, 1997, p.81).

Technology is used in the business world to improve efficiency and increase productivity. Most important, technology is used as a tool to foster innovation and creativity (Ray, 2004, p.62). Other benefits of technology to businesses include the reduction of injury risk to employees and improved competitiveness in the markets. For example, many manufacturing businesses use automated systems instead of manual systems. These systems eliminate the costs of hiring employees to oversee manufacturing processes.

They also increase productivity and improve the accuracy of the processes because of the reduction of errors (Ray, 2004, p.63). Technology improves productivity due to Computer-aided Manufacturing (CAM), Computer-integrated Manufacturing (CIM), and Computer-aided Design (CAD). CAM reduces labor costs, increases the speed of production, and ensures a higher level of accuracy (Hunt, 2008, p.44). CIM reduces labor costs, while CAD improves the quality and standards of products and reduces the cost of production.

Another example of the use of technology in improving productivity and output is the use of database systems to store data and information. Many businesses store their data and other information in database systems that make accessibility of information fast, easy, and reliable (Pages, 2010, p.44).

Technology has changed how international business is conducted. With the advent of e-commerce, businesses became able to trade through the Internet on the international market (Ray, 2004, p.69). This means that there is a large market for products and services. In addition, it implies that most markets are open 24 hours a day.

For example, customers can shop for books or music on Amazon.com at any time of the day. E-commerce has given businesses the opportunity to expand and operate internationally. Countries such as China and Brazil are taking advantage of opportunities presented by technology to grow their economy.

E-commerce reduces the complexities involved in conducting international trade (Ray, 2004, p.71). Its many components make international trade easy and fast. For example, a BOES system allows merchants to execute trade transactions in any language or currency, monitor all steps involved in transactions, and calculate all costs involved, such as taxes and freight costs (Yates, 2006, p.426).

Financial researchers claim that a BOES system is capable of reducing the cost of an international transaction by approximately 30% (Ray, 2004, p.74). BOES enables businesses to import and export different products through the Internet. This system of trade is efficient and creates a fair environment in which small and medium-sized companies can compete with large companies that dominate the market.

Despite its many benefits, technology has negative impacts. It has negative impacts on society because it affects communication and has changed the way people view social life. First, people have become more anti-social because of changes in methods of socializing (Harrington, 2008, p.103). Today, one does not need to interact physically with another person in order to establish a relationship.

The Internet is awash with dating sites that are full of people looking for partners and friends. The ease of forming friendships and relationships through the Internet has discouraged many people from engaging in traditional socializing activities. Secondly, technology has affected the economic statuses of many families because of high rates of unemployment. People lose jobs when organizations and businesses embrace technology (Harrington, 2008, p.105).

For example, many employees lose their jobs when manufacturing companies replace them with automated machines that are more efficient and cost-effective. Many families are struggling because of the lack of a constant stream of income. On the other hand, technology has led to the closure of certain companies because the world does not need their services. This is prompted by technological advancements.

For example, the invention of digital cameras forced Kodak to close down because people no longer needed analog cameras. Digital cameras replaced analog cameras because they are easy to use and efficient. Many people lost their jobs due to changes in technology. Thirdly, technology has made people lazy and unwilling to engage in strenuous activities (Harrington, 2008, p.113).

For example, video games have replaced physical activities that are vital in improving the health of young people. Children spend a lot of time watching television and playing video games such that they have little or no time for physical activities. This has encouraged the proliferation of unhealthy eating habits that lead to conditions such as diabetes.

Technology has elicited heated debates in the healthcare sector. Technology has led to medical practices such as stem cell research, implant embryos, and assisted reproduction. Even though these practices have been proven viable, they are highly criticized on the grounds of their moral implications on society.

There are many controversial medical technologies, such as gene therapy, pharmacogenomics, and stem cell research (Hunt, 2008, p.113). The use of genetic research in finding new cures for diseases is imperative and laudable. However, the medical implications of these disease treatment methods and the ethical and moral issues associated with the treatment methods are critical. Gene therapy is mostly rejected by religious people.

They claim that it is against natural law to alter the gene composition of a person in any way (Hunt, 2008, p.114). The use of embryonic stem cells in research is highly controversial, unlike the use of adult stem cells. The controversy exists because of the source of the stem cells. The cells are obtained from embryos. There is a belief among many people that life starts after conception.

Therefore, using embryos in research means killing them to obtain their cells for research. The use of embryo cells in research is considered in the same light as abortion: eliminating a life (Hunt, 2008, p.119). These issues have led to disagreements between the science and the religious worlds.

Technology is a vital component of life in the modern world. People are so dependent on technology that they cannot live without it. Technology is important and useful in all areas of human life today.

It has made life easy and comfortable by making communication faster and travel faster, making movements between places easier, making actions quick, and easing interactions. Technology is useful in the following areas of life: transport, communication, interaction, education, healthcare, and business. Despite its benefits, technology has negative impacts on society.

Technology has eased communication and transport. The discovery of the telephone and the later invention of the mobile phone changed the face of communication entirely. People in different geographical regions can communicate easily and in record time. In the field of health care, technology has made significant contributions in disease prevention and health promotion. The development of vaccines has eradicated certain diseases, and the use of the Internet is vital in promoting health and health care.

The government uses technology to enhance the delivery of services to citizens and the improvement of defense and security. In the education sector, teaching and learning processes have undergone significant changes owing to the impact of technology. Teachers are able to relate to different types of learners, and the learners have access to various resources and learning materials. Businesses benefit from technology through the reduction of costs and increased efficiency of business operations.

Despite the benefits, technology has certain disadvantages. It has negatively affected human interactions and socialization and has led to widespread unemployment. In addition, its application in the healthcare sector has elicited controversies due to certain medical practices such as stem cell research and gene therapy. Technology is very important and has made life easier and more comfortable than it was in the past.

Barnett, L. (1997). Using Technology in Teaching and Learning . New York: Routledge.

Bonvillian, W., and Sharp, K. (2011). Homeland Security Technology . Retrieved from https://issues.org/bonvillian/ .

Harrington, J. (2011). Technology and Society . New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Hunt, S. (2008). Controversies in Treatment Approaches: Gene Therapy, IVF, Stem Cells and Pharmagenomics. Nature Education , 19(1), 112-134.

Lintonen, P., Konu, A., and Seedhouse, D. (2008). Information Technology in Health Promotion. Health Education Research , 23(3), 560-566.

Pages, J., Bikifalvi, A., and De Castro Vila, R. (2010). The Use and Impact of Technology in Factory Environments: Evidence from a Survey of Manufacturing Industry in Spain. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology , 47(1), 182-190.

Ray, R. (2004). Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses . New York: AMACOM Div American Management Association.

Scholl, H. (2010). E-government: Information, Technology and Transformation . New York: M.E. Sharpe.

Tanja-Dijkstra, K. (2011). The Impact of Bedside Technology on Patients’ Well-Being. Health Environments Research & Design Journal (HERD) , 5(1), 43-51.

Yates, J. (2006). How Business Enterprises use Technology: Extending the Demand-Side Turn. Enterprise and Society , 7(3), 422-425.

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