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| Dance is an irreproducible performance art |
As computer programming becomes the new blue-collar occupation, humans increasingly become dependent on technology as it continues to play a growing role in our present and future. With these advances, the display of art becomes decreasingly unique. Prior to cameras and computers, every piece of art was a performance art, unique and not able to be reproduced. As Walter Benjamin said in
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, "Replicas were made by pupils in practice of their craft, by masters for diffusing their works, and, finally, by third parties in the pursuit of gain." However, the reproductions of others incorporate their own styles, and even reproduction through stamps or presses had small, individual variances. With the rise of digital art, whether created on a computer, scanned into one or photographed, each piece is exactly like the other, down to the pixel, imperfections an impossibility. Anyone can download, possibly modify and repost these images. This has certain advantages and disadvantages, but one consequence is the refocus to the processes of the creation of art: an end product is not necessarily unique, but displaying the processes is undeniably human. In popular media, this contrast to the mechanization of art is shown through the rising popularity of performance arts. One such example is displayed below: (
in case embed fails)
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Personal project; example of
the glitch method sonification |
A more direct opposition to the automation of art is "glitch art". In theory, all glitch art is unintentional, and therefore completely irreducible, but in practice an effect is usually forced. A personal favorite technique is image sonification, in which an image is converted to raw data, processed in an audio editing program, and converted back to an image with unpredictable effects.
References:
Vesna, Victoria. "Robotics." YouTube. YouTube, 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
Dance. Digital image. Julliard. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Walter Benjamin. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
Labedzki, Annette. "Instagram Post by Annette Labedzki." Instagram. N.p., 24 Mar. 2017. Web.
Weber, Ryan. "布施 達哉 (@ryamweben)." Instagram. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
Thank you for sharing these two examples of how artists are creating unique digital art. Many of the sources we explored in this unit, especially Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," spoke in such ultimatums, but human adaptation is never completely predictable. New technology can also give us the opportunity to be innovative in new ways that could never have been predicted. It's nice to see that original art is not truly dying, as some people believe.
ReplyDeleteHi Ryan, it is definitely interesting to think that to see a piece of art the way that the original artist created it before computers was not possible. To do so you would have to physically go to the performance (not watch a film about it) or go look at the painting (instead of a photo of it)
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