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Jessica Fisher
Prof. Aievoli
Art 85
Paper 5
In this last paper it will be a full circle of everything we have covered this semester in art history. We will be comparing a lot of different ideas we’ve learned to digital art, flash websites, and digital portfolios. Also looking at Lev Manovich’s book, “The Language of New Media,” and from Kant and Hume we will decide whether digital art is really is a form of art now a days or if classical art of paper and paint is really the only true form of art still. Or whether art is just in the eye of the beholder and really anything that anyone produces can be art.
Here are some brief ideas Kant and Hume have on art; “Yet rather than communicate according to established conventions, genius involves originality in which “nature gives the rule to art.” Kant elaborates that the soul or spirit is a question of content, not form. Spirit is present when a work prompts the viewers imagination,”(Kant on Fine Art). Kant is saying here that if you’re original and spark the viewers imagination that’s art too and that nature rules over art. So a person’s environment influences art. So if a person’s environment develops more advance with technology, then art will develop differently with technology too. Hume says, “Five factors must come together: “Strong sense, united to delicate sentiment, improved by practice, perfected by comparison, and cleared of all prejudice,”(Outline of Hume’s Theory). Hume is saying when it comes to art people who have a strong sense and cleared of all prejudice can make anything art. So in our case art is in the eye of the beholder and digital art can be a form of art.
Looking at the Whitney art port there’s a lot of different websites and videos. This site is for digital art and for this paper we’re deciding if any of these sites are really art or not. Some of these flash websites on this site I would say are art, and some of them I would say aren’t. One example I think is art is The Battle of Algiers that was launched March 1, 2006. What it is, is the movie Battle of Algiers from 1965 from an Italian director Gillo Pontecrvo. This movie is about the Algerian nationalist struggle to get independence from France in 1962. In this flash website there’s little icons that are on the screen and they keep moving and changing, when you click on one the image becomes bigger and you can see what the image really is. In this case I think this is art, because it has a message its trying to get across, and when the image is small you can’t really understand what’s going on like you’re removed from the situation but then up close you understand the real meaning behind it. I could see something like this in the MOMA. Some other websites on the Whitney art port don’t really see as art at all. There is this one project called, “The Dumpster.” It’s a site where there’s a bunch of dots and each dot you click on a box pops up about someone’s break up that a person posted on a blog. This I don’t really think of as art in my opinion I think it’s kind of boring and pointless, like I picture some art person thinking too hard to think of something that is so different and is like “wow this is so deep.”
Another example of a flash website is a website called, “Riot.” It’s a web browser that builds its page by combining text, images, and links from the recent pages that any Riot user has surfed. This page was made by Mark Napier in 2000. In a way this is art because if you get the right out come it’s like a huge collage, but most of time its just a lot of text all piled on top of each other and is kind of a mess.
In the book by Lev Manovich called “The Language of New Media.” Lev writes, “One general effect of the digital revolution is that avant-garde aesthetic strategies came to be embedded in the commands and interface metaphors of computer software. In short, the avant-garde became materialized in a computer.” Lev’s is saying because of the digital revolution in art the computer has became an art material itself. He also goes on saying, “Digital cinema technology is a case in point. The avant-garde strategy of collage reemerged as the “cut and paste” command, the most basic operation one can perform on digital data. The idea of painting on film became embedded in paint functions of film-editing software. The avant-garde move to combine animation, printed texts, and live action footage is repeated in the convergence of animation, title generation, paint, compositing, and editing systems into all in one packages,”(Lev, The Language of New Media). Lev is saying because of the computer and digital technology that all these things can become one in art. That it’s all brought together.
In my opinion I agree with what Lev is saying I do think digital art is art, but I think certain things in digital art is art, I don’t think it’s all art. Some flash websites on Whitney Artport is art but I don’t think it all is. I agree with what Hume and Kant are saying on their takes on art, and I do believe that art is subjective and digital art is just as subjective and is really in the eye of the beholder. Just because I don’t think a lot of flash websites aren’t really art and are kind of silly doesn’t mean my thoughts are fact. I think this way, but someone else will totally get it and think it’s art and the most beautiful thing ever. It’s really what each individual thinks is special to them and what kind of meaning they get out of it.
Work Cited
1. Theodore Gracyk. “Aesthetic theories of David Hume and Immanuel Kant.” Philosophy Of Art. 2006.
2. Manovich Lev. “Language of New Media.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
2001.
3. Napier, Mark. “RIOT.” POTATOLAND.org 2000.
http://www.potatoland.org/riot/.
4. Treasurecrumbs. “Whitney ArtPort.” Artport 1.0. February 2002.
