Abstract
Bound up with the apparent technological miracles of new media are a variety of persistent problems related to rapid obsolescence. Artists who embrace new technology, and the immateriality of the digital, find more than just convenience and opportunities. Creatives who engage with media innovation are especially vulnerable to instabilities of tools, media formats, and platforms. Social memory is adversely impacted by these upheavals, which have been especially disruptive for experimental interactive media and visionary media art. Since before the advent of the personal computer, countless cultural artifacts have died on the vine. The maelstrom of transformation that affects media platforms and technologies raises important questions about how artists should organize to assert more continuity, control, and autonomy. How are practical and tactical experience passed on when media contexts disappear overnight like circuses? An intoxicating blend of presuppositions – about technological progress, empowerment of the individual producer, and cyber-liberation – excites exuberance for the new. But innovative, creative technological practices don’t escape the industrial hangover for long as systems evolve, platforms fold, and code languages change. So that participants may understand these dynamics better, there is a need for more media archeology and retrospectives to reveal the entropy, deferred dreams, and regression that are concealed in today’s media culture.
Presenters
Andy DeckAssistant Professor of Art, Art, State University of New York at Oneonta, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
New Media, Technology and the Arts
KEYWORDS
Obsolescence, Stability, Independence, Technology, Transformation, Media, Art, Empowerment, Interactivity, Innovation
