At the end of April the Frankston Arts Centre is presenting an award winning comedy by the hilarious Fiona Scott-Norman. The show bemoans the loss of the vinyl record and blames that loss and the development of electronic music on the increasing unease and violence in club culture. Through her warm and charming manner and comically delivered arguments, Fiona proposes that the demise of partner-dancing and disco music has paved the way for electronic dance music and has encouraged social anarchy. “If we brought back light-hearted disco music, street violence would disappear; if we brought back partner-dancing, social order would resume.”
This got me thinking about evolution and ‘progress’ in a broader arts arena. What impacts are new technologies and new art forms having on the evolution of art as we know and perceive it?
I think of something like the Mona Lisa. An image we are all very familiar with because multi-media, photography and printing exist. In the not too dim past – we are only talking a mere 100 years or so – we have gone from perhaps not even knowing that the Mona Lisa existed or to being able to have the image at our fingertips whenever and wherever we want without having to stand in long lines at the Louvre. Does the experience of seeing the painting reproduced; diminish the experience of it in ‘real life’ – or even the impetus to want to see it in real life? I guess the lines at the Louvre speak for themselves in answer to that, and I think that having the ability to have the Mona Lisa as the wallpaper on my computer actually enhances my engagement with it. I for one am still keen to stand in line.
I think of something like the Mona Lisa. An image we are all very familiar with because multi-media, photography and printing exist. In the not too dim past – we are only talking a mere 100 years or so – we have gone from perhaps not even knowing that the Mona Lisa existed or to being able to have the image at our fingertips whenever and wherever we want without having to stand in long lines at the Louvre. Does the experience of seeing the painting reproduced; diminish the experience of it in ‘real life’ – or even the impetus to want to see it in real life? I guess the lines at the Louvre speak for themselves in answer to that, and I think that having the ability to have the Mona Lisa as the wallpaper on my computer actually enhances my engagement with it. I for one am still keen to stand in line.
So then, there is the whole concept of new art – or digital art; art that is created and facilitated by new technologies. Frankston will be exploring more and more digital arts as expressions of our culture over the coming months as an extension to the digital arts we have been presenting in the past. Digital art is still a very new and fresh field and brings an opportunity for dialogue about difference and relevance. There is no difference to me in how a piece of art is created – and that goes for music as well. There are just different expressions of the same journey. Whether art is created by getting my hands dirty or by taps on a keyboard is irrelevant. Whether I look or listen to that art on a vinyl record, paint on canvas or as a digital image on my computer is also neither here nor there. As we engage more with the digital world every day, I would think that digital art is potentially more relevant. Whether or not it is responsible for the demise of a decent society is a much broader question.
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