New Media Reader Intro 2

In his article, Lev Manovich discusses, amongst other topics, the new media art in relation to the more conservative art world of museums and galleries.  New media art, he explained, had difficulty attracting attention because of opposing agendas of the two worlds:  that of the typical art world and that of the new media world.

I found this point very interesting.  While reading the text, it made perfect sense.  I consider myself to be a relatively creative person -- much more artistically inclined than scientifically.  When I hear the words "computer" or "hypertext," I usually automatically assume that I will have difficulty understanding what will come next -- the computer science world is intimidating without even actually knowing what it really means.  When I hear art-related words, I feel more at home.  I can easily attach meaning to "installation art" or "exhibition." 

The idea of these conflicting fields -- the conservative art world vs. the new media art world is something I'm looking forward to continuing to examine.

One of Manovich's other points which I found interesting among the conflicting agenda's of the traditional art world vs. the new media art world is the issue of authorship.  My sister, who works in the post-war and contemporary department at Christie's auction house, always talks about the increasing difficulty of selling Warhol's.  Many of Warhol's paintings were done by his studio, which means that one is never truly certain whether Warhol himself created the art by hand or whether one of his friends, in his studio, was the person who applied the paint.  Because of this, it is extremely difficult to appraise his work.  Authorship in the art world is, many times, all that matters.  If it has a good name, it will sell for more, whether or not the piece of art is necessarily aesthetically pleasing to the collector.  

In the digital age, authorship, as Manovich explains, is relatively non-existent.  While working as an intern at Seventeen Magazine, I frequently posted small articles in their "Buzz" section in the website.  Never was my name put on the articles I wrote, never was there a way to prove that I wrote it.

Introduction to The New Media Reader

Most of the textbooks I have read both in high school and at university have been hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pages of well-researched fat.  History textbooks have informed me of  what happened hundreds of thousands of years ago and how it affected countries years after.  Science textbooks have shown me how developed our knowledge of biology or chemistry has become since the days of Galileo and the like.

The New Media Reader, on the other hand, is doing something different, as apparent in the introduction.  Instead of giving a historical, permanent account of a subject, it is collecting ideas on a developing subject, one with an vast array of opinion and thought.  

In one of my Gallatin classes, Objectivity and the Politics of the Journalistic Revolution, the professor said that one of the most fascinating things when thinking about all of this new media that continuously becomes more and more developed, is that for one of the first times in history, the younger generations know more about what is going on than the older generations do.  "...[T]he term 'new media' is a sign of our current confusion about where...efforts are leading and...[the] breathless...pace of change..." (3).

Everything from Internet development to the mass production of the iPod has significantly effected my generation, and those younger and older than me.  IN my opinion, this is predominantly because, as a result of the time period in which I was born, I have been able to escape more frequently, get out of difficult situation, etc., because of the constant developments in technology.  My mother always used to tell me that she was amazed at how much we spoke to one another after I went to college.  When she was in college, she would tell me, there was one phone --in the hallway of her dorm -- and you were lucky if you had the chance to use it, and even luckier if you managed to get a message.

The introduction to the text talks about the computer as a physical place, one that can be entered--and as seen in the Guild series, this idea is widely accepted.  While I don't personally play online games, I can relate to using technology to enter into a different realm -- non-face-to-face.  Frequently, I can be found during high stress times listening to my iPod on high volume, consciously trying to look unavailable to those around me even if I am physically in the room.  The ability to carry around a small device with good sound that can hold every one of my favorite, stress-reducing, songs, has enabled me to virtually carry around my other world in my school-bag, and as long as it is charged, I can disappear for a little.