From M/Cyclopedia of New Media
Personal Details
Hello!
My name is Heike Sabine Herrling and I am a Journalism and Law student at the Queensland University of Technology.
I am currently in my 2nd year of studies and will have completed both of my degrees in 2008.
To learn more about me visit my personal website. There you will find examples of my work from last year.
New Media Topic: Digital Art
As a subsidiary to New Media Art or Multimedia Art, Digital Arts and Digitised Arts are changing the way we see, interact with and understand the concept of art.
Below is an annotated bibliography outlining the research I have done on this topic so far:
Annotated Bibliography
Book References
Art meets Innovation
- Bolter, J. and Gromala, D. (2003) Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparence, Cambridge; Mass.: MIT Press, ISBN 0262025450.
- Mirrors and Windows explores the relationship between Digital Art and innovation in the practice of interaction design. It becomes apparent early in the text that the authors consider computers as a media to be a continually emerging media, that is always attempting to define itself. Whilst focusing on the SIGGRAPH 2000 Art Show, they document the turning of a new millennium and its implications on the field of interaction design.
- This book discusses the digital experience, saying “To design a digital artifact is to choreograph the experience that the user will have�?. The text continues on to talk about interface design in chapter 3. Diversity and materiality of new media art is also contemplated in this book.
- Whilst providing a detailed look at the computer as a form of media, this book guides us through the significance of digital art and its importance to informational technologists.
- Kimbell, L. (ed.) (2004) New Media Art: Practice and Context in the UK, 1994-2004, Manchester: Arts Council, England in association with Cornerhouse Publications, ISBN 0948797886.
- A collection of case studies, essays and discussions are presented in this text. The comprehensive cataloguing of new media art projects, which were supported by the Arts Council England, allows for an analysis of UK digital art from the decade ending 2004. The text also lends itself as a gateway to an almost infinite number of artists and other notable referees with in the field of new media and digital art.
- Many of these digital art works demonstrate common characteristics. These include: Computability, connectivity and interactivity. Using networked computers and other electronic media platforms, the artworks integrate text, moving imagery and sound.
- Essays include those outlining the history of new technologies in art, the question of identity in new media art and the consequences of this growth.
- This text is by far the most comprehensive look at digital art, its history, its themes and its ability as a tool and as a medium.
- After discovering a relatively short but detailed history of technologies involvement with art, the presentation, collection and preservation of digital art is discussed.
- Digital technologies are then looked at as a tool in digital imaging (i.e. photography and print) and sculpture.
- Discussion then moves to digital technologies as a medium. Forms of digital art are detailed, including installation pieces, film, video and animation; internet, software or virtual reality art. Not to mention an account of the influence sound and music has had on the growth of digital art.
- Common themes in digital are also catalogued in this text, providing great insight into the reoccurring subject matter for this form of media.
- Paul offers an umbrella introduction to the main issues surrounding this new media form of art whilst still exploring each topic with depth.
Heike Herrling 09:58, 12 Aug 2005 (EST)
Example Artists
- Zutter, J. (ed.) (2002) International New Media Art, Parkes; A.C.T: National Gallery of Australia.
- This book gives a very brief history of the exploration of new technologies in the art world. Focusing mainly on the growth of video: as a means of recording performance pieces and then eventually a means of new media, this text documents the first step towards the digitising of performance work.
- The National Gallery of Australia introduces the work of two successful artists who use video as a way of expressing themselves.
- Bruce Nauman and Gary Hill are used as examples of the first and second generation of video artists.
- With the move towards a complete digitisation of performance work using DVD technologies, this text’s documentation creates a history that demonstrates the experimentation that has lead us to this point.
Heike Herrling 09:59, 12 Aug 2005 (EST)
Electronic References
Online Communities & Projects
- Digital Art Source began in an effort to make digital art and culture more easily accessible. This site now acts as a porthole to information available on digital and new media art forms.
- The site catalogues a number of digital artists and collections.
- This Digital Performance Archive (DPA) is a major research project that follows the journey of development in digitally enhanced performance art. Whether it is by way of live performances that include the use of digital projection; or from webcast performances that occur in interactive virtual communities DPA traces its movement.
- This site also collates material on how computer technologies are being used to assist in the creation, documentation or analysis of performance. For example, the uses of choreography or theater design software.
- The site practically acts as a database of examples for digital performance art. Detailed descriptions of each artist and their works are given along with an explanation of the digital technologies involved in its workings.
- Experimenta exhibits a range of work in relatively unconventional performance or exhibition spaces. Its online environment allows it the flexibility of displaying and promoting digital artworks. As well as online they also display works in cinemas and galleries among other locations.
- By encouraging different disciplines to converge Experimenta says they are providing an environment that “fosters artistic experimentation that extends the aesthetic and conceptual potential of art�?. Talents from the fields of visual effects, interactive technology, virtual reality, multi media, animation and [digital music] combine in different forms to create a range of different digital new media art works.
- Experimenta is yet another example of an environment that is promoting the growth of a new industry with in the faculty of arts. Although not a new concept itself, Experimenta and digital art is still considered relatively “new�?; posing the question when is something new?
- Lev Manovich is an Associate Professor at the Visual Arts Department, University of California, San Diego. He teaches new media art and theory and is author of Language of New Media (The MIT Press, 2001). He has been in the industry since 1984 and has created a number of art projects.
- His latest endeavor is the Soft Cinema Project. This project profits from the culmination of software culture, cinema and architecture. There are many facets to this work including films, computer-driven installations, print catalogs and DVDs.
- The pulse of this project manifests itself in a custom software and media database. Of which, the software is designed to edit movies in real time.
- This website acts as an example of continuing works, and research type experiments, that propels the industry of digital art.
- Rhizome is yet another example of an online environment that fosters innovation in digital art. They are an online platform for the community of new media and digital art technologies. Founded in 1996, Rhizome aimed to provide the missing link in the new media art community; a place to communicate. They now support exhibitions, critical discussions of art work and networking.
- Rhizome has thrived on their open submission system, allowing content to be suggested by its members.
- These sorts of sites are redefining what it is to view artwork. They broaden terms such as artist, viewer and artwork, in such a way that the line is endless.
- This site reiterates by example how the art community has changed alongside this change in tools and mediums.
Heike Herrling 10:00, 12 Aug 2005 (EST)
Digitised Galleries
- Arts and Humanities Data Service (2005) Retrieved August 11, 2005, from http://ahds.ac.uk/
- The Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) is a UK national service which collects, preserves and promotes the use of electronic resources. Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the AHDS has set up an electronic collection of catalogues in the Arts and Humanities field.
- Their visual arts catalogue alone documents 30 separate subtopics to search within. From the African and Asian Visual Artists Archive to the Women’s Library: Suffrage Banners Collection there are
- This online resource is a clear example of the importance now placed on digitising artworks for mass communication.
- Commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles the Moca.org museum/digital gallery is an example of a new way to experience a day at the gallery.
- It is no longer necessary to hammer a nail in the wall of a gallery to hang the latest exhibition. Online galleries are become more popular as digital art becomes further accessible. Online galleries also allow for more personal interactions between the art work and the user, as people can browse and play with the artwork in their own time and in the privacy of their own home.
- An example of this can be found with in Moca.org with the digital gallery. Sitestepper, Relational Architecture 10 allows the user to become immersed by allowing them to control the piece. Sitestepper is a navigable virtual environment that changes with movements of the viewer.
- Similar to that AHDS previously mentioned this site holds a digitised version the University of Wisconsin’s art collection. Created in 2001, this endeavor has changed the process of studying the arts in Wisconsin.
- This reiterates the new trend to keep art works that otherwise deteriorate over time in an everlasting and mint condition. Digitising these artworks is not only a method of preservation, it also allows for art works to become so much more accessible and open to a global audience.
- The Cartography Associates have compiled digital images from collections and museums around the world in a mission of world wide distribution.
- Creating a user friendly environment, this site allows viewers to navigate their way through time periods, artists and mediums.
- The quality on all of these gallery site is commendable, allowing for a very life like experience.
- This Web Gallery of Art is the perfect example of old being reborn in a digital format. It provides a searchable database of European painting and sculpture from 12th to mid-19th Centuries.
- The digital experience further simulates real life, with the option of virtual guided tours. However, the online environment outshines the real life experience, as textual information explaining or adding to the visual experience is only the click of a mouse away.
Heike Herrling 10:00, 12 Aug 2005 (EST)
Wikipedia Entries
- A comprehensive definition and look at the fields within the Digital Art realm. Also a great porthole to other sited resources.
- However, care must be taken to ensure that the information posted is coming from a reliable source. As the Wikipedia is a self regulated body caution must always be used. This particular Wiki does have a very good reputation and the content of this article appears legitimate and consistent with the texts sited above.
Heike Herrling 10:01, 12 Aug 2005 (EST)
Text Word Count (not inc. references): 1639
Source Count: 15
Subtopic Entries
I have contributed to the following subtopics entries:
TOTAL WORD COUNT for subtopic entries= 2480
Heike Herrling 17:44, 27 Oct 2005 (EST)
Home to: Main Page
Check out: QUT
[Email: Heike HERRLING]
New Media Text: ISBN 0195508599
