ABOUT NEW MEDIA ART
definition and changes
The author defined New Media Art as “projects that make use of emerging media technologies and are concerned with the cultural, political, and aesthetic possibilities of these tools”.
After almost 15, some artistic and avant-garde nature of new media art didn’t change much as innovative works constantly pop up with the development of media technology. But more and more commercial interest is attached to new media art as it is widely used for advertising and promotion purposes. New media art becomes more and more massive and accessible.
ARTISTS AND WORKS
- “ACCESS” by Marie Sester
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“ACCESS” is a new media art project conducted by French digital & interactive artist Marie Sester. The project had a close relationship with surveillance and refers to political propaganda and media manipulation.
It lets users track anonymous individuals in public places with a robotic spotlight and acoustic beam system. It was generated by image recognition technology combined with the advertising and Hollywood industries, and the internet. Also, an acoustic beam system directs whispered voices that only the tracked subject can hear.
ACCESS evokes both the searchlights trained on prison escapees and the spotlights shining on theatrical performers.
The people tracked in this project have different responses that can be analyzed for multiple social and psychological meanings.
From my perspective, this work was a very bold and experimental attempt, under the context of modern surveillance caused by technology. Also, the work questioned the meaning of the spotlight to people, encouraging us to think deeply about our presence and self-consciousness.
2. “Female Extension” by Cornelia Sollfrank
“Female Extension” can be understood as an action or project of new media art targeting gender inequality.
Cornelia Sollfrank, who is a German digital artist and a pioneer of net art and cyberfeminism, worked with hackers to generate multiple works of net art by sampling curatorial practices. Then she submitted the works to the competition, making two-thirds of the competition participants women. But the prize finally went to three men.
This new media art project is used as a revelation of gender inequality and it was indeed really shocking and innovative. This work partly showed what the author called “hacktivism” in the article, as the hackers did something that directs to the social problems with an artistic expression.
Thank you.