Technology and ‘the death of Art History’
CHArt ANNUAL CONFERENCE
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Technology and ‘the death of Art History’
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Kasia Molga and Sander Veenhof
Investigating the notion of the Art 2.0
The two practitioners Kasia Molga and Sander Veenhof attempt to define the concept of Art 2.0 – exploring the influence of ubiquitous new media and communication technologies, web 2.0 and social media on the gaze of spectator and changing paradigm of art, artist and audience. In the era of users/viewers responsible for their own experience by contributing and customising the content, the distinction between artist and audience seems to disappear. The audience has changed from consumers to co-producers or become a conscious or accidental element of the artwork.
Kasia Molga’s pieces “Mirror of Infinity” and “Floresta” are visual interactive installation and are about giving a viewer a power of co-creation, making him responsible for his own experience while contributing to the content of the artwork and distributing that content among other viewers. These pieces deal with the act of communication as the reason for the artwork to exist on the meta-level, although on the surface the subjects of these pieces might communicate entirely something different.
In the interactive installations created by Sander Veenhof, an alternative way of involving an audience is often the key element of the work. His projects reflect on the changing dynamics between (interactive) artwork and audience. With spectators/users becoming more difficult to reach and engage because of the increase of individual creative activities, Veenhof realised projects in which the required effort to interact was reduced to an absolute minimum. His Publicity Plant grew on blog-postings, Tweets and Google searches’ results, and in the Worldwide Greenhouse viewers were left without the choice – participation was instant and unavoidable. His projects showcase innovative ways to react on trends and changes in the field of interactive media.
Both artists create using and/or appropriating new media digital web based platforms and technologies adding and altering to methods of expression and engagement. They investigate the concept of art 2.0 through their practice, reflections and critical dialogue raising a number of questions: Is there an emerging art 2.0 paradigm at all and, how that affects the artistic practice? What are the artistic qualities and aesthetics of an artwork 2.0? How our perception as “end users” is affected by ubiquitous possibilities and opportunities of being independent and individual in crafting our own art experience? How the emergence of social network platforms, over-flown with visual information from marketers and consumed by short attention span users influence the act of artistic creation and communication? If and how can a visual piece of art 2.0 become a commodity?