CHArt CHArt Computers and the History of Art - 1998 Conference Paper Abstract
The intersection between art and technology has a lengthy and clearly codified genealogy in the history of western art. Mechanical attributes, possibilities of multiplication and scientific austerity have been consistently subordinated to the discursive norms of painting and sculpture and thus have paradoxically contributed to enhance the binary opposition they initially aimed to challenge and displace. The latest junction of art and technology, the computer, developed this fin-de- millenaire is, however, in the process of drastically redefining the visual and conceptual paradigms of art history. Can art history continue to be taught in the same way and perceived as the same discipline when millions of images circulate in cyberspace?
Unlike other forms of reproduction, the seductive brightness of the screen and attractive graphic patterns, the decontextualized images and endless hypertextuality, the convenient links to far away locations and false sense of ‘individual’ discovery have proven to be ideal substitutes for the need to see the original and have transformed the interface into a surrogate primary source. Will the slick, clean and shiny images viewed on screen, in the privacy of one’s space and time, override the grayish paint, raw canvas, and tough surfaces just like redigitized CDs have redefined the music we listen to from Albinoni to ZZ Top? Will art be a digitally improved image? Will anybody, only a few decades into the next millennium, recognize the merit, or even the presence, of the original? Will the distinction between original and its digitized interpretation even matter?
This paper will examine some of the theoretical implications raised by the introduction of the electronic media and will present and discuss several innovative methodological applications I have consequently developed in my art history courses (Modern Art, Aesthetics, and Art Criticism, Art and Ideas, and Art Survey). These assignments have required students to explore and experiment with visual resources and possibilities offered by computers and then, combining theory and practice, critically and comparatively reflect upon the impact electronically generated and disseminated images have had in realigning the paradigms of visual culture.