⧏⧏ CONCLUSION ⧐⧐

It seems to me that our relationship to media art, both in its consumption and in its creation, has gotten more complex as technology develops. I immediately think of Marshall McLuhan and the maelstrom. I can feel the ways in which I am personally overwhelmed by the onslaught of rapidly changing medias and technological advancements. I also see this overwhelm reflected in the world around me. There are many useful developments technologically for art, and while this is true, it also concerns me to see an increasingly digitalized world. I consider myself more of a naïve realist than a network idealist. While I don’t see humanity as separate from technology, I do see technology having the capacity to separate us from our humanity. That being said, I also see technology aiding in human creativity in ways that wouldn’t be possible without the expanding and developing media landscape. In particular I think of Wodiczko’s work, which utilizes projection technology to bring light to important societal issues. It is examples like this that lead me to think that it is the ways in which we utilize new medias and technology in our art making that either alienate us from our essence or brings us closer to it. Now more than ever, there are new ways to interact with media as a creator and a consumer. The interface with an increasingly digitalized world is becoming near impossible to avoid and is shifting our entire culture. One important change I see in the development from old to new media is the transition to multimedia practices and the combining of old and new medias to adapt to the digital world.

In my opinion, the implications of this expanding media ecosystem on society means increased opportunity and increased danger. On the positive side, I see an increase in the exchange of ideas and resources which makes it easier for artists to share their work, build global communities, and spread ideas quickly to the masses. Also, I see the potential for increased participatory art making which is exciting. One example of this that really struck me from class was when Tara Knight came and talked about Hatsune Miku. The fact that Miku’s character was developed for the purpose of being used by anyone for any purpose is an example of technology’s potential to facilitate connection over many media platforms. I love that Miku’s purpose is to be for and of the people. This leads me to think next about transmedia and the incredible potential of crowdsourcing to connect people through many different mediums. This is beginning to create a new online culture unlike anything that has been before. The implications of this are powerful, wonderful, and frightening to me. Life in the age of smartphones, social media, and the internet means that we are living in a constant augmented reality that has become normalized. This developing augmentation is largely non-physical even though it affects physical reality. While there are many positives of this technological world, it is not something to be taken lightly in my opinion. To me this expanding non-physical digital reality must be balanced with interaction in the real world. I strive personally to make art that connects people with their bodies, their hearts, their emotions, to each other, and to nature. This connection feels more important than ever given the ease of access to digital spaces. I worry that while on one level media serves to connect people, it also serves to disconnect people from what’s real in the tactile present moment. This blurred line between reality and unreality is what concerns me about the quickening of technological advancements. I predict that as time moves forward, we are going to increasingly become absorbed into digital spaces. I am both excited and wary of the swiftly evolving and changing media world we live in and what this could look like in the future.