Nowadays we live in the era of high developed technologies. Different types of technologies penetrated in every sphere of our lives. Moreover, we cannot imagine our life without it. “Most of the civilized world wouldn’t know what to do with themselves without technology” ( Technology information, 2008). New developments in technologies have completely changed the ways people live and work. Many researchers call the modern times as the Information Age, Digital Age or New Media Age. All these definitions underline the importance of technologies and information for the modern society all over the world.
In this essay I would like to tell about the museum of modern art in New York called MoMA. First of all, it is necessary to clarify what is digital art. According to Oxford Dictionary, digital art is “Art created or modified using a computer or other digital medium” (Oxford dictionary). Digital art was pioneered in 1960s. In 1965 “American artist Rauschenberg formed the nonprofit group Experiments in Art and Technology, or EAT, to bring artists and engineers together” (Sparks, 2015). In his installation, the artist used infrared cameras, video projections and radio transmitters on tennis rackets to create the unique performance. This example vividly explained the atmosphere of full singularity and non-recognition of digital arts pioneers. Forts of all it was caused by the lack of transmitting means of creative ideas. In this case, it became obvious that the digital art got the popularity only in 1980s with the worldwide spread of availability of technologies such as computers, digital cameras and others.
The digital arts in New York started its history in 1988 with the Museum of Moving Images. It was situated in Queens, and “occupied one of the 13 original buildings of Astoria Studios, built by Paramount in 1920 to produce hundreds of silent and early sound films” (Digital Art and innovations). It goes without saying that the most visited, famous and popular museum of modern art not only in New York but all over the world is the Museum of Modern Art. One of the peculiarities of this museum is that its exhibitions are trying to connect traditions and modernity as well as ancient and new forms of art.
MoMA forms its own fandom. “Fandom refers to the social structures and cultural practices created by the most passionately engaged consumers of mass media properties” (Jenkins, 2010). In addition, Jenkins named that “fandom is one of those spaces where people are learning how to live and collaborate within a knowledge community” (Jenkins, 2010). MoMA, in particular, is a space where people are gathered in order to admire the beauty, share their opinions, to convey their vision of the world and to learn something new. For many years MoMA has been the center of creativity and inspiration. MoMA is an essential part of participatory culture which is the process of “moving away from a world in which some produce and many consume media, toward one in which everyone has a more active stake in the culture that is produced” (Jenkins, 2010). It means that in our modern digital era art is not something isolated and inaccessible that is allowed only for the elite but something where everybody has a possibility to participate in. MoMA meets all the latest trends in this field. For example, its exhibition “Talk to me” affected the important topic of role of communication in our world. This exhibition raised the issue that modern artists “do not just provide function, form, and meaning, but also must draft the scripts that allow people and things to develop and improvise a dialogue” (Crowbot, 2011). This exhibition was very popular among different people, even those who are not connected with art. One of the works presented at this exhibition that inspired me most was the project “Good things should never end”. Here is the link to this project: https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/146216/.
This project was designed by Poke as a presentation for Orange - the UK mobile telecommunications company. Users can scroll endlessly the page where rainbow with different images is depicted. In addition, it is possible to communicate with characters by playing or chatting with them. This project is very positive and aims to make people smile and believe in the best.
The latest exhibition in MoMA is devoted to Francis Picabia and is called “Our Heads Are Round so Our Thoughts Can Change Direction”. Here is one of his work (Picabia, 1930).
Picabia is a very talented French artist whose works are the combination of paintings, films, performances and poetry. He did not work in a one style but his works challenges familiar narratives of the avant-garde. This is the first time Picabia’s work are presented in the USA. This fact underlines that MoMA still supports its idea to combine different form of art and ways of its presentation.
What does exhibition mean traditionally? For many centuries exhibitions were places where people were able to admire pieces of arts. Visitors were just spectaculars and were not involved in art process. Times has passed since that time and today we are the society of the spectacle. The development of technologies and social media networks for particular took away the function of spectacle from exhibitions. Nowadays people do not need to leave their home in order to participate in spectacular. That is the may reason why museums have changed their main purposes and ways to archive them. Debord admitted that “the spectacle is a social relation between people that is mediated by images” (Debord, 1994). His words became especially true in our times with the existence of such social media networks as Facebook and Instagram where images play the important role of self-expressing. The wide spread of these networks underline the fact that that images and spectacles moved from museums and galleries into online availability.
In conclusion I would like to say that digital art is becoming or even already has become the independent art form with many adopters and admires. In order to support this idea it is worth mentioning the existence of The Lumen Prize, a global award for digital art. This international award was launched in 2012 with the purpose to gather all the digital artists together and them with possibilities to inspire, exchange the experience and establish relations. Such museums as MoMA are playing a huge role in digital art popularization. Seeking for new forms, artist and trying to keep up with times and even be ahead of time is making MoMA a unique place for people who want to distract from the madding crowd and touch the beauty.
References
Technology information, 2008. The era of information technology. [online] 23 August. Available at: https://itcentre.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/the-era-of-information-technology/. [Accessed on 7 January 2017].
Oxford dictionary. Digital art. [online]. Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/digital_art. [Accessed on 7 January 2017].
Sparks, H, 2015. A Brief History of Digital Art. Entertainment. [online] 23 July. Available at: https://iq.intel.com/a-brief-history-of-digital-art/. [Accessed on 7 January 2017].
Digital Art and Innovations. Digital Art in New York. [online]. Available at: http://media.digitalarti.com/blog/digitalarti_mag/digital_art_in_new_york. [Accessed on 7 January 2017].
Jenkins, H., 2010. Fandom, participatory culture, and web 2.0- A syllabus. [online]. Available at: http://henryjenkins.org/2010/01/fandom_participatory_culture_a.html. [Accessed on 7 January 2017].
Crowbot, J., 2011. Talk to me. Museum od Modern Art. [online]. Available at: https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/. [Accessed on 7 January 2017].
Debord, G., 1994. The society of the spectacle. 1st ed. New York: Zone Books.
Picabia, F., 1930. Aello. [photograph]. Available at: https://www.moma.org/slideshows/54?locale=en.
