In our most recent contextual studies lesson we looked at technology's effect on art. The main question we asked was whether technology has destroyed or enhanced arts/life. We had a look at what the world was like before photography, film or computer animation arts.
We looked at three philosophers in the lesson; Walter Benjamin, who said technology was having a bad impact on art, Marshal McLuhan who states that 'the medium is the message', and Jean Baudrillard, who had an interest in hyper reality, and how that could lead to losing contact with the real world.
The arts, however, was trying to do something that technology is now doing today - it wanted to make things realistic for the viewer. This is achieved easily by CGI in the modern day. We also looked at the development of self portraits now that technology has been introduced. We looked at Van Gogh, Andy Warhol and then the latest development of selfie sticks. Looking at these examples, we noticed a difference behind the meaning of self portraiture: Van Gogh is trying to capture emotion, Warhol is trying to replicate images, whereas taking a selfie is all about looking good.
So, do we care more or less for the images we create? I think we care less. It's easy to take a quick snap and then delete it if you don't like it. If you were taking a photo with an older camera it would be a painstakingly long process to get a perfect photo. However, nowadays if you take a bit of a rubbish photo you can always enhance it using Photoshop. Before, we couldn't do that, so photographers had to be very precise and skilled.
We also had a look at reproduction. The Mona Lisa has been reproduced many times, had lots of photos taken on it, and been put on Google. So why would you go and see the real painting if you've already seen it online? The answer is that most people wouldn't. By using reproduction in this way you are losing the uniqueness of the image.
The last thing we looked at was the 'Avatar' blues. It is the concept that films are so amazing that when you've finished watching it and go back to your less amazing life, you actually end up more depressed than you started. Movies are becoming a kind of escapism for people, and some viewers would rather be in the movie than in real life. This is a problem because more and more of the population will be left longing for something that they can't have. Are we becoming too reliant on film in this way?
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