Reading 1 (Intro)
Claire Bishop "Digital Divide" (Art Forum Sept. 2012)
"The internet asks us to reconsider the very paradigm of an aesthetic object: Can communication between users become the subject of an aesthetic? The centrality of this question to social practice is obvious: Does work premised on a dialogic, prosumer model, seeking real-world impact, need to assume representation or an object form in order to be recognized as art?"
The idea of what is art has been debated over time and time again. Everyone seems to have their own opinion and thoughts on what makes something "art." Over the years as technology has evolved, new forms of mediums have been explored and have helped change the way art has progressed through time. From cave art to paintings to photos to films, just to name a few, art has expanded to places people would have never believed long ago. These practices are now widely accepted as art forms, but like anything new, the question "is it art?" is always brought up. Now with technology so advanced, we have entered into the "digital era" where new kinds of art forms are popping up everywhere. Because it is like something we have never seen and a lot of it being non-representational that question comes up. I truly believe this is a form of art and we have just begun to explore the possibilities of what can be done. I look at art as a way someone expresses themselves creatively through some kind of medium and there is no bigger, more expansive medium than what can be accomplished digitally. I cannot wait to see where it takes us in the future.