The Power of the Internet, Essay Example

The advances of technology have brought in several innovative inventions, as well as advanced science and art in ways, which were unfathomable over a decade ago. The social nature and connectivity of the Internet has affected each other part of society so significantly and generally, that it is shocking how gradually it is affecting the art world. The internet has not changed galleries or museums, it has not made obsolete the physical object, the consumerist nature has not changed of that of numerous curators, theorists, and artists subscribe to. According to Staniszewski (1995), “one does not learn to make Art, one creates it.” (Staniszewski 161) The conceivable outcomes and chances of the virtual scene made have an extreme absence of artistic intercession and are regularly being discredited by artists that stick to the fundamentals of paint and canvases.Per the lesson, “photographic images were produced in 2010 than in all the prior years of human history combined.” (Wired: Lesson 2, Slide 31) The internet has become a majority of individuals’ source of viewing art, and altering our relationship with reality.

In the brief history of the internet, art on the internet has been progressed from being the apprehensions of amateurs to a prominent position in the world of art. The quick evolvement of technology of the internet pushes art along the way. It brings in its spring of revivals of the modernism and avant-garde that was thought to be obsolete. Material art, although feels often disengaged with the rest of the world, through the lens of internet art, and conventional galleries is often politically active, socially aware, and humorous. (Stallabrass 49)  Even in 1919, with Marcel Duchamp’s recreation of the Mona Lisa on a post card reproduction, “LHOOQ” (1919), he turned an original artwork, into another recreation that foreseen what the internet and technology has done to several original masterpieces. Since the 1970s, there has been a full force of artworks reproduced for posters, postcards, and art books. With the advent of the technology and the internet have reproduced in mass. One of the biggest critics was John Berger in the 70s who argued that painting were supposed to seen, “as the artist intended and the precise vision of the artist was acknowledged as part of the record.” (Berger 9) The internet has spurned an infinite amount of reproductions of original art, in which pictures such as the Mona Lisa have been reproduced into “meme” or photoshopped with pictures of popular celebrities and pop culture references.

Other critics, such as, Amanda Cosco in “The Role of the Art Gallery in the Digital Age”, “He reminds us that the art gallery used to be the place where art was hung and admired. In today’s world of flicker, Facebook, and instant photo sharing technology.” (Cosco) The original works that prominently hang in the galleries are not being displayed free all over the internet. However, now, they are being essentially stripped from their authenticity, and their original intentions, since the concepts of art is supposed to be. Much like Andre Malraux (1947) coined, “Museum without walls” in which he referred to the reproductions of work is something we memorized, rather than the original context. (Lesson 2, Slide 36)

A similar question was posed in the lessons, on how the internet not only affects art, but the idea of the gallery. The answer was, “the internet is drastically changing how art is made disseminating and marketed, but it cannot replace the experience of viewing art.” (Week 4, Slide 7) The postmodern way of thinking has strongly promoted the idea of people to run an art practice in their own home comfortably completely feasible and free by digital marketing on sites such as social media platforms. The internet and the technologies of digitalization has threaten the positions of intermediaries and artist positions, because of the reproduction of works may be available and the definition of craftsmanship can’t be confined to the characteristic of art. The issues of copyright as well as ownership blur the lines between the power of the internet, and creativity with internet art emerging as creative reproductions. While there has been many institutions that have sprung up to allow for the moral and legal aspects of reproducing an artist’s work, such as the GNU General Public License, in which they can sell, create, modify, or copy works with the acknowledgement of their origin. (Legros 14) The internet has made it easier for “artists” to do so without giving credit, which causes complications, as well as the mass production of numerous reiterations.

Galleries have long served as an institute for displaying and viewing masterpieces and works of art. “Paintings, for example, were stacked, filling the entire gallery. Their function was to create a lively decorative scheme.” (Staniszewski 176) The popularity and usefulness of the internet has impacted the ways in which people are able to view art. As iterated, galleries have been the main staple in which people were able to appreciate and view works of Art. Even in the age of postmodern museums, they no longer serve as the only places in which people are able to view the aesthetic works. Galleries and museums have continuously evolved, as they have implemented reading rooms, bars, restaurants, and bookstores. However now, people can view these arts from the comforts of their own home. As David Buren presented, the gallery represents a triple role, aesthetic, in which the museum is the effective support and frame in which art can be composed. Economic, the museums and galleries served as a way to sell their work to a privilege few, while it is still mystical in which gallery and the museum served as a way to instantly promote works to the prime art status. However, overall galleries serve as a fundamental aspect to preserve. “The aesthetic role of the Museum is thus enhanced since it becomes the single viewpoint (cultural and visual) from which works can be considered, an enclosure where art is born and buried, crushed by the very frame which presents and constitutes it.” (Buren 114)

The critical issues that influence art today, is the role of the internet, and inherently the role of technology. The internet can be a blessing and a curse. It not only promotes the art of unknown artist, but also it gives people the freedom to recreate, display, and promote a postmodern gallery in their own home. Not only is the world of art just confined to those privilege few, but is opened to conceptual art, and other interpretations in which individuals have the ability to recreate original works of art into their own interpretations, and infuse them into the memory of individuals that haven’t been exposed to the originals. In that regard, the gallery and the world of art needs to catch up, and find ways to infuse these challenges, and create new ways to preserve masterpieces for generations to come.

Works Cited

“Art As We Know It.” Lesson 2. Lecture. 2014.

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. London. 1972.

Buren, David. “Function of the Museum.” Oxford Museum of Modern Art. 1973. Print.

Cosco, Amanda. “The Role of the Art Gallery in the Digital Age.” Social Times. 14 March 2011. Web. 1 December 2014. http://socialtimes.com/the-role-of-the-art-gallery-in-the-digital-age_b41829

Legros, Patrick. “Copyright, art and Internet: blessing the curse?” ULB Institutional Repository. 19 August 2005. Web. 1 December 2014. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B7P5G-4KV3VPW-D/2/242535c1f0e3046d8cd63126c2c2ba8f

Stallabrass, Julian. Internet Art: The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce. Tate. 2003. Book.

Staniszewski, Mary Anne. Believing Is Seeing: Creating the Culture of Art. Penguin Books. 1995. Book.