Technology and Art

The unveiling of the Ipad, the latest gadget by Apple, got me thinking about technology and its relationship to the Arts. I wish I could say I came to this thought all on my own, seeing as I work in the Arts and have a San Franciscan interest in technology, but actually what brought this issue home, literally, was the fact that the event held at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts - a much bigger "sister" art space, got several complains from bloggers appalled at the unreliability of YBCA's WIFI.

Oh techies, how I love thee! I wish you could spend one day in my "high tech" office using our home router, dealing with the "spaghetti server" and "robocop" computers (1/2 mac, 1/2 PC, all donated or purchased for really cheap). Indeed, small non-profit art spaces are at the cutting edge of technology ;)

I giggle, but mostly I'm thinking about the relationship between technology and art, artists, administrators, art organizations, art enthusiasts, patrons and audiences.

I - like most people in my generation, am a sucker for gadgets, new media and technology (hence why I was glued to my computer screen this morning watching the Ipad announcement!), and I view technology as an ally rather than an enemy; but I hardly ever think about technology and its negative or positive effects on the Arts. I do however think about technology as it relates to my work - programs that might facilitate marketing communications, better and more effective ways to connect with members, donors, patrons, Facebook, Twitter, better email systems...but technology as it shapes the creation of art, the relationships between patrons and artists, the overall "need" for art and the ideas around what art really is, that is something I never think about.

I guess, technology has always had an effect and has been a major influence for artists. Visual artists for example were "threatened" by the birth of the camera, but photography rather than "killing" the role of the artist, spun the birth of a new art form and created new ways for artists to view, and make art. Slowly but surely technology infiltrated the Arts making them better or worse (all up for argument), and most importantly some artists managed to explore the possibilities of technology and “exploit” those possibilities to change the way we viewed art and built an audience.

However, technology and art are not best friends, not everyone has been able to use tech to their advantage. Technology is expensive, and with funding and revenue for the arts at a low point, using the right technology to help bolster the arts, is well... challenging (hence why our network crashes, our wifi isn't reliable and our computers look like a 2001 community college computer lab at best)

Technology, of course not only affects OUR capability to create, promote and produce art, but it also affects the way people who attend art events and purchase art interact with "us". Technology is providing art patrons with never ending sources of entertainment (competing sources), cheaper ways to get reproductions of works and art works, and access to recordings of performances (making it more appealing to stay at home in my pjs watching Swan Lake, then paying $100.00 or more to go to the ballet).

Ugh, my head hurts now, and I feel like I've hit on several points that little old me cannot coherently write about, understand or explain, specially not at 5:30pm with no caffeine in my system (tea just doesn't cut it sometimes). I guess these are things I should be thinking about since they relate to the work I do and the works I support, something to think about perhaps when our server fails....again