Objective:
- Examine the role of technology as a force for cultural maintenance and change
She later describes the issues with separated fields once computer graphics became a more complex art form, finding a place in feature length films. For example, in early films, artists were not able to recreate the variation in human movement, instead creating movement that “was smooth and lacked variety” (1990, 26). Again, this was because artists, computer scientists, and other scientists had not yet figured out how to combine their skills to put together the best possible product. Jones also cites how the worlds created by computer artists were designed to “look real,” but sometimes lacked scientific reality concerning laws of physics and optics (1990, 28) In order for this creation to be the most realistic, all these sciences should come together and harness the technology.
Towards the end, Jones makes sure to give examples of how past advances in science were able to unite different factions. She talks about how Gödel, Einstein, and Heisenberg all combined to bring “relativity and contextuality to the physical sciences” (1990, 29). Their advances, when put together, allowed for all of the physical sciences to move forward, and the computer sciences can be equally benefitted by advances by artists and researches of all varieties working together.
At the time of writing this article, I doubt that Beverly Jones could ever foresee the computer advances that society has made today. When Jane McGonigal talks about the way that video games can help change the world in her presentation for TED.com, she is referring to a complex computerized world where the world is aesthetically realistic, but also able to adapt and react to real world human decisions (2010). The reasons she thinks they can be useful is because they so closely reflect the real world. These advancements are due to the cohesive effort of all kinds of scientists to replicate the “scientific reality” of the world.
Because everyone has worked together to the point that this replication is possible, computer animation has inarguable become an art. Jones questions where this art comes from, if it is original or if it all a copy, but I think that it is apparent that the combination of all the forces of scientists and artists produces a thrilling and beautifully constructed aesthetic experience.
Reflection:
We are at a point in this day of age where computers dominate art in ways that Beverly Jones could never have imagined. McGonigal’s example of video games is one way in which there is no way Beverly Jones could have predicted art would develop. Video Games are a completely animated world and an art form that is both interactive and aesthetically beautiful. The computer graphics that Jones describes in her essay are nowhere near as complex as the graphic designs we have today, and I wonder whether that would impact her ideas on computers as art in any way. On one side, the products are infinitely more beautiful but on the other, technology has improved so much that the abilities of the artist have less of an influence on the product.
Technology has had a similar impact on the business of art. I recently did an interview about technology’s influence on me as an aspiring musician. In it, I talked about how music relies on the internet now more than any other medium. Because of the internet and the effectiveness of computers, art will never be the same, but it could easily be better. Regardless, there is no way we can view the world in the same way that we have in the past, because technology is only becoming more prevalent in our world. 