Don’t forget to plug in your art.
Since the “first” piece of digital art was created in 1952, technology has evolved significantly. Which means that all digital art breaks way quicker than traditional mediums and can only be fixed with tech that is no longer made. How do we maintain masterpieces that use cathode ray tubes, and deprecated operating systems? And should the fact that it’s vulnerable change the way we make it? Maintaining digital art is a unique challenge and this article about the guy who does tech support for MOMA digital art is a great insight. I’ve made a fair amount of digital art and I don’t think any of the interactive pieces I’ve worked on for museums exist beyond the code and the copy. Do I keep making it over and over again? Just let it go?
This is interesting because it shows how new technology requires a completely different approach at the concept and craft level. Most materials don’t need software updates. So, when you think of a painting, you buy the paint and paint it. But, when making digital art, you are starting at the very base level with immensely complex materials. Other than Anish Kapoor’s controversial ownership of the world’s most technologically advanced black paint, vantablack I’m not aware of tons of huge advances in paint technology. When spray paint hit the art scene it create an entire spin-off medium in graffiti, and it’s shelf life is a meaningful part of the culture. Five Pointz existed to save vulnerable graffiti, and when it was sold, the art was gone. Fine art painting relies on conceptual advances, not usually tech ones. Which means we often look backwards at flat art (see Picasso at MOMA). It’s an investment because it lasts. The biggest mistake with NFTs was treating them like “art”. They became the digital version of collectible coins because they didn’t effectively communicate the chance for the art to grow and change. No one understood their meaning. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut explores what would happen if a famous painter’s paint stopped working and fell off the canvas. The implications are severe.
Is digital art more valuable because it’s more fragile? Should we let it die when the tech breaks down? Of course not, performance art and digital art don’t last forever, so we should think about how they survive. There are MySpace and Tumblr pages that should be in a museum. SMS adaptations of novels that will never again be experienced. Art is headed toward a disposable business model like advertising, unless we can find a way to educate artists and audiences that different mediums require entirely different approaches, and maybe old tech and the expressions it supports shouldn’t just disappear. Maybe there’s something beautiful about your busted laserdisk player.
