{"id":10249,"date":"2023-08-08T10:18:36","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T08:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/?p=10249"},"modified":"2023-08-23T11:29:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T09:29:04","slug":"digital-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/en\/digital-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"The digital and the arts, a creative combo to the power of 100,000 (Euros)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\u2018But is it art?\u2019 The 100,000 Euro question. Responses to it are necessarily subjective owing to the fact that each person has their own perception of what an artwork consists of. And if we add to that the digital dimension, well, then people start to lose their heads. Whilst for some the digital is merely the logical evolution of artistic practices, for others it means the death of creativity and technique.\r\n<\/p>\n\n\n

Before we even get round to disproving this second hypothesis, which supposes that the digital involves a levelling down, we will, first of all, explain what the digital arts are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand the concept better, they must be seen as a cascade: first of all, the digital arts define the artistic practices which use the digital either in the creation, the production, the experience or the distribution. Next, artistic practices are forms of expression which lean on art. And the arts are grouped into 10 different categories (even though before writing this article we thought there were only seven. There you go.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In no particular order, we have: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Architecture <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Sculpture and ceramics <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Visual arts such as painting, drawing, engraving, calligraphy, tattooing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Literary arts, including poetry <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Performing arts such as dance, theatre, circus, mime, magic and comedy, etc. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Music <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Cinema (hee-hee! Putting it in seventh place wasn\u2019t even done deliberately) <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Media arts, such as photography, television or the radio <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Comic strips <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Multimedia arts, for example, the most widely known, video games. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The digital arts are therefore all these art forms which in one way or another use developments in informatics and thus technologies to produce, innovate or memorise and distribute works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Even though the digital, unlike the analogue, is a binary language, it must here be understood first and foremost in its format aspect: photograph, sound, video, hologram, projection, augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D printings, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Consequently, when you combine all of that, you become aware of (or perhaps you don\u2019t) the number of digital arts possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To go beyond the basic use of a tablet for drawing, for example, we have decided to focus on 5 forms of digital art by means of quite fabulous examples which will demonstrate that the use of the digital in no way diminishes either creativity or technique. Quite the contrary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Sound art<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    It is often the case that this form of art is interdisciplinary, by which is meant that it combines perfectly with other arts, and very often it is the image-sound pairing which is more widely known. But here we will attempt to address it in its individual aspect, considering sound more as a material of creation rather than a medium, or even a vector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In other words, instruments, concerts and performances are all part of the sound art family. But certain works are even more unique: they are called acousmatic because they offer you nothing which can be seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On this subject, people typically foreground the genius of Max Neuhaus in 1966, launching an engaged active listening project, which took several forms. Amongst others (1979), he wandered the streets of Brooklyn, handing out postcards on which were written just a single word: Listen! An authentic ode to listening to background noise (and simultaneously a critique of a modern society engulfed by the sound flows of cars, industries and the din of a capitalist city).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    More recently, we might talk about two works in particular: first of all, Sonic Loft by Alexandra Dementieva<\/a>. In this case, what is involved is a play area in which the floor is covered by, on the one hand, a sound-absorbing carpet and on the other interactive objects which are activated by the touch of the public. Next, Untitled (infinite sounds) by Ann Veronica Janssens, which consists of two loudspeakers facing each other broadcasting superimposed sounds. The spatial arrangement gives spectators the impression of free fall if they place themselves at the centre of the installation with their eyes closed. Vertiginous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    2. DIY art<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Not to be pronounced \u2018dihi\u2019 but indeed D.I.Y. in English, as in Do It Yourself. This art, very often likened to d\u00e9tournement art (meaning \u2018rerouting, hijacking\u2019 in French), is also often associated with electronic art. And as everybody knows (or doesn\u2019t), electronics processes 3 types of signal: analogue, digital and power. And guess what, from that emerge works such as Scenocosme, which brings together Gr\u00e9gory Lasserre & Ana\u00efs met den Ancxt. Out of all their installations, Souffles<\/a> is a good example. It consists of a collective work in which the breathing of the audience allows layers of video to be revealed. In the same way that Urban Lights Contacts<\/a> is an interactive, tactile and collective work which appropriates a public space and illuminates the fa\u00e7ade of a large building. This example is very representative of DIY combining with the electronic: a person is invited to place their hand on a ball, but nothing happens. Yet when their hand comes into contact with other skins, signals are activated and produce light and sound variations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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