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Sunday, 30 November 2008

Artists with Computers

A really interesting post by Tom Moody looking at the differences between "new media" artists and "artists with computers" in the context of a previous post on "art photography" and "artists with cameras":

[...]

The latter care about their laptops as much as Cindy Sherman cared about her camera. Necessary mechanical skills can be learned but the habits accompanying those skills need to be unlearned. Also, artists may not always and at all times be "with computers"--it's a tool to be picked up and put down as needed.

New media suggests a respect for hardware & software and belief in their newness, something artists with computers don't care about. New media involves a finicky devotion to programming and process, whereas artists with computers are bulls in the Apple Shop. New media artists tend to germinate in design or media arts programs whereas artists with computers incline to studio arts backgrounds or autodidacticism.

[...]

I'm wondering, though, if maybe the distinction has a bit to do with how seriously one takes the medium, or whether or not the medium is pushed to the point that it becomes the subject of the work. If this is the case, is the reason why "new media" artists have so much difficulty with "artists with computers" because the artists don't pay enough respect to the technology? Are "artists with computers" just "new media" noobs?