Focus Group Meeting Notes
- Brenda Cleniuk
- Mar 5, 2018
- 3 min read
....Anyone who talks about media should have quite a library of McLuhan's books as he was the first one to really discern the effect and societal impact of media; and he continually reiterated that the *content* is almost irrelevant to the effect on the masses. As an example, the smartphone distracts us from our surroundings independent of any particular thing we are doing on it. Chess programs probably dissuade one from actually joining a chess club. Or videoing a concert rather than actually enjoying it. Social isolation seems to be an effect of mobile devices. We're no longer in the moment.
McLuhan not only talked about media specifically but all "extensions of man." ('Man' being short for 'mankind.' The word 'man' is derived from the latin, 'manus' meaning 'hand.' Are you listening Mr Prime Minister?) So any technological invention, from a clay pot to the wheel to a smartphone has radically reshaped our outlook, our beliefs, our social, political, cultural and psychological fabric. It was a travesty how McLuhan was treated in the end at U of T. His position was abolished and they cleaned out his office. Bad decision. Harold Innis was another important Canadian U of T prof that has lots to say about mass media and mass communications. But anyone since, doesn't have the insight or linguistic flare of McLuhan: though they try hard.
My thinking is that social justice warrior art will get tiring and will slide into the background. And the aesthetic solution of critiquing the past will also slip into obscurity. Most artists don't even know they are doing this.
I'd say let's critique the brave new world. So what do artists have to say about AI? Cyborgs? Robotics? Big Data? Crowdsourcing? iTunes? Cybersecurity? VR? Social Media? Gene hacking?
The general public is somewhat glacial in their aesthetic outlook and it seems that contemporary art is way beyond them... similar to 4-D Hall effect quantum mechanics. But at the same time, I don't recall any artists being up to speed in what has, and is happening in the STEM fields. One has to be really interested in science or technology or engineering or math to really put together something of interest.
I guess the bigger questions are: what is fragmented and how extensive is this fragmentation that is present in the arts or art?
Thank you to the associate for these details, and for the point of clarification. DARLA isn't expressly for art & science art projects although I think we would all be interested in seeing some really interesting stuff, as you say. Rather, I think the (new) field (?) we are opening up should be receptive to all of the media and intermedia we have been working with for the past 27 years, a lot has happened and I think most of it did not receive its full expression. I was thinking if we should call for a project for graphs and drawings...schematics, blueprints. Everyone was always interested in those but we never saw very many works in any proposals.
The point about STEM is that I think technology-based and electronic arts and new media could benefit from a more literate public and a more specific set of quantifiers, attributes when talking about what it is or if its effective or let's use the word 'good' or when making 'critical remarks'. And, let's unpack what is meant by 'critical' as well. I use the term to also mean what is critical is vital, is happening now, is seminal to the furtherance of something larger...etc. And, if it is critically relevant, then that means its context is involved and this is where we need to be going. And, are new media and electronic or digital artworks or materials closer to science than say, painting and drawing?
Remember the discussions we had about red not being a primary color?
By closer to science I mean, more moving parts, greater complexity, directly plugged in.
I have been making notes and collecting definitions and commentaries from people talking about fragmentation in the arts and in social terms. This is the best question. I think we should dedicate some time just to introduce it. Here's some, please add.....
Defragmentation in response to deconstruction
To 'defrag' as in to relax or decompress
Defragment as a technical utility to clean up or repair, optimize