《Pop Culture》.pdfVIP

Pop Culture A quick look at the transformative affects of modern technology and consumer culture on art. Hypothesis “Our fine arts were developed, their types and uses were established, in times very different from the present, by men whose power of action upon things was insignificant in comparison with ours. But the amazing growth of our techniques, the adaptability and precision they have attained, the ideas and habits they are creating, make it a certainty that profound changes are impending in the ancient craft of The Beautiful. In all the arts there is a physical component which can no longer be considered or treated as it used to be, which cannot remain unaffected by our modern knowledge and power. For the last twenty years neither matter nor space nor time has been what it was from time immemorial. We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art.” —Paul Valery, Pieces sur L’art, Le Conquete de l’ubiquite Valery’s Hypothesis Explained • A hypothesis is a proposition 构想/论题, a starting place for thinking about a problem; it is testable, arguable • Valery (1871-1945) argues that 20th century technology should not only change the way we make art, but should also change the way we think about art. Technology affects technique, technique affects artistic invention, new artistic invention could affect the way we think about art. Hypothesis Visualized 概念 发明 技巧 技术 Some Art History • Art has always been reproducible, but, according to Walter Benjamin, it wasn’t until lithography—a mechanical method for reproducing images using etchings on copper plat