Integration of art and technology has proven to be both a help and
a hindrance to both artists/creatives and consumers alike. For example,
the internet has permitted an increase in collaborative artistic practice,
opportunities to share works of art with fans and friends, and has
sometimes offset the financial burden of having to operate in a marketplace
where it is ‘unknown’ how creativity will be received before its consumption.
Some technological interventions have produced backlash and questions
about authentic creative practice. Musical artists, for instance, are criticized
for the ongoing use of autotune. Today, the gamut of this intersection of
art and technology runs from the commercial side that has made ‘real’
the virtual actor across to the art side where the digital projection of
animated experiences of Van Gogh’s greatest works populates the walls
of entertainment facilities. Within this spectrum, technological influences,
augmentations and directions are revolutionizing the production and
consumption of art, while others have undermined the symbolic nature of
these creative products.
In the twenty-first century, we are increasingly seeing the insertion of
machine creativity alongside or even on top of the human artist with greater
attention needed on the role of the technical artefact in the entire creative
process. Artistic expression has long been considered the purview of the
people, when, in fact, more attention could be levelled at the influence of
technology on creative products and experiences. What is clear is that
artists and creatives continue to explore the capacity of technology to evolve
their craft to make it more accessible, challenge genres and conventions, for
both commercial, educational, and intrinsic motivations.
For this Special Issue, we are interested in how changes in technology
are directly impacting artists, creatives, producers and/or the consumer,
aficionado or fans to start conversations around issues such as ‘where to
next?’, ‘what constitutes art?’, ‘has art lost its “meaning”?’, ‘who is the real
creator/author?’ or ‘has creativity developed new meanings altogether?’ The
Special Issue will explore, then, whether the practices of art and creativity
hinge on new forms of technological determinism and how technology is
impacting creative outputs and experiences from the movie set to the fine
art gallery.