Yesterday, at the Digital Culture Forum, I presented some ideas about what I consider the conditions for digital art’s existence. Daniel Hora published such a good summary of my talk that I reproduce it here.
I could not have been as faithful to myself as he was…
Summary
In her lecture, Giselle Beiguelman spoke about the problems in Brazil concerning hardware (physical infrastructure), software (programs), and peopleware (technology users) that condition the existence of digital art. Among other issues, she mentioned limited access to electricity in regions such as the North, the lack of power outlets in cultural spaces, the limited provision of public internet access, and the shortage of software and continuous public “institutional programs” for digital art.
Giselle emphasized, however, that work is produced despite these difficulties, incorporating “alternative uses of technologies developed independently of universities, government, and the critical mass” of specialists. The artist advocated encouraging this emerging aesthetic of “critique of use and critical use” of media by promoting “digital literacy” and establishing spaces for creation, development, enjoyment, and agency. “This would allow us to speak of a technophagic generation rather than produsers or fansumers, happy slaves sponsoring the brands” of technological products, she argued.
You can find the complete summary of the “Digital Art” discussion, which brought together myself, Pau Alsina, Patricia Canetti, Laymert Garcia, and Andre Vallias, here.