Today’s technology is increasingly becoming more involved in the world of contemporary art. The variation of tools are enabling students to discover new ways of harnessing different mediums to produce new artistic genres. As the boundaries between arts disciplines continue to be restructured by technology, artists are seizing the opportunity for bold experimentation. Thanks to the development of virtual reality, 3D printers, and other technological advancements, there are now immense possibilities for creating, archiving and viewing art. With that in mind, we asked some students on Kadenze to share their thoughts on how technology influences their creative practice and views on art.
All images belong to the respective artists.
Keon Ju Lee
KL: At first, I think art and technology are directly related with each other.
For instance, in music history, music and technology are developing simultaneously. In detail, with the advancement of music technology, many artists and musicians can make new sounds and work more efficiently. Furthermore, robotics and machine learning are extensively applied in music fields.
In my case, I recently took some courses in Kadenze. I can use some tools that can help my artistic works such as Chuck, Max, Logic Pro and Ableton Live. By using Digital Audio Workstations and programming languages, I can fulfill my musical ideas in an easy way. Without these tools, it can be limited to expand my artistic ideas. In other words, music technology can assist me to compose songs or generate sounds.
Nowadays, I’m into music technology. I hope it can only influence musicians’ works but also affect even to non-musicians.
Luca Mori
LM: I think that technology has a big influence on artistic practices, in particular on narrative and sequential ones. Today with a scanner, printer and PC I can reproduce my manual drawings indefinitely, for infinite times. I can modify it and transform the initial sketch into another thing, maybe more interesting. I can combine and isolate different sources (photos, artworks,art techniques, etc.). I can realize overlays with copy and paste. This must be a job to support inspiration, because I can maintain something of the initial gesture and preserve the structure for example, erasing all the unneeded stuff.
We must consider this as an evolution of the creative technique and not only a simplification of the work. Moreover, the creative act is not only belonging to inner intuition, but also lets chance have a fundamental role. Technology is a great “chance machine”.
In a wider sense, vision and web have determined the evolution of the traditional narrative scheme. Several codes from cinema, TV and video influence my way to build the storyboard. For example, words are not so important to explain the story and visual language is dominant. Writing is important to make reflections and comments or to evoke a mood. Also silence has become a key to tell the story.
Sergio Chisaka
SC: I have no formal artistic training, but I was always attracted to art. Actually, I’m creative in an advertising agency. I come from copywriting, but I also like the visual part. I have always been interested in knowing how artists produce their work and what their creative process is. It seems to me that in art, there are very great ideas that surpass advertising; that’s why many people say that advertising steals from art. So with that in mind, I decided to start looking for MOOCs and online art courses.
I remember that I did an art history course and I learned about computer art. I still do not know why, but this type of art really resonated with something in me. I started to deepen into computer art and generative art and there I discovered Processing and computer programming. Now you can not only see the works that I liked, but I can try the lists.
For a while I was experimenting with generative typography and programming sketches as a practice. Through Processing I arrived at the P5.js course in Kadenze. This was a very interesting point because through Kadenze I realized that I had the opportunity to introduce my knowledge of technology into advertising.
That came at just the moment I realized that the creative technologist profile was emerging within the advertising agencies, the perfect intersection between advertising and technology. Now I am trying to use the Kadenze curriculum to complete my training as a technologist and to be more relevant in the business world.
Xavier Cottineau
XC: First of all i am really happy to follow the Sound Production in Ableton Live courses. CalArts is doing a great job and the videos are a great help for me.
I just ended up doing a year in a music school in Paris. I was studying computer assisted music on Reason 10 among many other courses, such as theory, harmony, piano, singing lessons, songwriting etc.
Coming from classic rock music, I never had the curiosity to enter that world… and i just loved it! First, it gives me the opportunities to create a song from start to finish, which is great for understanding the process of songwriting in terms of theory and harmony. I think it’s a very powerful tool to create and it helped me a lot in breaking the old school codes from rock ‘n’ roll music.
The most difficult thing for me now is to make up my mind on how I’m gonna use that tool on stage. There are so many possibilities that you can get easily lost on the path. It’s a long way to the top, but so exciting.
Phong Nguyen
PN: I love drawing and computing. When I was a child, I wish I could be a cartoonist when I’ve grown up. In 2001, I became an illustrator for an English school, and started to use Photoshop to color my illustrations.
When I learned that the ballroom in my favorite animation, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, was made in 3D, I realized how technology was connected to the industry and studied to become a 3D artist. My main job is a 3D visualizer, but I still love 2D painting of course, on computer. My part-time job is to design characters or draw storyboards for ads.
Now that I had little free time, the first thing I wanted to do was to find some art courses to sharpen my skills. Then I found Kadenze. So far, my assignments have received positive comments and I’ve learned a lot from my instructors and course mates.
I think technology changes how art is made dramatically, especially in entertainment industries. Depending on how we use it, we can still create a great masterpiece like Beauty and the Beast which flawlessly blends technology and traditional art. Technology even gives us more power to complete our work faster, better, and easier. One great example is Aaron Blaise, an artist who has turned to digital painting to create work and they still look fantastic. In the end, technology is the only tool and it cannot change the artist himself.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.