As the world slowly becomes more complex, with advanced machinery handling most of our daily tasks, we need to consider how art has developed with industrialization and the rise of the digital age. Works of art have become easy to reproduce through machinery and have lost their authenticity. However, Walter Benjamin believes that no matter how many times a work of art is reproduced, the original is still considered authentic because of its 'aura' [1].
The movie that best represents societys reaction to modernization is 'I, Robot'. In the movie, humans develop robots with AI to run most tasks, including law enforcement. The robots however, develop into strong intelligent beings with the ability to feel. This movie has often made me wonder how art, sculpture and music will be affected when humans are able to make robots with true artificial intelligence. Would the robots be able to make more intricate and fascinating pieces of art or would they lack the originality that can only come from a human brain? I postulate, that even though robots would be brutally efficient in copying pieces of art that they observe, it would be nearly impossible to create robots who could truly influence art as we can't program creativity and imagination.
Resources
1) Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.
2) Building "self-aware" Robots. Dir. Hod Lipson. 2007. Ted Talk. <http://www.ted.com/talks/hod_lipson_builds_self_aware_robots>
3) Robots That "show Emotion" Dir. David Hanson. 2009. Ted Talk. <http://www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_relate_to_you>
4) "ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show." ArtBots. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. <http://artbots.org/2002/>.
5) Ji Xie Gong Di = I,robot. By James Cromwell, Laurence Mark, Bridget Moynahan, and Will Smith. De Li Ying Shi., 2004.
The Evolution of Art as technology advanced
Robots from 'I, Robot'
Even though AI probably can not contribute to the evolution of art, technology has played a massive role in its development. The development of machinery and technology has lead to new, more intricate techniques to create art. It's also made art more accessible as the development of technology has led to more people being able to create art, even though they probably aren't good with penmanship, painting, etc. This has led to more people being able to express themselves creatively as it removes the restriction of needing to know how to draw, paint, etc.
Art made solely through a computer
Thus we can see that even though industrialization and the development of technology has helped art advance, there is a limit to what it can do.
Resources
1) Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.
2) Building "self-aware" Robots. Dir. Hod Lipson. 2007. Ted Talk. <http://www.ted.com/talks/hod_lipson_builds_self_aware_robots>
3) Robots That "show Emotion" Dir. David Hanson. 2009. Ted Talk. <http://www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_relate_to_you>
4) "ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show." ArtBots. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. <http://artbots.org/2002/>.
5) Ji Xie Gong Di = I,robot. By James Cromwell, Laurence Mark, Bridget Moynahan, and Will Smith. De Li Ying Shi., 2004.
Cool post. In response to whether or not robots can create authentic art pieces, I would agree that the answer is no because robots aren't capable (well at least not yet) of posessing the same creativity and imagination as humans do because they're brains and thoughts are artificial. Aside from this, technology still has influenced art in major ways as you mentioned, making it more accessible and more easily reproduced.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really interesting that you think of robots as being used to create art; I took a slightly different take on this section and thought more of robots being considered pieces of art themselves. You should check out the TED Talk by David Hanson where he discusses using robots as caricatures of real humans in art installations. I feel like it provides a cool juxtaposition to the ideas you discussed.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really interesting that you think of robots as being used to create art; I took a slightly different take on this section and thought more of robots being considered pieces of art themselves. You should check out the TED Talk by David Hanson where he discusses using robots as caricatures of real humans in art installations. I feel like it provides a cool juxtaposition to the ideas you discussed.
ReplyDelete