Dorothy R. Santos

With Adobe’s Museum of Digital Art, Google’s Art Project, and increasing amount of artists presence on the web, the contemporaneous issues facing the art world entail, first and foremost, a lack of definition around what is considered New Media art. With the interfacing of arts and technology within the digital movement, it’s up to artists to evolve alongside the rest of the world and at a much faster rate. With web components to exhibitions to online museums and exhibitions, the real problem lies within how such virtual forums and venues must compete with the ideas and perceptions already ingrained into the collective consciousness around museums, galleries, and art spaces. It’s not only a matter of aesthetics but physical art, historically, has always been untouchable. The advancements in social networking and communication, make for a wide array of possibilities in showcasing and educating the public on art. Yet, with the belief that art is already seemingly untouchable, what happens to the world of the virtual where there is yet another layer of comprehension that must take place in order to understand and experience the art. Many of these philosophical questions will be addressed at the Rewire Conference 2011 scheduled later this year in Liverpool, England. The event caters to artists, technologists, scholars, designers, engineers, and educators from around the world to exchange critical dialogue and practices specific to the arts and technology realm. The conference addresses key topics related to the new media community. Questions regarding issues of documentation and how one writes about new media art from an art history lens are discussed as well. Something more immediate to address these concerns is currently being investigated through virtual spaces and art can such as the online exhibition look art, which is sponsored by arts and technology organization Turbulence.