The third biennial National New Media Art Award exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Queensland raises interesting questions about the direction of 21st century art; however, at the same time, it also challenges us to consider the development of previous art movements. Art has always relied on an element of predictable interpretation. Even since the early Modernist experimentation of Realism an artist intended that an audience would have the ability to interpret the work. As art evolved and art movements took new and unique tangents, interpretation was still possible. If a Realist determined the success of their work on the basis of a viewer’s ability to understand the image being portrayed, an Expressionist relied on the ability of a viewer to connect and interpret an emotion and a Conceptual artist relied heavily on the viewer’s ability to understand a concept and meaning of a visually perplexing piece. Although movements like these revolutionised art in a variety of ways in the past, art continues to evolve. Without this evolutionary advancement, a technique, medium or concept will become clichéd. The art gallery experience becomes mediocre, as it has all been ‘done before’. New media art allows us to walk into a gallery and experience art in its most multi-sensitive form, not only visualising an art work, but being engulfed in the sound, touch and smell of the art work in its entirety. This new galley form will take art into new territory. As Noel Carroll states, ‘The art object is something designed to provoke a certain form of response, a certain type of interaction’ (Carroll, 2001). With Minimalism and Conceptualism the interpretation of an artwork became less reliant on... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline
Robin Fox, CRT: homage to Léon Theremin (detail), 2012. Cathode-ray tube televisions, multichannel sound, motion tracking system, custom software, three parts: 207 x 51 x 62cm each. Courtesy the artist.
