Fractal Dreams New Media in Social Context - Summary

 Fractal Dreams New Media in Social Context
Edited by Jon Dovey

Focus - Who gets to Play? Art, Access and Margin
Ailsa Barry

Key Points

• Computers can help people to publicise their ideas to the world.
• The technological advances, computers and networks, can promote democracy by giving everyone access to information.
• Art can be easily shared and critiqued over the internet.

Key Quotes

• The Magic Box - A Future Fairy Tale '...soon it was travelling along cables and networks to every home in the country (that had a computer) and was being beamed by satellite across the world.'
• Origins of Myth 'For groups that have traditionally been disenfranchised, not having access to the main economic and political channels of power and communication, there is a promise of a new digital voice.'
• Origins of Myth ' The emergence of computers and networks, which make work easily reproducible and transportable... easily accessible to a wider public, bypassing the moribund channels of galleries and museums...vast conceptual world where the audience or viewer can interact or participate.'

Summary

Ailsa Barry's text in 'Fractal Dreams - New Media in Social Context' on 'Who gets to Play? Art, Access and Margin' investigates distribution, technology and communication in society.

Firstly, Barry suggests that computers can help people to publicise and gain recognition or their work. In 'The Magic Box - A future Fairy Tale' it is said that art can be shared by '...travelling along cables and networks to every home in the country', therefore promoting and enabling otherwise unknown art to be 'beamed by satellite across the world'. The notion of even amateur art becoming universally available means that anyone has the opportunity to be a part of an on-line creative community where they can learn, participate and receive opinions on their work freely.

These technological advances in regards to computers and networking can contribute to an important part of a democratic society by giving everyone equal access to information. Barry expresses that 'For groups that have traditionally been disenfranchised, not having access to the main economic and political channels of power and communication, there is a promise of a new digital voice'. In other words, a digital culture gives everyone an equal opportunity to gain an understanding of the world we live in, eliminating a hierarchy and someone to determine who should or should not be allowed to express their ideas.

Following the idea of making art available to all through technology, Barry discusses that 'The emergence of computers and networks make work easily reproducible and transportable' which implies that in the digital age art is easily shared and critiqued on a vast scale by the public. This reproduction is the way in which art has become 'easily accessible to a wider public, bypassing the moribund channels of galleries and museums'. Art galleries are, even now, largely associated with the upper class. Therefore, there is the question of whether the traditional ways of displaying art are appropriate for a mass audience. The use of social media and being able to discover a creative collective just a click away has generated a 'vast conceptual world where the audience or viewer can interact or participate'.