Introduction

Eye of the Beholder, Professional Environment

In this issue of iDMAa’s journal, we explore the concept of digital/media art in a variety of ways that converge almost uncannily—in every Freudian sense of that term, where the familiar is made strange and vice versa. “Art” has always been a contentious category along a wide spectrum. Can one be taught to appreciate art, and even to know it when you see it? Can the popular and the commoditized coexist with the artistic? Is art a profession or a calling? Do we evaluate along aesthetic lines only—and if so, does an aesthetic eye include an emotional domain? Where does the audience and viewer perspective come in with defining art?

Many still see the use of digital/media as an intrusion into the field of art, a perspective with longstanding roots perhaps most recently—in broad strokes—tied to the 1960s Pop Art movement. Today the rhetoric is amplified as we read great works on our Kindles, view classics on our iPads, and listen to symphonies on an ironically small aural scale acoustically. Further muddying the waters is the ever-growing role of the audience—singular or many—partaking in an environment that tells us our input matters (and who can freely and instantaneously tell thousands their impression). Add in an economy that disadvantages the independent artist and the art-seeker alike, and any attempt to pin down what “is art” could be seen as an exercise in futility.

Oddly, what I find reassuring is that people anywhere find it a valuable endeavor today to examine the concept of art, rather than descending into cynicism or avoiding the inevitable fact that part of human nature is to classify and evaluate—and create something meaningful on whatever scale. L. Rodayne Esmay takes us on an intimate tour of works from iDMAa’s IDEAS exhibit, examining his emotional reactions to the works presented while incorporating the perspective of the artists as well, fusing the two to describe succinctly his overall perception and assessment. Most of us personally think of art as something that strikes us individually and uniquely in some way, and here Esmay “makes that strange” by actually examining that process as something shared.

Daniel Cooper, Suzy Smith, and Brandon Waite also explore the notion of how art is shaped by examining the role mobile devices and second screens in how audiences interact with television. Focusing primarily on the 2012 election, their observations can be applied to any number of television viewing experiences—be it live tweeting during the premiere of Mad Men or scanning social media while watching the NCAA tournament games. How much of art is in the reception, and how much in the “original text?”

John Ludwick and Dan Baldwin explore the field of animated filmmaking, which has steadily become more accepted as artistic, even as 5 the infusion of digital technology has created debates within the film world of the old versus the new painstaking ways of animation. Their piece reminds us that art is work, and that work necessitates training (perhaps now more than ever) in terms of skilled animation and effects. In today’s digital environment, a self-sustaining animator learns from engineers, software technicians, and—as they suggest—from industry professionals with specific needs from their employees. In a similar vein, Dene Grigar et al. examine an attempt to teaching mobile app design and development, concluding that instructor must learn with student in a field as uncharted as this one is—and that partnering with industry professionals is key to educating artists aiming to find a career path with which they can literally live. I see these two articles as a gentle but important reminder that we no longer live in a romantic era where patrons sponsored artists to immerse themselves in their calling; and perhaps more to the point, this era was a mythology as patrons always had projects they insisted on having completed to their satisfaction. While working within and beside companies who have a very real bottom line may strike many in arts/education as anathema, can we ethically or satisfactorily educate artists of any stripe today without also teaching them how to thrive among digital industries’ expectations?

Tying together this range of articles is a veritable think piece from Matthew Payne and Mike Fleisch that I found personally captivating, a straight-on look at the popular notion that games can never truly belong in the domain of talking about art, not even in comparison to film (which, need I remind you, was relegated to the same standing less than 50 years ago). What I found so refreshing about this article is that they do not attempt to answer the question even of games’ status; they instead poke at the debate itself. And while this certainly makes strange my point above, that continuing to explore the concept of art has value, I simply love how they take discourse about art to task in a passionate yet even-handed manner. Given the recent loss of Roger Ebert, who simultaneously championed film as an art form even while refusing to do the same for games, their essay uncannily urges us to ponder the pros and cons of labeling media works as art at all.

Finally, as a special addendum, we have an interview with Peter Raad. For our past tenth anniversary issue, we conducted interviews with a wide range of digital media artists of varying stripes; Mr. Raad’s interview came in after our publication date, but we wanted to include it here lest it be lost in the archives!

I hope you enjoy this issue’s discussion about art and work and education and I encourage you to give us your feedback online at iDMAa’s website.

Happy reading!

—Sharon Marie Ross

Download V9N1 PDF Version

In this issue

• V9N1: Debate 2012

  By Daniel Cooper, Suzy Smith, Brandon Cordell Waite | June 19, 2013

  The era of the television’s prominence in the living room is long over. Once considered the household center for news, entertainment and video games, television no longer commands the full attention it once held due to the widespread proliferation of mobile media.

• V9N1: Embedding Faculty into Industry

  By John B. Ludwick, Dan Baldwin | June 20, 2013

  This paper will detail the experiences and lessons learned through a comprehensive explanation of the facilities’ pipeline as well as the opportunities presented for discussion on the expectations of graduates from a broad range of engineering, technology, and art schools across the country. It is the authors’ intention that an adaptable model be incorporated into their professional and pedagogical development, regardless of their technology discipline.

• V9N1: Gaming Art

  By Michael Fleisch, Matthew Thomas Payne | June 20, 2013

  This article makes the case that the “are video games art?” debate -- recently reignited when famed film critic Roger Ebert declared that games can never achieve artistic standing -- presents us with instructive insights about how popular commodities attain cultural worth. The true value of this public debate lies in the way that it showcases how the discourse itself functions as a kind of game. Furthermore, the debate highlights the need for recognizing video gaming’s power as an engine for creativity and innovation across the arts.

• V9N1: Responses and Thoughts

  By Peter E. Raad | June 19, 2013

  iDMAa: Looking back over the last ten years, what are the things that stand out within these broad intersections? PR: It is vividly apparent that the technologies of digital information and networked interactivity have made […]

• V9N1: Teaching Mobile App Design + Development

  By Dene Grigar | June 20, 2013

  About 350,000 mobile apps have been released since May 2011, and more than 77% of the people in the world now have mobile devices. About 5 billion dollars are projected to be spent on mobile advertising during the next five years.