Traditionally the term “art” has been closely associated with the media in which it is realised. Take for example painting or sculpture. It seems that something made in painting or sculpture should be considered art simply by virtue of the media involved. But what happens when we find artists that work in other media? For example, sometimes the artist mixes, in the course of his work process, painting with some computer-generated material, or includes layers of music and film in order to achieve a certain atmosphere. Further, we also find artists deconstructing installations built up of a mix of various different materials and devices. Should we think of this as art, too?
The notion of “transmedia art” opens up the possibility to free the artwork from the media: from then on the artwork is understood as an immaterial process that can assume manifold ways of materializing and mediating itself in the world. Similarly, “transmedia art” points to new meanings of the artwork, which is posited as something that crosses and brings together different media in order to effect various kinds of interaction scenarios and experiences with its users, audiences and art institutions as well.
At any rate we should differentiate this notion of “transmedia from other notions like “multimedia art”. The latter is more closely related with questions related to the synchronization of media, rather than the crossing of or agonistic dialogue amongst and between different media than is the former. Instead, the notion of “multimedia” has as a constituent part of its function its explicit connection with the tradition of “Gesamtkunstwerk” – a total work of art.
Photograph: Lluís Bover. © Fundació Antoni Tàpies
Available under a CC BY-NC-SA license.
Photograph: Lluís Bover. © Fundació Antoni Tàpies
Available under a CC BY-NC-SA license.
“Discovering Art” is an educational portal where you can discover interesting facts about art and museums of art.
The online portal Discovering Art is the collaborative effort of four institutions:
Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Fundació Antoni Tàpies from Barcelona, Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška from Slovenj Gradec.
The portal is part of the European project Performing the Museum.
