New media and visual culture...

The age of print began in the 1450s, and some believe we are still living in the late age of print.

Guttenbergs printing press allowed mass communications, it became easier to print with the moveable type that was no longer fixed.

The role of the reader -  the electronic book- is it democratic?
The E book is literate, in the future all books will be electronic. Reader takes on the role of the author.

Computer media- the way we read has changed through hypertext, this allows us to surf through information quickly. Its a superficial way of reading- its a more engaging which makes it more exciting, it makes you more receptive and gives you empowerment.

Hypermedia: Hypermedia is when we see many media, pictures and sounds and we can surf through these quickly.

Definition of mass media:
Modern systems of communication and distribution supplied by relatively small groups of cultural produces, but directed towards large numbers of consumers.

Negative criticism of mass media:

- Superficial, uncritical, trivial.
- Viewing figures measures success.
- Audiences are dispersed.
- Audience is disempowered.
- Encourages the status Quo.
- Encourages empathy.
- Power held by the few motivated profit or social control (propaganda)
- Bland, escapism, seen as a drug which anaesthetises us.

Positive criticism of the mass media:

- Not all mass media is low quality.
- Social problems and injustices are discussed by the media.
- Creativity can be a feature of mass media.
- Transmission of high art material reaches a broader audience.
- Democratic potential.

United colours of Benetton

An ad created by Oliverio Toscani, Army outfit.

The ad is meant to be advertising clothes but its doing much more than that, its almost advertising politics. The outfit is that of a dead Army soldiers, dried blood can be seen and even a bullet shot through the chest. Its a reality check.

Leeds 13 was a group of students who pretended to spend all of their grant for uni on a big holiday, it caused an uproar in society as they thought it was wrong what they had spent their tax money on, even though it was all fake. These artists then gained artist status from using the mass media as their story was published in newspapers.

Can Art be autonomous? (exist on its own in a vacuum)

Should Art be autonomous? (for some yes, by doing so it retains purity and integrity)

Jackson Pollock- apitamy of Art above society, aesthetic freedom, no agenda.

Pollock funded by C.I.A?

Political propaganda- illusion of independence but involved in politics.

Roy litchenstein Whaam (1963)

Pop Art- underlining politics.

Andy Warhol, Green Coca Cola bottles 1962- 'I consume therefore i am'.

Conclusion:

- New media are changing the way we consume and read text and image.

- Theorists of the mass media have different viewpoints seeing it as either a negative and a threat or a          positive pleasurable and democratic,

- There is a serious question in Art theory as to whether Art should be autonomous or not.