Collaboration

On page 51 of the textbook, Shanken discussed how difficult it was for artists who wanted to collaborate with other artists to work  on electronic media art as it was getting noticed in the 1970's and 1980's.  Regular mail and landline calls just made the logistics of collaboration unbearable plus the lack of information on other talents in the growing medium made it harder for artists to find each other.

My, how we come a long ways without the internet and social media.  It just seems like it was centuries ago when we couldn't get in contact with another person or find out specific information instantly.  Nowadays, if an artist wanted to work with another, they can just send a message on Facebook or Twitter.  I think that method is even faster than just calling on the mobile or sending a n email.  And if the artist did not want to agree to work with each other, what's to stop the requestor from just appropriate the requestee's work, given the work is in electronic format.  I know these are obvious observations but being an artist is much more simpler now than ever.  One just has to look in Youtube to find remixes of electronic art.  Everyone from their elementary school kid to their grandma have been posting photos and pictures on Facebook, Instagram, Flickr or even to their own website.  Art is subjective but it has become much easier to do and share.

Back to the collaboration discussion.  I find it great that if I want to work with someone on a project whether its a report or art I could easily get in contact with that person.  I can only imagine what our historical artists might of been if they had internet. Collaborations by Spanish artist Picasso and Australian indigenous artist Paddy Bedford and American artist Georgia O'Keefe might have been as unique as the Korean/American duo team of Young Hae Chang Heavy Industries.  If only Al Gore created the internet as we know now 60 years ago.