NAME: CELINE ROSE QUIJARDO SECTION: 12- SOCRATES

CONTEMPORARY PHIL. ART (FORMATIVE TEST)

III. ESSAY WRITING

1. Contemporary artists do not always use media. What makes

them contemporary?

To say something is Contemporary is to say that things are

happening in the present, right at this moment or close to it. It’s not a style
of art—simply a way to distinguish what is currently happening from
previous art movements. Because of this, what is considered contemporary
art is always changing as things come into and go out of style.

New Media can be easily thought of as “not old media,” old media being
painting, sculpture, printmaking, and domestic objects like newspapers and
the television, from the viewpoint of the ‘70’s & ‘80’s. New Media is
everything that comes after, but mostly things involving computer
technology, and because of its vagueness it has persisted to the 2020’s.
However, it’s quite old, and new media work from the early days of the term
(Nam June Paik) has little to do with more modern new media works
(Matthew Barney).

Installations and Mixed Media are both terms that describe how a work was
made or made to be viewed. Installation art focuses on transforming space,
often involving a large area, or non-trivial amount of space. Mixed media
refers to the mixing of mediums, the most common being collages.
Installations and Mixed Media can be used to make a New Media work, but
are not, in themselves, hallmarks of New Media. They existed before New
Media was a term, and in the case of Mixed Media, for quite some time
before. In any case, neither would be something that was specifically
classified as New Media.

Every term mentioned above fits neatly into a space around 150–170
years. New Media, Installations, and Mixed Media are all things that are
“new” in art (when considering we’ve been at it since the cave days) and
continuing to be expanded on. However, I wouldn't consider any of them to
be particularly relevant contemporary art movements. Furthermore, it’s not
easy (or possible) to say what is “historical, stylistic, and cultural” about
contemporary art because it’s constantly ahistorical, has no stylistic
markings (since it’s about time, not style) and is only cultural insofar you’re
in another culture.

Truly, contemporary is just art being done currently, tomorrow, next week,
next year; whatever is being done is contemporary. Everything beyond the
recent past, however, is booted out.