Many art materials and technologies are ageless. Pottery is one of the oldest skills of mankind, pre-dating even writing by 6,000 years. Cavemen painted. But it’s easy for us to forget how much technology has gone into these skills, from the development of paint beyond the egg tempera used in the Last Painting to pigments derived from petroleum products. Our generation has polymer clays, digital painting, computer animation, film and photography, and other new media that developed over the course of the last century. So what is emerging now, and what will develop over the next century?
As primarily a fiber artist, I suddenly have an unprecedented urge to learn more electronics. A lot more about electronics. My inspiration has been projects like these:
Technically speaking, this is a present technology, since after all, these projects do exist. However, it seems to me that this is relatively unexplored territory for fiber artists, and there’s a lot of room for great things in the future. This gives an overview of smart materials that change color, give off sound and interact with their environment. Another thing that excites me is the chapter on toymaking… sure, many of us grew up with dolls that cried or had other gimmicks, but can you imagine making your own original interactive art dolls with that kind of material? My copy of the book now has big drool marks all over it.
What other technologies do you foresee having an influence on artwork in the future? If any of you are working on something new, or are aware of something new, I would love to hear about it.
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