Introduction
“Photography is the easiest art, which perhaps makes it the hardest” (Plagens 96). This phrase from the article under consideration introduces to the reader the reality, people live in. Current forms of art are so various and independent so that their representatives cannot decide what form of art should survive and which one has to be removed or, at least, improved. Domination of pixels, performance animation, and cyber addiction is inherent to our modern world; this is why it is not a surprise any more that photography, as one of the greatest arts, adopts digital technologies to be improved and introduced to the public in its better way (Plagens 96).
The article by Peter Plagens is a reliable source of information about current technologies and the reasons why art is under the influence of digitization and what the consequences of such influence can be. It is useful for the project, where the effects of digitization on art are investigated because it touches upon modern innovations in the sphere of art, it considers the opinions of sophisticated art representatives, and it presents a brief overview of art history, photography history in particular, in a very comprehensible way. Clear language, proper structure, and illustrative examples, attached to the article help to get a good idea of how photography is impacted by digitization, and how this impact may be spread over other forms of art. Peter Plagens makes a wonderful attempt to analyze art and digitization, taking into consideration historical perspective and modern factors. In my opinion, the success of this article is great indeed, because it helps to understand the nature of photography and the hidden intentions of digitization.
- Attention grabber: The number of images from the greatest museums of America, Canada, and Europe has been already digitized over the last 3 years.
- Controlling idea: Digitisation can change its meaning by the field and form it is applied to; it is performed on different levels to guarantee a true reproduction of the original.
- Thesis: The effects of digitization on art are remained to be considerable over the last few years: it becomes possible to hide the disadvantages, caused by time, the government can present own judgments and not use too many critics due to digitization’s feature to gamify people, and finally, the process of conservation of worthy pieces of art becomes available to different organizations.
- Motivation: the analysis of digitization allows us to comprehend what makes people conserve great pieces of art and what challenges art representatives face day by day.
History of digitization and the reasons for its development
- The late 1960s are marked by computing researches and the birth of digitization:
- The interest of the 1960s and decline of the 1970s
- The Association for History and Computing as the considerable character in digital history
- Digital technologies that promote digitization in all spheres of life
- Creation of visualization as a new interpretation of old sources
- The invention of tag requires new models for researching
- Domination of pixels in photography
Art, its forms, and development
- Art and its elements that appeals to emotions
- Non-motivated and motivating functions of art
- Digitization of art as a tool of conservation
- Digitization in American and Canadian organization
- Digitization in Europe
- Louvre and its magnificent works of art
- Colors and shades to save the originality
- Digitization of art vs. digitization of culture
Conclusion
Art has many forms and effects on people, this is why any activities, made in the sphere of art, have a certain impact on people and their perception of this world and its history. The effects of digitization on art are considerable indeed and should be analyzed periodically to take into account the changes and innovations and evaluate the produced effects and their consequences.
References
Plagens, Peter. “Is Photography Dead?” Newsweek 150.24 (12 Oct. 2007): 94-96.