Assembling Art, Design, Technology and Media Culture: The Challenge of Japanese Device Art

Abstract

The relationship between art, science, technology and culture is a complex issue that consists of a network of influences and interactions. Today, media technology is shared as an everyday tool both for work and for fun, by practically everyone including artists, designers, engineers, scientists, businessmen, as well as amateur photographers who upload their works for public viewing and ≫consumers≪ who enjoy viewing artworks or buy designed furniture (or rather, much inexpensive gadgets) online. Works of media art integrate art and technology, often questioning what media technology means to us, but also showing how technology can push the border of art. Tools the artists use and venues where their works are shown—or experienced —are often very different from those in traditional art. Often it is not even clear if a work—a network project with public participation, for example—is to be considered art or not. Still, the definition of media art—although it can never be clear cut-seems to be bound by the traditional Western paradigm of art.