Artem Markiv

5/5 (2)

The fusion of art and technology is nothing new to a modern person, because in the end who is one to decide what is art and what is not? When the technology allows us to express ourselves in a new manner, connectivity plays a pivotal role here. You are always just one step, one click behind browsing a digital library of millions and millions of art pieces. The only problem however with overabundance of information is that we become reliant on what the algorithms or reviews of other people tell us. In a world where time is limited it is impossible to see and experience everything, so we let others judge things instead of us, saving us precious time but perhaps limiting ourselves from experiencing something grandeur. It is easy with modern technology to jump on Google Arts & Culture app or any other app for that matter and go on a virtual tour across thousands of museums and historical landmarks all across the globe, but how many people actually do that? Perhaps the answer lies in the nature of the experience, it is simply not the same. But what if it was the same? What if you could experience something you can not experience when visiting it in real world? Imagine going to ballet in VR, sounds weird doesn’t it? But then imagine standing on stage with the dancers, an invisible presence completely free to walk around and admire the choreography from any angle you choose. Now imagine a contest where people have to discern which pieces of art were produced by an AI and which by real people. As we venture into abstract paintings, how do we tell what is art and what is not? One might argue that it is about the meaning of work the artist put behind the piece, however in the post-modernist world the moment the author finishes their work, this work gains a life of its own. Hence, the meaning of the work only exists from the perception of the viewer and what they derive from it. We often struggle in modern world with defining clearly things for what they are, what is art and what is kitsch. But perhaps, we don’t need to, perhaps appreciating beauty is enough for what it is.

References:

https://www.ft.com/content/2437f525-f6f7-4068-ace7-35e572e56277
https://www.christies.edu/news/2019/may/growing-relationship-between-art-technology

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As Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and Elon Musk feud for control over not only the title of the richest man on Earth but also the richest man in space, the race for popularizing the space tourism is ahead. As arguably the Cold War was one of the biggest factors behind space exploration in the past with national pride on the line to see who gets to be the first superpower in space, nowadays Nasa can sigh in relief as the private sector takes over.

Nowadays, the political landscape is rather different but private companies remain to be the beneficiaries of taxpayer-funded grants in a new space race between the US and China. And since space exploration is still one of the most regulated industries, government inevitably becomes their key customer. Hence, it is important to remember that space exploration is not a philanthropic endeavor but rather a commercial operation with recent private rocket launches drastically affecting the stock price of respective companies. As a result of that, the public interest for space is reignited and now the space tourism is estimated to reach valuation of up to $5bn by 2025.

However, some people remain unpersuaded that this is the best usage of taxpayer money among the pandemic crisis, ridiculing not only the intentions of companies but even the rockets’ shape. A particular controversy was incited by Jeff Bezos saying “because you guys paid for all this” during his post-launch thanks. In light of the incredibly poor conditions of Amazon workers during the pandemic, many people took it as a personal ridicule, further heating up the debate. Another often overlooked aspect of space tourism is the very heavy environmental load. While a flight from New-York to London contributes to the emission of 0.2kg CO2 per person per mile, this number goes up to 12kg CO2 in case of rocket launches. Of course, while rocket launches remain to be rare, it is not a very significant contributor of pollution, but we have to ask now whether space travel is likely to become a new hobby for the rich contaminating out planet?

References:

https://www.ft.com/content/532c41c9-0087-4fed-8168-078c8aed3f5a
https://www.ft.com/content/2844a88a-1226-4537-9b44-09a0dfb1191a

Art and Technology

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Space race v2.0

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