Just the Facts About New Media

Those who are interested in surveying the current status of new media art, as it's been informed by a few decades of development, ought to visit or read the online essays for the Neuberger Museum of Art's exhibition series, 'New Media: Who, What, Where, When and Why.' Based at the State University of New York, in Purchase, the museum has made a major commitment to the study of new media with this series that has already spanned three years. 'New Media: Who' opened in 2004 and included 'heavy-hitters' ranging from Nam June Paik to net art pioneers Mendi and Keith Obadike. 'New Media: What' took on the precarious challenge of defining what constitutes new media, while ultimately displaying the diverse nature of media-based practices in effect today--including digital animation, machine vision, sound art, and web-based work. 'New Media: Where' focused on the theme of displacement and what the organizers saw as 'our sensory and social projection into the abstract digital world.' The current episode of the series, 'New Media: When' is on view through June 10 and includes work by Char Davies, LoVid (pictured here), Marshall Reese and Nora Ligorano, and Brooke Singer. The focus, in this case, is on time: our perceptions and representations of the temporal, as well as the ways in which artworks can change in form, as they evolve. - Elizabeth Johnston