This was published 8 years ago
Culture and technology collide in National Gallery of Victoria symposium Art and the Connected Future
A symposium is to explore what possibilities new technologies could bring to art.
By Dylan Rainforth
From Andy Warhol's Polaroid portraits to Ai Weiwei's selfies taken while being arrested by Chinese police (such as his work Illumination, 2014, pictured) artists have been quick to seize the possibilities of new technologies.
Under the rubric of its Andy Warhol|Ai Weiwei blockbuster, the National Gallery of Victoria is presenting a one-day symposium on the subject, called Art and the Connected Future.
Ai Weiwei's Illumination, 2014.
The symposium, on Sunday, April 16, features keynote talks from Google Creative Lab director Tom Uglow and American art critic Ben Davis.
The national art critic for Artnet News, Davis is also the author of a notable polemic, 9.5 Theses on Art and Class, and will ask "Is the digital a trap for art?"
The tension between tradition and technological innovation is a theme throughout the event, with Uglow also addressing the topic, drawing on examples from his work with NASA, Tate and the Royal Shakespeare Company.