Engineering and the Future of Art – What will change; What Has already changed; and What Won’t Change
Abstract
Art and technology have always been interconnected, but now they are coupled more than ever before. When you think technology, you don’t usually think of the creation of oil paint or the camera, but they were just as radical in their day. It is stimulating as new technologies create new media (interactivity) and tools, as well as new expansive economic opportunities for artists. This expansion will only increase exponentially as we move beyond motion capture (quickly becoming common place) to motion input by gesture.It is a very disruptive time for the arts. With new technologies of fabrication, remixing, editing, and disseminating, it is becoming easier to create things. This proliferation means what? John Lasseter (Director, Toy Story) argued twenty-five years ago that with new computer animation programs will come bad computer animation “due to the unfamiliarly with the fundamental principles.” The challenge is not to discard the fundamentals and aesthetic in the same “bath water” as we work outside of what’s perceived as traditional to incorporate other technical aspects. It is an exciting future as we engineer with new interactivities (i.e. augmented, virtual, social) as well as technologies, such as 3D printers, nanotechnology, and the Internet. The challenge is to recognize the difference between the past, the future, and the timeless.
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