STATEMENT
Since the beginning of time, humans have learned
how to control nature through technology.
The study of anatomy is a process of self-discovery and control through the
use of scientific
method. The practice of anatomy has lead to a great understanding of human structure,
function,
and the interrelation of its various parts to one another. Suddenly, computers
became
integrated within our society and radically altered our understanding of everything
we thought
we could know; this lead to new art forms that
would have never existed in the past.
Digital (Art)atomy is a specific type of artform that is acheived
by converting the organic body
into a digital representation which then provides a new medium that can be used
to explore our
sense of self and humanity to an even greater extent. The longer that humans
are exposed to
technology and digital culture the weaker the lines become between what is organic
and what is
artificial; it was inevitable that our bodies would manifest themselves in the
digital realm somehow.
Digital (Art)atomy is characterized by art that explores and shows the ways
that our inner
workings can be represented on the Internet and gives insights to how the ideas
of technology,
humanity, and self-discovery may be realized in our future. These artists transform
the flesh into
pixels and use the Internet and technology as their surgical tools to dissect
what know about
ourselves.
There are many artworks that deal with humanity and digital culture,
but (Art)atomy pieces
specifically represent our internal organs in a digital form and manipulate
them to provide the
groundwork for the ideas that they wish to convey. They create new ways to view
our body
structures and how virtual spaces can change them. Some comparisons can be drawn
between these works and biotechnological art, which uses science as the art,
but digital
(Art)atomy pieces are more specific to anatomical representations in cyberspace
and rely on
interactive aspects of the audience. There are still very few of these works
of art which implies
that there is a much left for artists to explore and pump in this vein of digital
and Internet art.
These chosen works provide examples of how diverse the themes within digital
(Art)atomy can
be and still meet the criteria. They address the topics of artificial life,
our connections to the digital
realm, representations of our personal lives, and internal journeys.