Art and technology integration in contemporary practice

Art and Technology

Bell hooks' quotation regarding the proper perspective that one should have when conducting cultural criticism involves the "disruption of the colonized/colonizer mindset," which means that individuals who aim to provide a fair and objective criticism of culture must be free from any biases or predetermined prejudices and opinions about that particular culture. Disruption of the colonized/colonizer mindset is necessary because analysis and findings regarding the study of a particular culture entails objectivity, and failing to do so would result to an invalid and unreliable approach and result to the researcher's findings. Thus, a disruption of an individual's mindset about a culture being superior or inferior is a necessary tool in order to achieve objectivity and accuracy in research. Furthermore, "border crossings" means that a researcher must be able to immerse himself with the dynamics of the culture he is studying in order to get a better and proper perspective in studying the society's culture. Aside from discarding subjectivity, the researcher must learn how to place himself in the society's culture for a better study of it. In "reinscribing old patterns," bell hooks refers to the establishment of the original culture of the society that a researcher aims to study. Re-inscription also means instilling once again to the people of that society to be re-introduced to the culture that their society had once subsisted to, long before colonization and other foreign influence have mixed with the original culture of the society. Bell hooks therefore means in her quote that researchers, in order to arrive at an objective cultural criticisms as well as to effectively 're-introduce to the people the original culture that they have, must be free from predetermined notions or biases about the culture they are studying. Researchers must also be able to determine to draw the line that divides the culture's original culture and the 'mixed culture' it had achieved due to foreign/colonial influence.

In order to achieve objectivity in the study of a culture, 'decolonization' is needed, meaning, artifacts and other cultural materials/objects are to be interpreted through the perspective of the creators of artworks during the time it was created, as well as the social context wherein that artwork was made. In the world of digital media, localization is a likely possibility wherein the colonizer/colonized mindset is abolished through the help of mass communicated media. Internet technology is especially effective in spreading the culture of minor societies and nations, which has not been popularized before. Popular culture media is especially focused on introducing new forms of 'side stream culture.' Over time, these sidestream culture and even counterculture finds its way into being mainstream, which is evidence of bell hooks' "crossing the borders" concept. Crossing the borders is signified by the mixture of various cultures and the acculturation of the society of these mixed cultures. For example, art that originated from an ethnic tribe or minority culture in the Eastern nations can be fused into modern Western culture, such as the art of ballet dancing combined with kung-fu actions and steps that is popular in the East (which is gradually becoming popular in pop culture today). Through this example, digital media has helped people become knowledgeable about other societies' unique culture, which helps them to incorporate each of these cultures into one, thereby resulting to a heterogeneous form of cultural art. Thus, 'old patterns' are resisted as a result of localization put into the globalization context.