Abstract
In this short essay, the author compares postmodern philosophical concepts from Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard to theories of Web-based Art. The author discusses modern strategies for design and new aesthetics that re-emerged on the web. The author acknowledges that Baudrillard and Foucault overemphasize art's value as measured by the interplay of technologies of the self and production systems. He also points out that it would be as flawed a strategy to dismiss the postmodern critiques of art, as doing so runs the risk of complete cynicism and dismissal of art’s value. The relationships between what the author describes as Four Technologies are discussed: The Technology of Production, Technology of Sign Systems, Technology of Power, and the Technology of Self. The essay concludes with a discussion of a "re-coding of cultural software" through many means, including traditional forms such as painting, which can become conceptually-based-productive-activities for the “self” once they are rethought and repurposed.
Preservation Process
Archived from http://switch.sjsu.edu/archive/nextswitch/switch_engine/front/front.php%3Fartc=265.html. Documentation of the preservation processes used for this collection is available at https://github.com/NickSzydlowski/switch. Metadata for this item was created and augmented by Mona Farrokhi, Spring 2022, ART 104.
Recommended Citation
Stalbaum, Brett
(1997)
"Conjuring Post-Worthlessness: Contemporary Web Art and the Postmodern Context: part 2,"
SWITCH: Vol. 7:
No.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/switch/vol7/iss1/3