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GordonDennisWilliam1998 cmr.pdf (4.08 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Aesthetics and the Internet: Shifting Definitions of Reality

Gordon, Dennis William
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1391606298

Abstract Details

1998, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Art Education.
This study involves an in-depth philosophical inquiry into how the aesthetics of the more recent technological environment of the Internet are capable of altering the viewers’ perception of reality and, as a result, of changing the definitions of reality. Review of related literature is used in an attempt to analyze the role which aesthetics play in the current merger of art and technology and their effect on reality. Aesthetic theory of the past does not correctly correspond to or cannot fully explain the relation between aesthetics and the newer computer-mediated art medium. The Ineternet with its strong imagery and virtual reality capabilities instead requires an updated aesthetic paradigm that emphasizes reality as a major component. This thesis focuses on a new aesthetic paradigm that will lead toward a better understanding of computer mediated art and its connection to reality. This aesthetic paradigm is developed in response to the continual conveyance of reality transmitted through representational imagery on the Internet. The beauty of the imagery and the realities which it represents form a joint and powerful form of communication. Trying to keep beauty and truth separate in the attempt to define the aesthetics, such as Kant and others have done, is not going to enhance today’s audience understanding. Art and truth, seen as working together, can convey the meaning of the realities of the new technology. Every new medium brings with it questions and uncertainty. A new aesthetic paradigm, which includes beauty or taste as well as cognition, would help create definitions capable of explaining computer-mediated art. The new definitions lead to a greater understanding of the art and thus the total experience of it. In this study, I have shown that forming a new aesthetic paradigm requires a progressive and theoretical path. This path will lead to an aesthetic paradigm capable of addressing and explaining the shifting definitions of reality conveyed to us through the computer. The new merger of art, aesthetics, and technology will convey idea and imagery to the masses in the most beneficial manner.
Carol A. Gigliotti (Advisor)
Lorraine Justice (Committee Member)
84 p.
Art Education

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Gordon, D. W. (1998). Aesthetics and the Internet: Shifting Definitions of Reality [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1391606298

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Gordon, Dennis. Aesthetics and the Internet: Shifting Definitions of Reality. 1998. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1391606298.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Gordon, Dennis. "Aesthetics and the Internet: Shifting Definitions of Reality." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 1998. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1391606298

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1391606298
185
© 1998, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.