Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Mace Spray Guy vs The Mona Lisa

Spock and the 20 Foot Woman
Spock and the 20 Foot Woman

Technology has obliterated most of the historical barriers  between creative ideation, expression and distribution. Sophisticated software tools and ubiquitous social sharing have combined to produce a perfect creative storm. YouTube alone receives 48 hours of uploaded video every minute.

Just twenty years ago, there were only a handful of people who had the chance to present their creative work beyond a tiny circle of friends and family. Today, a rural teenager with a cell phone can go from idea to internationally distributed video in ten minutes.

Of course, pasting Mace Spraying Guy onto a photo you found on the Net isn't equivalent to painting the Mona Lisa. But I don't think that matters.

What's important isn't the quality of the work. The significance is that we are beginning to consciously engage with the world as active creatives instead of as passive consumers. I think that bodes very well for our future.


1 comment:

sororNishi said...

I totally agree. I think the school art class has been responsible for many believing "I am not artistic", and I welcome the move away from this erroneous belief.