New Media's affect on Politics

During Understanding Media Studies class on Monday October 18th, Dr. Christiane Paul gave a presentation on Media Art Politics. Specifically how new media art creates interventions between nation-state relationships with the common person, in regards to economic, political, and cultural conditions. Each art work involves one or more aspects of aesthetics, wreckage, counter-measures, intersections, agency and reconstruction, which results in the disturbance, reflection, or action in the world.

One student questioned whether the innovative media technology used in the projects have had direct affects on politics, specifically if the "common" artist or artist group has changed the political system or if there have been any legal ramifications due to the projects mentioned in the presentation. (Here's an interview with Dr. Paul about some of the projects from the presentation.)

Dr. Paul's answer said that new media art falls in a legal grey area and that the projects she presented do in fact create commentary about people's access to government information. She said that no one project has had a direct affect on politics but many of them, collectively, have created buzz in the system. I found an article on Mashable/Social Media that discusses the use of new media in politics...so this is a case where politicians have introduced the use of social media to win elections/spread their message. It's not directly related to Dr. Paul's theory that a desired state of understanding can be implemented through new media, it more reflects on the influence of media on politics.

Follow the link:

Social Media: The New Battleground for Politics