The historical relationship between artistic activities and technology development
The historical relationship between artistic activities and technology development, EPRS, European Parliament, May 2019
Studying the intertwining between art and technology throughout history, helps us understand that relationship today, and how it will continue in the future. Modern technology impacts significantly on art. Artists have always invented new technologies and created innovative technological applications. They tend to humanise technology by engaging with it from a human perspective. The arts play a crucial role in the current phase of this historical cycle of intertwining of art and technology. The European Union has created Science, Technology & the Arts (STARTS); the United States of America nurtures Science & Technology, interpreted through Engineering & the Arts, all based in Mathematical elements (STEAM); and China invests heavily in creativity. This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of the cyclical nature of the intertwining of technology and art. It focuses on a history of that intertwining up to the transition between the 19th and 20th centuries. We seek to show that the current visibility of the intertwining of art and technology is not a new phenomenon in the policy-making world, but grounded in a long-standing historical cycle.
Publication type:
project report
Publication language:
English
Publication date:
2019-05
Publication URL:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2019/634439/EPRS_IDA(2019)634439_EN.pdf
Institute:
European Parliament / Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) (STOA)
Country:
EU
Project:
Technology and the arts (STOA)

 Back