The Future of Aesthetics in Digital Ages

Document Type : Original Article

Author

PhD Lecturer in Decoration Department- Applied Arts Faculty- Helwan University

Abstract

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy, which deals with art. Arts are always a result of age facts. In this age - which is full of digital technologies and electronic applications - a new field of studding aesthetics appears, it deals with art, science, technology, and philosophy. We can name it as Digital Aesthetics or Computing Aesthetics. Whilst this discipline is in its first step, the paper focuses on its conceptual meaning and what fields of study are related to.
In Digital Aesthetics we are searching for aesthetic values among wide rang of technologies such a information technology science (IT), Internet art, Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial life (AL), Cybernetic arts, and Bio cybernetic art, ext...  
These technologies create new tools based on multi and interactive media, which make some kind of new relationship between the viewer and the artwork (aesthetic product). These tools generate new aesthetic ideas, principles, and theories that differ from the traditional ones. And for that we need to study and theorize the principles and relationships in this new field of study.
This paper is a trial to reach and study aesthetics and relations, which can form a general frame for the process of design and for the evaluation design process with respecting the artwork digital nature. Therefore, in this paper we followed the structural bases of the Digital artwork, by asking these questions: what is Digital art? What is Digital aesthetics? What are its disciplines? How can we judge it? Is the digital art has any especial aesthetics rather than traditional?
Nelson Goodman tells us that "art is not a copy of real world" but how will we judge or find value in the 'worlds' created through new media? This paper examines aesthetics theories which have guided our value systems for imagery of the past and the present, and makes recommendations for an approach to aesthetics which is grounded in and connected to prior image traditions but which takes into account the new image technologies

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