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1920s
Film and radio became increasingly popular
The following discoveries help develop the beginning of television: Scottish inventor John Logie Baird (1888 – 1946) gives the first public demonstration of a television system;
Russian-American inventor Vladimir Kozmich Zworykin (1889 – 1982) develops a system of transmitting and receiving information with cathode ray tube (CRT) technology (a fluorescent screen that depicts images with an electronic beam); -
1930s
English mathematician Alan Turing (1912 – 1954) publishes a theoretical description of a digital computer that can solve mathematical problems.
German engineer Konrad Zuse (1910 – 1995) builds a computer using 35mm film tape to control programming.
Hungarian artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, associated with the German Bauhaus school that combines crafts and fine arts, creates the Light-Space-Modulator. This lighting equipment installation depicts the play of light and movement. -
1950s
Television becomes widespread in households. n 1952 for the first time, television news was able to broadcast the Republican and Democratic conventions live from Philadelphia to the rest of the nation. The importance of that event for rural America went beyond the fact that rural residents knew in real time that Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson were running for President against each other. -
1960s
The Internet is developed, although it is reserved for university researchers, the military, and the U.S. government's secret services.
The following influential art movements emerge and evolve over the ensuing decades:
Fluxus: Artists, composers and designers work together to combine artistic media and disciplines;
Pop Art: Artists become interested in commercial culture and mass production; -
1980s
Personal computers (PCs) become more accessible and affordable.
Video games are popularized. common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user. These computers were a distinct market segment that typically cost much less than business, scientific or engineering-oriented computers of the time -
1990s
The Internet explodes into a popular medium for distributing and sharing content (e-mail, publishing, commerce, file-sharing and online gaming).
PCs become more powerful. Users can now manipulate images, construct Web sites, use 3D software, and edit video and audio content. -
Conservation Strategies (Storage)
Involves physically keeping the artwork in a safe and controlled environment in order to conserve the media artwork's original condition. This is the most traditional conservation strategy, as the artwork is not modified at all.
Main problem: Once the equipment deteriorates or becomes obsolete, the artwork will no longer function. -
Conservation Strategies (Migration)
Involves upgrading an old technological component to a newer version.
Main problem: This strategy may not correspond to the artist's initial intention and the original appearance of the artwork will likely change. -
Conservation Strategies (Emulation)
Involves imitating the original aspects of the artwork using current technology. is to devise a way of imitating the original look of the piece by completely different means. The term emulation can be applied generally to any re-fabrication or substitution of an artwork’s components, but it also has a specific meaning in the context of digital media. -
Conservation Strategies (Reinterpretation)
Involves re-creating the artwork each time it is exhibited according to contemporary media and practices.
Main problem: This strategy may not correspond to the artist's initial intention. -
2000s
Media art is constantly expanding, and new technologies are being used at a rapid pace.
Open source software is popularized. It allows people to freely use and modify existing software.
Video games and Web interfaces such as flickr, myspace, YouTube, Facebook and Second Life become new material for artworks.
Museums and other institutions begin to develop policies and procedures for documentation and conservation strategies specific to media artworks.
