10.2 New Media & Materials

Beyond paint

Contemporary artists work in installation, performance, video, and digital media — art you walk through, watch, or interact with, not just look at on a wall.

Site and scale

Some works are site-specific, made for one place, or earthworks in the landscape (like Robert Smithson's 'Spiral Jetty'). Scale and environment become part of the meaning.

The expanded field

Materials now include almost anything — light, sound, the body, found objects, even living things — so 'art' is defined by concept and context as much as by craft.

Key terms

Installation

art entered and experienced in a space

Performance / video

time-based contemporary media

Site-specific

made for one particular place

Earthwork

large-scale art in the landscape (Spiral Jetty)

Expanded field

art defined by concept and context, not just craft

Try an AP-style question

Installation art is designed to…

1. fit inside a small picture frame
2. hang on a single gallery wall
3. be viewed only on a screen online
4. transform a space the viewer enters