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 Visual Literacy: The Power of the Picture Panelists: John Baldessari, Hani Rashid, and Curtis Wong Moderated by Maxwell L. Anderson The following white paper is drawn from the remarks of the panelists and moderator for this session, along with the questions and responses from members of the audience. This document is intended to reflect the variety of viewpoints offered during the discussion, and to frame broadly the issues discussed; it should not be taken as a formal statement of opinion by the panelists. While the scope of museums has evolved since the early days of the "cabinet of wonder" displaying curios from around the world, the fundamental role—educating audiences—has not. At the core of this is visual literacy: understanding how people perceive objects, interpret what they see, and what they learn from them. For museums, galleries, curators, educators, and even the artists themselves, the proliferation of new technologies raises several challenges and opportunities. Beyond ensuring that these technologies be used to improve visual literacy rather than impede it, many worry that the varying quality of digital content is affecting audiences' awareness of detail, while others believe that the easy availability of digital images is changing the terms on which people relate to art in the first place. Surely the rise of "new media" does not spell obsolescence for the traditional art museum? Conveying Visual Information Innovation in art is as old as art itself. These innovations can come in the form of a new medium, or innovative production processes that enable the creation of new works; this is no less true for the application of computers and other digital technologies to the creation of new works. Despite this long tradition of innovation and experimentation fears exist, and key among them is concern about the quality of art and the role of the artists themselves. Given the power of new technologies to accomplish tasks previously considered impossible, no one wants to relinquish the importance of the artist's hand—or mind—in the process of creating art. Quality is not only a concern in the works themselves. One related issue is the quality of images, the pictures of works of art, which are becoming increasingly prevalent and available to growing audiences, through outlets such as museum websites and online catalogs. So much of the power of art rests in the detail of a work—in a brush stroke, the grain of a piece of wood, or the luster of a ceramic glaze—which technology cannot (yet) adequately convey. But no quality control exists for the growing number of digital images. While the availability of reproductions bring great benefits, allowing teachers access to objects in far-away collections, if the image degrades, so too might our interest in and ability to pay attention to the details in a work. The corollary issue is that with ever more pictures available, the speed with which audiences may view them also increases the likelihood that the detail of a work will not be appreciated or understood. Technology-As-Tool—And Its Impact There is ample evidence to suggest that this technophobia need not be the norm. A counterpoint to concerns about the proliferation of digital images is the CD-ROM created for The Barnes Collection, called A Passion For Art. One of the earliest example of new technologies being used to highlight, showcase, and educate audiences about art, this interactive CD did so by focusing on the objects carefully, and by being selective rather than comprehensive. Likewise, the artistic impulse, the sustained ability to create, surpasses whatever a digital tool can offer. Some artists consider each new technology as yet another tool in the box for doing what artists have always done: create challenging sensory experiences through which they express their ideas and beliefs. These works may take different forms (or may not), or use tools and techniques not previously available, but the underlying element of creation cannot be so easily wiped away. Artists must still do the creating. Technology-As-Medium For museums, the issue of adapting to new technologies and their impact on visual literacy and education have different manifestations. As with artists, these tools can be harnessed for innovative curatorial and educational uses. The Barnes CD is one example; another is the development of a "virtual dig" by the Seattle Art Museum. This interactive system lets visitors explore the strata of an archaeological site thousands of miles away, without having to move them physically—and took visitors' understanding of the process well beyond what might be accomplished by showing only photographs of the site along with descriptive text panels. New technologies are also creating more elemental, curatorial challenges for museums, forcing curatorial debate about how to integrate such works into the existing panoply of objects on display. Should a work projected through a flat-screen monitor be hung next to a photograph or a painting? Does the inclusion of new technologies, and their sometimes pulsing, eye-catching stimuli, change the traditional notions of the museum experience? These are both aesthetic and physical issues. New technologies offer ways to break down existing walls—literally and figuratively—and to change the nature of the traditional visitor-in-a-gallery. In some cases, this will affect how people see art and—as with places like Eyebeam, where LCD panels will be used as walls—also how people move through and around it. Over the long term, while curators and educators will need to adapt, the audiences are likely to reap the greatest benefits, by having a growing number of opportunities to engage with, experience, and learn about art. These growing opportunities for audiences point to the biggest fear of all: that too much talk about new media in the museum is distracting attention from the great works that define our museums in the first place. Here, too, the fear seems overblown. What is it about these objects that justifies their collection and display—their validation—by museums? These determinations are the traditional task of curators and scholars. But the rise and fall of artistic movements, of particular media, of artists, and of specific works, has been as much a part of our cultural history as the history of every museum. Those with an interest in art should push forward on two fronts: continuing to examine, encourage, and collect works of art that use new media, while also exploring the use of new media and technologies as tools for teaching about art and to further the cause of visual literacy. Innovation, and the change that comes with it, is not a new story. In the nineteenth century, people feared that the invention of photography would destroy painting—but the very paintings memorialized by technologies like the Barnes Collection CD were created in spite of, in reaction to, or simply in addition to photography. Art moves forward, and with it so do the ways in which we see it. For citation, please reference: http://berkshireconference.org/content/2004-visual.cfm
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