019. Communication breakdown
“Art is essentially communication. It doesn’t exist in a vacuum. That’s why people make art, so other people can relate to it.”
Isn’t it true that 90% of human communication is based on non-verbal and body language? Well, where does that leave us when we are trying to make meaningful connections online? I, for one, have decided to try and embrace this new age of accessibility, so I really do hope there is a way to a truthful connection. Otherwise, a lot of us are wasting a lot of time.
One of the greatest experiences you can have in life is to go to hear and see music live, the tactility of it all, the murmurings of the audience before the performance, that shared vital energy from being in a big crowd in one place sharing the one moment together and the performers being the lynchpin to it all. As an artist and an audience member, this is what feels real.
So my question of the week is this; Is it possible to make these real and tangible connections in the digital space? For me, I think there is, because of how I first encountered music. It wasn’t because my favourite band had decided to tour the Irish midlands and I happened to stumble across them. It was through my headphones, as if the singer was talking directly to me or through a movie that opened my mind to ideas that were so brand new I couldn’t have experienced them in any other way. My point is, the delivery system may have changed but the feelings stay real. We all have a favourite song or movie that we have experienced digitally, It didn’t diminish our feelings for it.
So I’m going to go out on a limb here, but could you call the whole internet a new artistic medium? One that’s so all-encompassing that we are simultaneously creating it and experiencing it all at the same time? And if this is true, is the connection we are receiving from it as valid as a real-life communication? Or do you have to actually be there?
While it’s fair to say, hearing a song on my phone speakers might never compare to the feelings of a real-life performance, the feelings I have for a song, that I may have never got the chance to hear without the freedom of delivery from the online world will still be the same.
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