I recently attended a Art + Technology Initiative roundtable discussion brought together by the Pittsburgh Technology Council.  It was a fascinating mix of people within the room, ranging from Carnegie Mellon Professors and technology gurus to Artsy elders and their counterpart Hip youngsters, all whom contributed to a wide array of talking points.  Back and forth, ideas and situational occurrences are thrown around with never a real “initiative”.  This is not a bad reflection on this program, but it’s the reality of which is our lives.  Art and Technology grow and adapt so rapidly that it takes an “all hands on deck” group to consistently maintain the two – especially if integrated.
This was my first chance to attend one of their events, and as much as I loved to hear the conversation there was not much said that was a particular surprise.  The topic of integrating Art with Technology mainly caught my eye in college while discussing this matter with professors.  Usually the focus is on collaborative ways in which the Art community can use technology to come together in Pittsburgh.  A general consensus is that an abundance of Art lies within this area but is not avidly visible at first glance.  One must subject themselves to the Pittsburgh region to fully grasp all the opportunity that lies here and that shouldn’t be the case.  The thriving Arts and growing Technology scenes should be bate in bringing people in to our region.
I feel as if a general disconnect comes from the overall saturation of Art in the Pittsburgh community.  There is no real push for all local artists to collaborate when there are others nearby doing similar to exactly the same thing.  Art is not always something that needs to be subjected to fame and fortune, but it does deserve it’s chance to shine.  The Arts key to successful collaborative effort must lie within the Internet. Â
The backend work that is developed for an interactive website is completed by tech minded people that have a vision – from there a designer creates the aesthetic front end to cater to crowd appeal.  What is more creative than that?  It’s a form of Art.  I believe that with the Art + Technology Initiative in place it will lead to a better understanding of what we can do to increase the awareness.  Like all good things – it will take time.
Many people are still accepting the domination of Social Media on the net. A great niche oriented social network needs to arise with a platform that caters to the Arts needs.  Then, I feel that artists across the region can accept the importance of being recognized and the benefit they may gain from it.  I hope to write more in depth posts about different individual matters in this subject. Â
The next event is coming up in January, check it out on their website. Â You shall see me there!
