Three Funerals and a Wedding: Art Education, Digital Images, and an Aesthetics of Cloning

Abstract

In this paper the author describes how contemporary digital technologies have changed the way in which images are constructed, distributed, and appropriated. The metaphor of cloning best describes this process, one that is dramatically different from images produced through mechanical means. Outlining an ‘aesthetics of cloning, ’ the author proposes three shifts associated with the increased use of digital images in art educational spaces that might lead to a better understanding of contemporary issues related to digital technologies as they relate to the field of art education in general. Art educators who wish to address contemporary issues related to the use of digital technologies in art educational spaces must ask basic questions about their own practice. Why should we use computers in the art classroom? What can the computer do that other media cannot? If there is an aesthetics that is unique to digital technologies, then how can art educators structure relevant pedagogical practices that address these attributes without losing that which has proven important to the field? Contemporary computer systems have allowed for the reproduction of images on a scale unmatched by previous technologies. The ability for reproduced images to circulate through digital networks such as the Internet has contributed to the exponential proliferation of visual images, contributing to the ‘visual culture ’ that many art educators currently find a relevant topic of conversation. The concept that is central to these computer operations-- and the rise of a digital visual culture (Sweeny, 2004)-- is cloning. Computers operate through a process of cloning. Data in the form of binary code is easily transferred from one computer to another, and easily translated into new forms. Each time a computer is directed to transfer or translate information, it does so by making a copy that is