The new media and art in modernism

Abstract

The subject of this dissertation is to investigate the parallel developments of the new communication technologies, and the emergence of new trends in art that originated in the late nineteenth century, and went through a set of transformations throughout the twentieth century. This time span, that will be referred to as the modern era, or Modernism, produced complex and inter-related changes in the social, economical and cultural strata. The first chapter comprises explanations of the term Modernism in its broadest sense, as well as a more specific definition related to the trends in art. It also introduces the general notions related to the inventions of the new communicating technologies. The second chapter explores in detail the transformations of the new media, and the socio-economical factors causing these changes. The third chapter follows the processes of autonomation and complex redefinition of the notion of art, with particular reference to the new media.