Keywords

1 Introduction

The pursuit of a better living environment has never ceased from the beginning of human civilization.

The famous environmentalist Sigurd Olsen once said: “If we can move to a vast and open land, where we can enjoy the convenience of modern life while not losing the spiritual dream that we’ve been long pursuing about from the old times. Then we’ve made it!” This peaceful and ideal state with the harmonious of natural and human, and the connection with natural world is people’s pursuit. Holderlin once heckleda: in this whole world, what is the scale? Heidegger replied: When people are dwelling in peace, the earth will become the earth. “Man, dwells poetically on the earth” – Heidegger particularly fond of Holderlin’s poem, for it reveals the depth and elegance of life [1].

Heidegger believed that people should explore the truth through art. He said: “The art essence that all art works and artists are based upon is the integration of truth in the works… Art opens a vast land among people, where everything exists in an extraordinary manner”. The natural artistic life he had envisioned was no longer out of reach due to the development of science and technology. New media art forms, especially the rapid updating of digital technologies, the integration of technology and art have transformed interpersonal communication into three-dimensional and multi-dimensional man-machine interaction, and people’s lifestyles have also changed quietly. Popular art aesthetic, social experience interaction, application and perception have been integrated into the city’s public space. As a result, new media art has also gradually developed toward the trend of “audience emancipation”. For example, give up the concept of “exhibitions” and “artworks”, encourage the routinization of art, and break the inherent notion that “artworks” are created by artists and exhibited in museums. The role of the general public has been smoothly transformed from the “objective examination of art” into “subjective participation”.

2 The Source of New Media Art Concept in Public Space

Public space concept of new media art’s connotation and aesthetics can be traced back very early. Every progress of science and technology in human society provides an opportunity for the development of new horizons and concepts of art. Such as photography gave birth to “technical aesthetics”; movies and animation pioneered the “world of art”; machinery and power inspired the “installation art”; television and video bred “video art” and so on. Whenever the new technology emerges or matures, a variety of art schools and new concepts of aesthetics will come into being. The development of new media art is almost a history of modern science and technology.

The breeding ground for new media art is closely related to the “aesthetic” design needs of industrial and information products. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the development of science and industry made the functional changes of traditional arts such as painting and sculpture form three independent art states, that is, modern art, video art and design art. The three infiltrate each other and have formed a new art centering interaction and penetration. At the same time of deconstruction of western classical aesthetics, the postmodernist thinking gradually formed and constantly set off the impact on traditional aesthetic concepts. The latter reached its peak in the 1960s. As a result, the new media art centering on “aesthetic appreciation of life” and “popularization of art” come into being. Since the 1950s, various art movements such as power and light effects art, video installation technology, digital synthesis technology were expanded into urban spaces, and the creation of artists revitalized the city; such as the “Ballet of Light” and “Sky Art” (Fig. 1) created by Otto Piene from German, and the “Art of Earth” created by Christo and Jeanne Claude (Fig. 2). They built a new relationship between art and nature, turning nature into a creative artist. With its unique entity digital display and interactive means, the audiences are immersed in the art world, of which the reality and the virtual world are hard to distinguish; the interaction of real space and virtual space can deliver a unique experience of artistic visual effects, which greatly promoted the development of new media art in public space.

Fig. 1.
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“Ballet of Light” and “Sky Rainbow” from Otto Piene

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Fig. 2.
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“Pack up the New German Parliament” from Christo and Jeanne Claude

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3 Integration and Convergence of New Media Art and Technology; Jointly Create the Public Space of Multiple-Sense Experience

Public space and new media art have the social attributes of “interaction” and “communication”, while also sharing the spirit that “art and culture shall serve the society.” The diversity and multi-elements of new media art have enriched the composition of public space. Firstly, the art form of new media is based on the artistic expression of the comprehensive presentation of digital technologies. During the process of communication, the information is exchanged and updated in real time to effectively communicate and exchanges between the works of art and the audience, wherein the presentation of details and sensory experience are attached great importance. Secondly, the new media art actively utilizes various we-media, the Internet and so forth to actively participate in mass culture, which, to a certain extent, eliminates the boundary between the communicator and the audience.

The manifestations of new media art in public space mostly artistically interpret the material elements, which have been consumed or not yet touched in daily life, in a specific space-time environment. It focuses on field atmosphere and cultural environment. The audience can take part of it and become the environmental carrier that promote the information exchange and transmit the dynamic messages between individual information and public information,

3.1 Spatial Intersection and New Sensory Experience

New media technology brings about more changes in terms of the extension and expansion of creative space. From the formation of ideal graphics and colors, to the reconstruction of the most basic design elements, ideas are expressed with dual language of art and technology, so as to achieve “man-machine communication”; and the changes brought to urban public space is the breakthrough of time and space, as well as multi-dimensional sensory experience. The emergence of new experiences and new horizons promotes the diversified development of new media art forms in public spaces. Meanwhile, the dissemination of new media arts in public spaces also guides the public’s aesthetic taste and aesthetic requirements. The “virtual” environment is in sync with the sense of “reality”. This new cognitive experience turns the public from a passive receiver to an active participant, so that the artwork can be changed and recreated. Audiences are no longer passively onlookers, but are key elements that trigger the work to come into effect, or directly act as a part of the work.

3.2 The Dual Characteristics of Art and Technology Reflected

First of all, the lead of art is the dominance and core of technology realization. The concept and creativity of new media art in public space stems from the subjective accomplishments of creators and participants, which includes the creators and participants’ view to beauty and ugliness in the objective world, and the expression of aesthetic values. Secondly, technology is a tool that conveys artistic ideas. The progress and development of technology bring a brand new space of thinking in terms of artistic form, creation, aesthetics, design means and eventually visual communication effect of public space’s new media art. When it comes to the forms of manifestations, traditional art, artistic means of computer virtual technology, and all material media can become the constituent elements of the new media art form in public space, and further serve as the way for creators and the public to interact with each other and participate in aesthetic.

3.3 People Interact More Frequently with the System

Compared with the one-way information transmission of traditional media, the transmission, feedback, collision, integration and stimulation of new media art and multi-dimensional two-way information make it easier to form “exchange and interactive” content in public space. Such as The Cloud, a large-scale interactive installation created by Caitlind r.c. Brown in 2014, which is publicly displayed in the first White Night festival in Calgary, consists of 6,000 new or old Light bulbs. The creator collects local burn-out incandescent bulbs from homes, businesses, museums and eco-stations. Numerous bulbs make up a huge set of clouds and each light bulb is fitted with a pull string that enables the viewer control the lighting of the bulb cloud. The viewer interacts with the work through an impromptu pull switch, allowing him to interact as an individual in the installation art. And Maurice Benayoun’s The Tunnel under the Atlantic, a virtual reality interactive device that connects hundreds of thousands of miles between Paris and Montreal, letting hundreds of people to meet through the device. The works look like pipes protruding from ground, reminiscent of the real tunnel that lies in the bottom of the ocean (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
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Caitlind r.c. Brown’s “cloud”

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These interactive installation works fully embody the design of human “interaction” in complex systems. The “interaction” of new media art in public space not only focuses on the form and content, but also is an “interactive” behavior design (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.
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Maurice Benayoun’s The Tunnel under the Atlanti

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4 Visual Language Expansion of New Media Art; Public Space Highlights Cultural Identity

The interactive forms and interactive behaviors brought about by the innovation and application of diversity of new media arts and technologies are visually closer to the public. In the sociological sense, public space has publicity and public domain attributes, and all kinds of new media art works are also social and cultural image representations. The new media art, to a large extent, influences or even constructs the dwelling environment of public space through its interactive form, which directly narrows the distance between art culture and life, and thus influencing and molding the city’s personality and space atmosphere. At the same time, the artist’s and designer’s actions have virtually reinforced the city’s activation [2].

The essence of art includes reveals the aesthetic relationship between man and society. The conceptual expansion and adjustment are also an important aspect of the interaction between the new media art form and the public space. Firstly, compared with traditional art, the form of new media art, and the realization of its interaction and virtual technology allow more aesthetic experience into life, so that the public environment and space are of better coordination and cohesion. Secondly, public space is the main venue for the general public to participate in social activities. The new media art form’s interactive and easily disseminated features are effective means and platforms of cultivating the public to strengthen communication, to exchange and to actively participate in social activities. Affected by the regional culture of space, art works usually contain specific humanistic information. Audiences unconsciously use the unique geographical vision and life experience as the basis for judgment. New media art works are no exception [3]. Another example is Beggar Robot 2.0: A Robot for the Materially Deprived in Tokyo, a new media art project completed by the IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media and Science) Deprived in Tokyo) is a beggar robot consisting of vintage electronic components and computer accessories. It can beg passers-by in the streets and put various facial expressions. Arguably, this robot is a messenger that conveys the message that the world is getting poorer instead of wealthier. The works, which were displayed on the streets of Slovenia and Tokyo, received feedback that when the exchange through begging was at a safe distance or via an electronic interface, the well-off group in the society shows more sympathy for the marginalized and disadvantaged [4].

Another example is the work “FLICK_KA”, which is one of the interactive installation works collected by the media museum of Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe, German. It is an art project based on photo sharing portal. Visitors can create their own portrait photos at ZKM’s installed Photo Booth and add it to the FLICK_KA internet platform. As part of the ZKM’s data collection, user portraits are updated every second and permanently displayed in the gallery space via large-scale projection on the web. The work presents the details of the portrait, thereby expressing the moral meaning of citizens’ equal use of image communication. This work commemorates the 20th anniversary of liberal photography and invites all the citizens of Karlsruhe were invited.

In view of this, it can be seen that the new media art form in public space has gradually become an indispensable art form in modern life, allowing the public to gain more perceptual pleasure on the basis of material environment. Through the cultural care and distinctive public space created by the new media art, a brand new cultural interpretation and expansion to urban life are displayed, so as to integrate and generate more meaningful and valuable forms of new media art. It also makes people look forward to the cultural language developed on the basis of their combination. While using special artistic language to demonstrate the space environment and humanities concept, the new media art form of public space should attach more importance to the innovation of design forms and pay attention to and study the interactive ideology of social aesthetic and culture.

5 Conclusion

For thousands of years, artists have been using brushes to depict the natural world in their eyes. Whether it is the gorgeousness and idealism of the classical period or the romanticism and lyricism of Impressionism, the natural world has always been the source of inspiration for the artists. In the era of new media, nature is no longer the object of art, but the creator of art. And public space is an excellent vehicle for new media art. Public space and new media art have great potential in design and practice. With the change and progress of the society, new media art in public space will derive more vivid and diversified art forms. It not only enriches the visual culture, aesthetics concept, and public life, but also enables the public to set up convenient channels between artistic appreciation and daily life, so as to blend art in life, thereby realize the joyful and aesthetic “Poetic Dwelling” that people’s been dreaming about.