Media Arts

Abstract

Media arts is an artistic and educational discipline that understands media principally as platforms for creative expression. Media arts draw upon traditions within the arts and humanities including visual arts, music, theater, literature, and so forth, making particular use of contemporary media. Areas within media arts may include film, animation, design, games, and other “new” media. Media arts emphasize creative expression and critical analysis of multiple media forms. Given that the discipline makes use of various media and draws upon a range of artistic traditions, media arts are not informed by a single, unified theoretical or esthetic tradition. Media arts are a significant tradition within media literacy, though their perspectives and pedagogies differ somewhat from those that dominate the field. Media arts education has been critiqued for its emphasis on technical competence and personal expression at the expense of social or political relevance. Though, media arts initiatives commonly make an effort to highlight the integration of theory, production, and politics. Recently, the media arts have been designated within educational policy as a fifth arts discipline. As new media technologies develop, media arts studies, education, and creative practice attempt to make sense of and make use of these emerging media.