New media

New media is a term used to describe complex new technologies that became available to artists from about the late 1980s and that enable the digital production and distribution of art. It includes computer graphics, digital video and sound, interactive installations, virtual and augmented reality, robotic systems, and networked and software art. Their common feature is the use of computing technology not merely as a tool but as the very environment and material of the work, often interactive, time-based and reproducible without loss of quality. New media grew out of the traditions of video art, kinetic and Conceptual art, and with the spread of personal computers and the Internet it became an independent field of contemporary practice. Artists explore questions of code, algorithms, artificial intelligence, surveillance, identity and human-machine interaction. Leading institutions and festivals, such as Ars Electronica in Linz, have institutionalised the field. In Ukraine new-media art develops actively at media festivals and in digital projects, combining technological experiment with social and cultural statement.