Contemporary dimensions of interaction between art and technology: implications for stage and media designs

Abstract

Strict disciplinary barriers are gradually being dismantled to create opportunities for cross-disciplinary research and cross-fertilization of ideas for collective benefits in 21st Century scholarship. On this basis, arts and technology have become increasingly complementary. This paper examines current dimensions of the relationship between arts and technology towards enhancing stage and media designs in Nigeria. The paper analyses the nature and scope of designs for stage and media productions and examines the pace and dimensions of technological contributions towards enhancing design practice. An observation is made on the trend of fast-changing technological design-aids and software applications, and the attempt by designers to acquire requisite knowledge for optimal utilization of new technological products. Specific design-aid products are highlighted and their features and peculiarities juxtaposed with known characteristics of media and stage designs to assess their mutual compatibility. The paper asserts that the greatest contribution of technology to artistic designs, like in other aspects of human life, is the production of devices to replace manual solutions; and to enhance precision, flexibility, productivity and aesthetic standards. Nigerian stage and media designers are therefore implored, not only to embrace technological changes of equipment and applications in their related specialties, but also to contribute to those changes based on experiences on the job.

Global Journal of Humanities Vol. 5 (1&2) 2006: pp. 31-34