Out With the Old New

Shemer Art Center and Museum, the art oasis located smack-dab in the middle of lovely Arcadia, opened in 1984, back when "new media" referred to anything not made exclusively with traditional art-making materials. Computers were the hot new things, and as the decade progressed, digital media rendered even formerly cutting-edge analog video and sound technologies obsolete.

Nowadays, the definition of new media seems to have shifted, again, beneath the umbrella of contemporary art. And there's more: The term is thrown about quite a bit in reference to any sort of use of our old friend the Internet, whether it's checking your bank balance or commenting on an online article. If you see a conflation here, you're not alone. It's hard to imagine anyone in a gallery looking around and thinking "needs more blog," but as mass media and art continue to dovetail, the possibilities seem endless.

Shemer tackles the new new media with the "Black Box, White Noise: Exploring New Media" exhibit. The featured work runs the gamut, from the math-based fractals of Kerry Mitchell and Steve Ferguson to the God-meets-rodeo installations of Kjellgren Alkire.