the following section is based off of:

Lehmann, Anne-Sophie. "Invisible Work: The Represtation of Artistic Practice in Digital Visual Culture. "Digital Visual Culture: Theory and Practice. Ed. Anna Bentkowska-Kafel, Trish Cashen, and Hazel Gardiner. Bristol: Intellect Books, 2009. 33-45. Print.

Is it just me, or does anyone else have a headache, after reading this book?  I am with the author, when she is talking about the modern artist having to be “an engineer, programmer, graphic designer, and hardware constructor all at once”. This is why I am enrolled in this program. I grew up in a time without the internet; where we only had one phone and it was connected to the wall. I am perfectly happy drawing, painting, tattooing, doing leather-work, and various other forms of “traditional art”. These days though, you can’t even really do any of that (with any sort of competitive edge) without internet/web know how. If you want to be marketable, as an artist, you really do need to offer the whole package.So, I decided “it’s time to get on the bus, or get left behind”. I may still be running to actually catch the bus, but I will not be left behind. The more I learn about digital technology, the more fascinated I become with it. There are whole new universes of creation and opportunity opening up.

When Lehmann starts to get into the importance of designating creative spaces in the digital era, I am pretty much immediately baffled (I know, it’s only the first section of this reading). Why is it so important? Do we really understand medieval artists creative process’, by viewing their workspace? I don’t think so. Are work spaces in the modern age completely sterile, mere laboratories? I don’t think so; I know mine sure isn’t. There are sketches, drawings, paintings, and other various art supplies cluttered about my room. Yes, in the middle of the desk sits my computer, where a great deal of the finished work ends up. Yes, I can access this artwork and continue working on it from virtually anywhere. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have a home base of creative operations. Am I missing something? Does anyone really create their art, from start to finish, completely in “the cloud”? Once again, I fail to see the importance of how, or if, the creative spaces of modern media artists can be represented.