Engineering, technology, and industrialization have made our lives much better. There is no doubt about that. They have transformed our society and for better or worse, they have also changed the way we perceive and admire Arts and Artisan's efforts around us. But, to what extent?
Everything that modern man uses has been manufactured en masse and Information technology have made Earth a global village. People can interact with each other thousands of miles away in sub-seconds and travel around the world in a matter of hours. So, they have a faster and direct access to what is being expressed in the form of art and literature. That has changed things a lot too.
There were some art forms that were transformed with the advent of modern machines. Camera photography gave people the unprecedented ability to capture any moment instantaneously. When photography was invented in 1830, painters felt threatened by the new invention. They eventually distinguished Arts form from Photography and began to experiment with impressionism, abstract arts, surrealism and other forms of modern painting concepts that were partly fueled by industrialism and the new social settings in an industrial world. Another significant impact of the Industrial and Information Revolutions was the invention of products like the tube paint. As tube paints are collapsible, their invention made artists more mobile. It resulted in a better outreach of art.
With the advent of photographs and movie reels, a different art category emerged that has since overshadowed the rest in terms of popularity and mass appeal. It is the art of motion pictures and animation. It is the simplicity and mass appeal of this relatively new sensation that transcended all boundaries and made us fall in love with it. Now you didn't need to understand a particular art form to be able to admire it. It also resulted in a decreased interest in other forms of expressive art.
The internet and communication revolution also brought a lot of changes into our lives and eliminated many boundaries. Recently, various art forms have thrived due to this increased connectivity and brought fame to artists from around the world. They have become richer and more recognized in public while inspiring new talents to come through.
On the downside, industrialism and connectivity has fueled our materialistic nature and decreased appreciation for harder-to-understand topics. But, despite all that, it has made artists and art better recognized around the world. The future is bright if we see it in the right light!
