Old art and new media

In her talk on social media, Siân Bayne used two pieces of art to illustrate her points about the Uncanny and Second Life – Masaccio’s C15th fresco The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and Max Ernst‘s disturbing C20th The Clothing Of The Bride.  The combination of old(ish) art and new(ish) media seemed very appropriate, and more interesting than the hackneyed images usually used to illustrate that world.

I’ve long thought that my experience of the online world is a lot like Hieronymous Bosch’s C16th Garden of Earthly Delights:

Paradise on one hand, Hell on the other.  And a lot of fun in between.   A lot more detail than you can ever hope to take in.  Many stand-alone seemingly unrelated items, but with intricate inter-relations that it’s hard to extricate, although broad themes emerge quite easily.  An awful lot of stuff directly or indirectly to do with sex and sexuality. Almost endlessly  diverting. And the best fun is had when there is at least a temporary lifting of Authority!