The Time is Now

Giving more weight to the 21st century concept of digital art. This is the second time in a mere week that a resource has led me to YouTube channel Nowness. I can see how it is so easy to get sucked into the cyber vortex that has now gone way beyond social media and self promotion. Somewhere in this vacuum has emerged a genre entirely of its own.

Nowness

Nowness is a video channel that has been in existence for only 4 months. It scours the globe to curate "the best in global arts and culture" Each day features a new find and spans 9 languages currently, but I am sure this will climb exponentially. A recent find was a watching 265 layers of makeup applied in a single day. Or bisexuality and gender in Brooklyn. Or even Miley Cyrus choosing it as an outlet to share her new video release. There are folders for fashion, art, design and even sports. So what you end up with is a virtual library of all things short in 4 minutes or less that crosses every cultural divide you can imagine.

I admittedly love reading a good book, but my mind struggles to balance investing a good 2 weeks over a cover and pages vs 3 minutes on the internet that can enlighten and inspire me in a similar way. I'm not saying it is always going to be the trade off, but there is certainly easy access. Much in the same way we used to travel by train or bus taking hours to travel, vs Nowness where even a few hours stuck in an aiport seems like precious time being wasted. Mere food for thought - but I can see the draw and appeal to the current generation that has been so readily exposed to this sort of technology.