I think it could be really interesting to look at either the history of
photography or the history of video art to talk about the relationship
between science/technology and art/art history. Since photography's
invention, artists, critics and art historians have debated whether
photography can really be considered an "art" and photography has had a huge
impact on how artists in all disciplines - including painting and sculpture.
It seems like it could be really fun to talk to students about this: most
have cameras at home, most will be really interested in the use of
photography in advertising and journalism, and I would think it could be
really interesting to contrast those ideas about photography with the ways
artists have used photography.

The history of video art would be a little trickier - it is a much shorter
and less familiar (to most people) history, but it might be interesting to
look at the ways artists have used video: documenting performances, making
experimental documentaries, as a way of giving communities the power to
produce their own public-access television, as a component of installations.
In addition, quite a few video artists take on technology as the subject of
their work - I would be happy to dig through my notes from my video history
classes if you are interested in the names of some artists.

Margaret Pezalla
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