The Human Experience

Santa Fe, New Mexico

The first night I arrived in Santa Fe to attend the Currents New Media Festival, I happened to see the movie "Frances Ha," written and acted by Greta Gerwig and co-written and directed by Noah Baumach. Although I wouldn't call the movie experimental in any way, it is a great example of a non-typical movie. This is a film with no special effects, color or Hollywood stars. It is a movie that is just pure humanness. The plot is simple: a few months in the life of one main character (Frances) as she struggles to find her place in life. The scenes are left to play on through joy, sadness and just plain awkwardness.

It was a perfect send off in my journey to explore how contemporary artists are expressing common human experiences using new and emerging media. Although it could be argued that film is no longer considered a new form of media, it attempts to engage the viewer through a commitment to the human experience.

As John Dewey states in Art as Experience: "The task is to restore confidence between the refined and intensified forms of experience that are works of art and the everyday events, doings, and sufferings that are universally recognized to constitute experience." (1)

1. Dewey, J. (2005). Art as experience. New York, NY: Perigee