Art TVs are good technology.
I’m not talking about the hardware, or the software, really. The panels are old, outdated, edge-lit. The interfaces aren’t much better: Tizen is somehow both over- and under-engineered at the same time. I don’t love paying for yet another subscription. And yes, like all modern TVs, they spy on you ruthlessly, at least by default, trying to claw back a bit of margin in a cutthroat business.
But. Since we bought a couple art TVs, there’s now way more art in my life. Classics, sure, but also artists and styles and traditions that are entirely new to me, from all over the world. Chinese scrolls from the imperial dynasties. Graffiti and street art. Surrealist photography. The national collections of Zimbabwe-Bulawayo, Korea, Prado, Singapore. For the first time, I got a taste of what it’s like to actually be at Art Basel. I easily spend 15 minutes or so a day ensconced in a gallery in Delhi, or bamboozled by a 19th century trompe l’oiel, or just enjoying whatever pops up on the slideshow. It’s improved my life immensely.
Obviously, TVs are a limited way to experience art. I love museums too, and galleries, and every now and then I fall in love with a print or canvas enough to bring it home, or at least try. Even so, these TVs have added a wealth of art to my life that I never would have experienced before. That’s good tech.
It’s hard to believe, but Bridgy is 14 years old today. I launched the first version of it way back in 2012. Happy birthday, little project buddy! 🎂🎈🎉
This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.