Commercialization and the huge corporations that base themselves in many cities can also encourage artists to commodity their artwork. For example, hip hop in Los Angeles has become so commercialized that many original rappers have distanced themselves from the current hip hop scene. Fishman (1987: 485) argues that a new city is emerging in which advanced communications technology has completely superseded the face-to-face contact of the traditional city. New media technologies have connected the world beyond spatial boundaries.
Phenomena like "virtual communities" break down the need for artists to live in artistic communities in the city because they can interact with similar communities on the Internet. For example, a hip hop fan or musician in Melbourne can communicate with a hip hop musician in New York; there is no need for a geographically fixed community in the city.
Castells (2002: 132) argues that, "on-line networks become forms of “specialized communities;” that is, forms of sociability constructed around specific interests." This new technology, in a sense, breaks down one attraction of the city for artists. Geographical boundaries are broken by new technology. Special interest communities on the Internet link artists that could only be linked previously if they worked and lived in the same city.
New media technologies may diminish the need for an artistically linked community in the city. However, the city has been and will continue to be the site of modern life and the site were artists get glimpses of this life and represent it through their work. Gaye et al. (2003: 109) suggests that, "whether a pleasant stroll or a mundane commute, being in the city involves dynamic creative improvisation." The modern city may be the center of economical, political and technological production but it is also the center of "creative improvisation" and new artistic movements. A broad range of artists from Baudelaire to N.W.A have found inspiration and motivation from city living. Pike (1981: 243) suggests that, "the central fascination of the city, both real and fictional, is that it embodies man"s contradictory feelings - pride, love, anxiety and hatred - toward the civilization he has created and the culture to which he belongs.' The city is a place of contradicting feelings, of paradoxes and ambivalence. Both the negatives and positives of the city life are expressed through art and the contradictions of modern life inspire the artist.
Ultimately the artist reconstructs a version of reality - no matter how dark and pessimistic - to generate awareness, tolerance, appreciation and a brighter future for all.
