Digitalization as the main factor influencing new forms of contemporary art and their belonging to the category of artistic culture

The subject of reflection in the paper is the impact of digitalization process on the overall shape of contemporary art. It focuses on the controversies concerning categorization into the fields of artistic culture of those types of artistic activity that have evolved as a result of the ongoing technologicalization of social life. The analysis considers also the dialogue between the latest technologies and the art market. The resulting symbiosis in the consumer society leads to democratization of art through high availability of its latest interactive forms. The author attempts to determine the role and significance of the medium in the new forms of participation in culture, as well as to shed light on the problem of reception of new media art, as revealed through analysis of their affiliation to classically defined fields of artistic expression. The conclusions include a suggestion that digitalization should be regarded as a term distinct from digitization, as well as comprehension of the artist-work relationship within the culture of convergence