# Medium in Art **Keywords:** aesthetic, ontology, art In its most general sense, a medium is a means of transmitting some matter or content from a source to a site of reception. The function of a medium, so construed, is mediation. Natural media such as air and water mediate the transmission of sounds. An art medium, then, is presumably something that mediates the transmission of the content of an artwork to a receiver. Art media, so conceived, have been characterized in a number of different ways: as material or physical k **Opening (not a real abstract):** In its most general sense, a medium is a means of transmitting some matter or content from a source to a site of reception. The function of a medium, so construed, is mediation. Natural media such as air and water mediate the transmission of sounds. An art medium, then, is presumably something that mediates the transmission of the content of an artwork to a receiver. Art media, so conceived, have been characterized in a number of different ways: as material or physical kinds (e.g. oil paint, bronze, stone, bodily movements); as ranges of sensible determinables realizable in material or physical kinds (e.g. pitch, tone, texture, colour); as ways of purposively realizing specific values of such determinables (e.g. brushstrokes, gestures), or as systems of signs (‘languages’ in a more or less strict sense). **Authors:** [[David Davies]]