“Let us wage war on totality; let us be witness to the unpresentable; let us activate the differences and save the honor of the name.” (Lyotard – 82)
Where lies art, artists, and viewers in our networked, technocultural society?
The question that I am addressing, is art a form of social media, asks if the use of social media to promote art has changed the conditions of production, value and status of art, and relations of viewership. Artists no longer sit in studios by themselves all day – they are out collaborating with other artists, interacting with the public, and doing it all while sitting behind a computer screen. I want to question the use of social media in the art world to explore how art practices, presentation techniques, viewership, and community have changed. I will be using Lyotard’s theory of postmodernity, Terranova’s book on “Network Culture,” and Kevin Kelly’s theory of “1,000 True Fans” (http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php).
Some questions I want to explore: Are the technologies of art, from Photoshop to processing, tools that distance the artist from their production, to use Plant’s theory on tools? Or are these tools creating a new form of art making that could be argued lies in Lyotard’s definition of the postmodern? With the proliferation of artists on the web, what defines art and its value? How does the interaction between artists and viewers affect art (is this a form of free labor on the part of viewers)? Is art made for the masses or the individual or the dividual?
1 comment:
You should look at Mark Tribe's (MCM professor) work called The Port Huron Project. I worked for him this summer basically as his social outreach intern, and I was always on facebook, myspace, google earth, wikipedia, etc. I think he'd be a useful person to talk to. I like your topic!
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