For art addicts the sight of people speeding through an exhibition snapping each art work on a mobile can be very disconcerting. What is it about? Is it just a trophy gathering exercise – been there done that? Or in the intimacy of their own homes do they reprise the experiences of the day because they are more comfortable and familiar with the virtual than the real thing? Or does offering up and commenting on representations of their daily progress through the world on Facebook create different social bonds? Obviously the word ‘community’ is coming to have a different meaning.
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)’s Executive Director Tamara Winikoff was in London recently meeting up with her young adult son, going to exhibitions at wonderful places like the Tates Modern and Britain, Whitechapel Gallery, White Cube etc and surreptitiously watching as he took in the art while simultaneously continuing a love affair with his Blackberry. Winikoff commented, “It’s not that he isn’t engaged. He is deeply interested in art. But electronic communication permeates every part of his waking day.”
Obviously there is a big change taking place. The production and consumption of art is more complicated that ever. Being welded on to electronic devices connects people to a world of images which is expanding exponentially and encourages their participation. Now that every device has a camera function there is nowhere to hide from making visual connections. It is one of the reasons NAVA has been lobbying so persistently for the inclusion of visual education in the school curriculum, to ensure that children are visually well educated.
For anyone with a continuing interest in art, it is obvious too that art practice and presentation is embracing this media revolution. Though this may seem to make art more accessible, it also throws up new problems. For artists and arts organisations, the expectation that they can keep pace with the production and presentation of new media work and the time and technological demands of interactivity are extremely difficult to meet, especially at a time of shrinking financial assistance from both the public and private sector. Maintaining the currency of websites and expanding their scope to embrace vodcasting, Facebook, blogs, Twitter etc takes time and money.
At NAVA we have been working hard to maintain the currency of our on-line presence. Now with two websites to sustain and an extensive on-line database, we are completely dependant on electronics for the management of our business. In trying to achieve a sophisticated system and wanting to maintain and build our relationship with members and site users, we have had to commission a complete redesign of our systems. As an example we are experimenting with running on-line professional development training for artists. We now know that these kinds of processes will be a work in progress because rapid changes in technology demand continuous organisational systems redevelopment. This is true for all the arts organisations we talk to who struggle, as we do, to find the means to meet these demands.
Then there is the whole field of copyright. In the digital era, this has become a battleground over the right of community or commercial access to culture versus the right of creators to earn income from their work and protect it against unauthorised reuse. This is the subject of much public debate and seminars on the subject are happening everywhere. One of things being discussed is the need to differentiate between ‘transformative use’ where the original creator’s IP is used by someone else as the basis for developing the idea into another iteration, and ‘consumptive use’ where the IP is simply taken and used unchanged (eg music downloads). Current copyright rules don’t differentiate very well between these uses. On-line intellectual property licensing systems like Creative Commons promise ease of access and use but have various limitations and constraints that may not at first be obvious. It needs a lot more thought and development.
But now for the real world. Change gear for a promo. NAVA manages a number of awards, scholarships and prizes for artists www.visualarts.net.au/grantsprizes. For the real life gallery experience and a preview of the stars of the next generation, go to the Freedman Foundation Awards Exhibition 2009 opening Wednesday 2nd September, 6pm – 8pm. It will be held Mon - Sat 10:00am - 5:00pm, from the 3rd to 12th of September at COFAspace, College of Fine Arts, UNSW, corner of Oxford Street and Greens Road, Paddington in Sydney. Exhibiting will be the work of the 2007 Scholars since their return from their residency: Bridget Currie, Katya Grokhovsky, Izabela Pluta, Keg de Souza and Laura Woodward, along with the newly selected 2009 Scholars: Louise Irving, Kenzie Larsen, Karl Logge & Tessa Rapaport. You are allowed to bring your partner, friends and Blackberry. But if you are addicted, you can link to Freedman award recipients on Facebook
