Playing to the Internet

Playing to the Internet.

An exploration into the effects of the Digital Revolution on the Art World.

By Jennifer Laskowsky

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*Image adapted from Grayson Perry’s Playing to the Gallery, book cover scan

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This dissertation exists in a dual format; a printed version accompanies this digital one.

Both versions are same in their content. The digital version incorporates hyperlinks; which are blue and underlined; these operate as references.

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Contents.

Introduction

9

1: Effects of the Internet 10 2: Social Media

15

3: The Impact of the Internet and Social Media on Art and Artists

20

4: The Relationship between the Art Image and the Art Object

34

Conclusion

41

Appendix

43

Bibliography

48

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Introduction.

Technology today is irrevocably integrated into society and our everyday functioning. A huge majority of us carry around some form of digital device on our persons, daily; using them to organise and mediate ourselves and our lives. As a practicing artist I am not only interested in how these inventions and technologies have impacted and changed art, but also how they have affected and influenced society and humanity. This digital era is not something that I am observing from a distance, but rather something that I am part of. Therefore I am interested in how this digital age has altered living in the twenty first century and what this potentially means and holds for the future. Everything is switching to digital. In order to function in our lives we too have to switch to digital; jobs, companies and universities today, all depend on technology to function. Is it a case of embracing it or run the risk of being excluded? Due to the relatively new nature of it we do not yet know the effects that this augmentation of digital apparatus is having upon us. We are the generation that’s caught in the middle of the transfer, the digital natives whose analogue age is being replaced.

My research revolves around the Digital Revolution and the networked technologies which grant us access to it. I will be discussing the effects the internet and the networked devices have had on our behaviour; exploring the phenomenon which has undeniably exploded in prominence in recent years, social media; examining the influences it has had, as well as its impact on the art world. This includes hoping to define, why the internet motivates an online achieve and digital documentation of art and the consequences of this. I began my research by looking at books and academic studies but soon realised that books about the Internet and new media go out of date fast. A lot of my findings and ideas originate from online content and sources as I found the most interesting and up to date content to be online. There have been very few books written specifically about social media and art, or about how the Internet has impacted art. The internet is a powerful and dominant presence, additionally, social media has become a prominent feature of our lives today, this is why I want to explore its influence and repercussions on the art world.

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1: The Effects of the Internet.

We are currently in the Digital Revolution; also referred to the Third Industrial Revolution.1The internet was fundamentally what impelled this digital age. It originated in the 60’s and has undergone continuous evolution and variations until we arrive at where we are today.2 It was the internet which shifted the traditional labour intensive industry of mass production of goods to the economy today, which revolves around data and information, thus the Third Industrial Revolution is also known as the ‘information age’. 3 This new media grants us access to the information and knowledge banks of data about the world, as well as connecting us to each other. It is the largest network in the world.4 Three billion people today are connected and thus connected to each other.5 ‘A Human Right’6 is an organisation working toward providing the whole world with internet access. They believe it is a human right because it provides an economic opportunity to those connected and thus disadvantages those who are not; it is its own digital civilization which allows amity and friendship across borders, nationalities, genders and beliefs. Those offline are missing out on education, as all ‘human knowledge is accessible online’.7 Disaster relief missions operate through the internet, so without a connection it makes it harder for people to donate and help.

Lastly, ‘A Human Right’ believe healthcare is affected because doctors can diagnose problems through web chats and communication over the internet, thousands of miles away. This is a strong argument for the benefits of having an internet connection.

The portable digital devices of our 21st Century have compressed many inventions.8 These ‘encourage a new notion of time’9.Technology is forever developing in order to make us more efficient, and thus to

1 Techopedia, Digital Revolution,

<http://www.techopedia.com/definition/23371/digital-revolution> [accessed 13th November 2014] 2 Computer History, Internet History, <http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/> [accessed 13th November 2014] 3 Digital Expert Academy, The Digital Revolution, <http://digitalexpertsacademy.com/about/the-digital-revolution/> [accessed 12th November 2014] 4 GCF Learn Free, Internet 101 What is the Internet? <http://www.gcflearnfree.org/internet101/1.3> [accessed 14th November 2014] 5 Internet Live Stats, Internet Users, <http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/> [accessed 14th November 2014] 6 A Human Right, Homepage, <http://ahumanright.org/> [accessed 13th November 2014] 7 A Human Right, Homepage, <http://ahumanright.org/> [accessed 13th November 2014] 8 http://www.androidauthority.com/10-technologies-obsolete-android-smartphones-405956/ 9 Sherry Turkle, Alone together: why we expect more from technology and less from each other, (New York : Basic Books, 2012) pg164

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satisfy our desire to save time. We inhabit a world of technology, often enabling us to do multiple tasks.

Multitasking divides our attention between the plural tasks at hand. There have been many studies and research into how effectively we can multitask. One particular study which interested me was ‘The effect of multitasking on the grade performance of business students ’. This was led by Yvonne Ellis, Andres Jauregui and Bobbie Daniels, who conducted the study with sixty five business students. The students participated in a lecture and afterwards were tested on the content of the lecture. During the lecture, half of the students were allowed to multitask throughout by texting, while the other half were not. The results of the experiment showed that those multitasking scored significantly lower in the test than those who were not allowed.10 These results suggest that multitasking compared to uni-tasking can damage the quality of performance on the tasks at hand.

I consider a reason why we multitask, may lie in our attention spans. It’s something to note that today the average attention span is five minutes, whereas, ten years ago the average was twelve minutes.11 Does this reduction correlate to the rise of the internet? This is something Nicholas Carr writes about in his book The Shallows; he states the internet is altering our brains and the way we think. What makes this new media different to any other form of media, i.e. the printed book, newspaper and radio, is that these older media formats engage a single sense. The internet engages three of our senses; touch, visual and auditory, often simultaneously. Our attention is divided between the incoming stimuli, ‘we have rejected the intellectual tradition of solitary single minded concentration’.12 I speculate that when our concentration dips, we are lured into switching between tasks i.e. multitasking. This prevents us from thinking deeply on a single matter, and it’s why Carr believes we have become shallower thinkers, because ‘our brains are unable to forge the strong and expansive neural connections that give depth and distinctiveness to our thinking’; we are either distracted or beckoned by our devices, which will halt and change our thinking pattern. 13 Our world is a complex and astonishing one; being tethered to these devices which make us contactable 24-7, hinders our time to think uninterrupted, thus, we are not able to contemplate or ‘allow sufficient space to consider complicated problems’.14 Burrhus Fredrick Skinner was the psychologist who introduced the theory of operant conditioning. He believed that behaviour is dependent upon the consequence, and this would determine whether the

10

Yvonne Ellis, Bobbie Daniels, Andres Jauregui, ‘The effect of multitasking on the grade performance of business students’, (Research in Higher Education Journal, vol 8, 2010) <http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/10498.pdf> [accessed 30th October 2014] 11 Nicole Plumridge, Is the internet destroying our attention span? (Psychominds, 1st August 2013) <http://psychminds.com/is-the-internet-destroying-our-attentions-span/> [accessed 2nd November 2014] 12 Nicholas Carr, The shallows: how the Internet is changing the way we think, read and remember, (London : Atlantic 2010) pg 117.

13 Nicholas Carr, Does the internet make you dumber? (The Wall Street Journal, 5th June 2010) http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704025304575284981644790098 [accessed 3rd October 2014] 14 Turkle, Alone together pg 166

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behaviour would be repeated. If a behaviour was met with a positive consequence, then it was highly likely that the behaviour would be repeated in the hope of the same positive outcome. He invented the Skinner box15 which was used to demonstrate this theory; a mouse would click a button or leaver repeatedly if the action was rewarded. Carr believes that the internet and hyperlinks works on this same principle, and that our behaviour online is rewarded with ‘pellets of social and intellectual nourishment’.16 When we click a link, we are rewarded and greeted with ‘something new to look at and evaluate’, which could double up to reward us socially or intellectually. 17 Carr goes on to say that ‘We tend to repeat the same or similar actions over and over again, usually at a high rate of speed and often in response to cues delivered through a screen or speaker’.18 This holds a strong reference to the Skinner box. Carr’s theory is very reductionist, but I can see his logic.

Dopamine plays a major role in reward and pleasure motivated behaviour; it is the feel good chemical. It is released when we receive these social and intellectual rewards; it may also explain why we multitask.

Sherry Turkle, Professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, states in her book Alone together, ‘Multitasking feels good because the body rewards it with neurochemicals that induce a multitasking “high”’, which coincides with our obsession of time and our fixation to not waste it; thus, we will multitask in order to save time for ourselves. 19 Multitasking may explain why our attention spans have shortened, because we are increasingly dividing our concentration between tasks in order to achieve more in less time. The role of dopamine may explain why some studies and research have shown that the internet and social media can be addictive,20 21 although it is currently being debated amongst psychiatrists and doctors whether internet addiction is a clinical diagnoses. It was not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders when updated in 2013, however some doctors, for instance, Dr Andrew Doan, believe it is only a matter of time until it is recognised as a diagnosis; it is interesting to note that, it was included in the appendix as requiring further research. 22 Our digital devices and the internet have become external extensions of ourselves and our memories, literally becoming external hard drives of our brains. A series of experiments by Betsy Sparrow, ET all, in

15 Saul McLeod, Skinner - Operant conditioning (Simple Psychology, 2007)

<http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html> [date accessed; 2nd November 2014] Carr, The Shallows, pg117 17 Carr, The Shallows, pg117 18 Carr, The Shallows, pg116 19 Turkle, Alone together, pg164 20 Kimberly S. Young, Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical Disorder, (CyberPsychology and Behaviour, Vol. 1 No. 3), p237-244 21 Hilarie Cash, Cosette D Rae, Ann H Steel, Alexander Winkler, Internet Addiction: A Brief Summary of Research and Practice, (Curr Psychiatry Rev, Vol. 8 No. 4, Nov 2012) p292–298 22 Azeen Ghorayshi, Google Glass user treated for internet addiction caused by the device (Guardian, 14th October 2014) <http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/14/google-glass-user-treated-addiction-withdrawalsymptoms> [accessed 15th October 2014] 16

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2011 validates this. One experiment demonstrated when we cannot think of an answer, we think of our computers and hence how we would retrieve the answer. 23 In a different experiment the results concluded, if people believed they would have access to the internet or their computer later, they would remember where they found or saved the information instead of remembering what the information was. If the participants were under the impression they would not have access later, the results showed they remembered a lot more of the information itself; showing that they made a stronger conscious effort to do so. These experiments show that the internet has had an impact on our memories; consciously we are not using them or storing things into our long term memories; because we know the internet stores and contains this information.

Navigating our devices utilises new physical actions and gestures. Research has shown that smartphone users have an enhanced thumb sensory representation in the brain24. This suggests our brains are becoming more sensitive to the increasing use of the thumbs and fingertips than before the invention of touch screens. With the continual development of networked devices, technology companies have been competing to patent these physical gestures. Artist Julien Prévieux has created work exploring these ‘regulated behaviours of everyday life’ 25. The animated video What Shall We Do Next? (2006 – Present)26 shows hand gestures that have been patented by several technology companies, before the technology has even been invented. These companies are not only predicting our behaviour they are also negotiating and regulating what gestures and movements we make, essentially claiming ownership over them.

Along with this, it could be said that our networked technologies have got us performing machine-like activities. The internet and our digital devices allow us to save and reproduce anything we access. The act of copying and pasting saves us the time and energy of processing the information ourselves, and reproducing it with our own words influenced by our unique personal selves; it’s understandable why Jaron Lanier sees this as a ‘devaluation of human thought’. 27 Copying and pasting information, links and retweeting is essentially relaying information; which is a machine like quality.28 Research into this topic

23 Sparrow B, Liu J, Wegner DM.

‘Google effects on memory: Cognitive consequences of having information at our fingertips’ (Science, 2011) <http://scholar.harvard.edu/dwegner/publications/google-effects-memory-cognitiveconsequences-having-information-our-fingertips> [2nd November 2014] 24 Anne-Dominique Gindrat, Magali Chytiris, Myriam Balerna, Use-Dependent Cortical Processing from Fingertips in Touchscreen Phone Users, (Current Biology, Volume 25, Issue 1, 5th January 2015) p109–116, pg109 25 Coline Milliard, Julien Prévieux Wins €35,000 Marcel Duchamp Prize, (Art Net, 27th October 2014) <http://news.artnet.com/in-brief/julien-previeux-wins-eur35000-marcel-duchamp-prize-144821> [accessed 29th October 2014] 26 Julian Previeux, videos, What Shall We Do Next? <http://www.previeux.net/html/videos/Next.html> [accessed 29th October 2014] 27 Jaron Lanier, The first church of robots, (New York Times, 9th August 2010) <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09lanier.html?_r=2&> [accessed 28th October 2014] 28 Jaron Lanier, The first church of robots, (New York Times, 9th August 2010) <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09lanier.html?_r=2&> [accessed 28th October 2014]

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significantly suggests and reveals that the internet and our networked devices are having an impact on our behaviour and our brains. With our ever increasing and dependence on the internet, what does this mean for the future?

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2: Social media.

In this chapter I will be looking closely at social media as this has become a sudden prominent feature of the internet and subsequently our lives too. The internet has revolutionised and changed the ways in which we communicate dramatically. This medium grants everybody a greater freedom of speech than any other existing mediums, it is a ‘catalyst for individuals to exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression’ and freedom of speech is a fundamental human right. 29 People are able to communicate via the internet, regardless of time zones or geographical locations which once limited and determined communication. It is multidirectional, unlike its older predecessors such as the radio, the printed word and television which only communicate in a single direction.30 It rests upon collaboration; the audience are active contributors.

We now have an expectation of being continuously connected,31 and our recipients to instantaneously reply.32 It has been noted that our ‘Instantaneous written communication’33 via our networked devices has resulted in a more Informal communication. This can be seen within my correspondence with artist Lee Walton. (Fig 1)

Fig 1: Print screen of correspondence with Lee Walton 29 Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of

opinion and expression, General Assembly, 16th May 2011, <http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/17session/A.HRC.17.27_en.pdf> [accessed 23rd February 2015]pg 7 30 Paul Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: an introduction, (London: SAGE publications, 2011), pg22 31 Turkle, Alone together pg17 32 Turkle, Alone together, pg166 33 Kristin Denham, Anne Lobeck, Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction (Cengage Learning; 1st edition, 2009) pg450

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Carr believes ‘Our indulgence in the pleasures of informality and immediacy had led to a narrowing of expressiveness and a loss of eloquence.’34 Communication has become more mundane and trivial; people are communicating what they had for dinner, where they are, what they’re wearing.35 As Sherry Turkle states in her book, some people prefer communicating through digital devices rather than face to face interactions; have we reached a state where we feel more comfortable interacting via technology?36 Perhaps this is because of the positive reinforcement and nourishment we receive from social media, as discussed in the previous chapter.

Social media has been growing exponentially; it acts as a personal documentation of its user’s lives, allowing us to extend our identities onto it. Paul Hodkinson writes in his book Media, Culture & Society, ‘ordinary people can become producers and distributors of content’, as well as consumers. 37 The internet has freed us from being passive and submissive readers of the former linear media, yet, ‘the greater the proliferation of content, the more self-referential it becomes’.38 Even though we have been granted with this freedom, we choose to produce and litter the internet with very biographical orientated content. To reinforce this, ‘Selfie’, was oxford dictionary’s word of year in 2013;39 on average, 93 million selfies are taken per day.40 Is this self-portrait phenomenon a harmless new hype or an indicator and catalyst of narcissism?

The shared selfie is an instant visual communication; it communicates where you are, what you’re doing as well as who you think you are and who you think (or choose) is watching41;it is an act of seeing and being seen.42 I judge, because of the speed of the selfie and the nature of it i.e. the casualness and the public sharing, allowing for feedback from the viewer, associates the selfie with narcissism and vanity, yet, I feel, potentially, it could be something more innocent, such as the desire to capture and preserve a moment; a counter act to our shortening attention spans and memory perhaps? Again, highlighting how our devices have become external extensions of our memories. There have even been a few cases of people being

34 Carr, The Shallows, pg110 35 Stephanie Buck, cliché Instagram photos, (Mashable, 31st August 2012) <http://mashable.com/2012/08/31/cliche-

instagram-photos/#gallery/12-most-cliche-photos-on-instagram/53f4f4b3b589e410930015c6> [accessed 11th October 2014] 36 Turkle, Alone together, pg13 37 Paul Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: an introduction,pg36 38 Paul Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: an introduction, pg277 39 Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford Dictionaries word of the year 2013, <http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/pressreleases/oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year-2013/> [accessed 27th October 2014] 40 Quentyn Kennemer , Android has 1 billion active users in the past 30 days (and other interesting numbers from IO), (Phandroid, 25th June 2014) <http://phandroid.com/2014/06/25/android-has-1-billion-active-users-in-the-past30-days-and-other-interesting-numbers-from-io/> [accessed 19th December 2014] 41 Jerry Saltz, Art at Arm’s Length: A History of the Selfie, (Vulture, 26th January 2014) <http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/history-of-the-selfie.html> [accessed 13th December 2014] 42 Stephen Marche, Sorry you’re selfie isn’t art, (Esquire, 24th July 2013) <http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/selfies-arent-art> [accessed 10th December 2014]

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diagnosed with selfie addiction or going to extremes in order to achieve a desired selfie.43 44 (See Appendix A). Selfies are not just having an impact on human lives either. (See Appendix B) Whilst there is no direct causal relationship, it is conceivable to identify that the selfie trend is having some repercussions.

If we refer back to Nicholas Carr’s argument about positive reinforcement and social media platforms rewarding us, we can consider how it is possible to become addicted to social media.45 Social media platforms operate on ‘pellets of social nourishment’ through likes, shares, comments etc.46 Being on the receiving end of these feels akin to being praised and rewarded; this can be linked to our feelings of selfworth. Research has shown that ‘positive feedback enhanced adolescents’ self-esteem, and negative feedback decreased their self-esteem’47. This may encourage people to seek after these pellets of nourishment; going to extremes in order to take an impressive selfie - some even dying. (See Appendix C)48 Jillian Mayer’s explores selfies in her piece 400 nudes (2014), in which she searched the internet for nude selfies then photo-shopped her head on to them. (Fig 2)

Fig 2: Printscreen of ‘400nudes.com’ <http://400nudes.com> [accessed 8th March 2015]

43 Huffington Post, 'Selfie Addiction' Is No Laughing Matter, Psychiatrists Say, (Huffington post, 25th March 2014)

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/selfie-addiction-mental-illness_n_5022090.html> [accessed 5th December 2014] 44 Patty Mathews, Annual AAFPRS Survey reveals celebrity look-alike surgery on the rise, (American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 22nd January 2015) <http://www.aafprs.org/media/stats_polls/m_stats.html> [accessed 22nd January 2015] 45 Carr, The shallows, pg117 46 Carr, The shallows, pg117 47 Dr. Patti M. Valkenburg, Jochen Peter, and Alexander P. Schouten, Friend Networking Sites and Their Relationship to Adolescents’ Well-Being and Social Self-Esteem (CyberPsychology and Behaviour, October 2006, 9(5): 584-590) pg590 48 Nophar and Guy, When Selfies go wrong; 17 Deadly Selfies, (Caliser, 2nd November 2014) <http://caliser.com/when-selfies-go-wrong-deadly-selfies/> [accessed 18th December 2014]

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“I found a website giving tips to young girls for taking nude selfies…basically, you should strip your nude body of its identity… it's also preparing them for the fact that they will be betrayed." 49 There is a unique dynamic within nude selfies; the girls taking these photos feel empowered, they are the model, photographer, and distributor. When they release the photograph, that power disappears. Mayer used images she found on the internet, which highlights how images are circulated (most likely) beyond the original targeted receiver of them. This work raises up questions of control and privacy, as well as the infinite life of material on the internet. Leaked and circulated images can have very detrimental effects to personal and professional lives. These are current issues resulting from our digital age. This piece also touches upon revenge porn, cyberbullying and feminism. More over the power of this piece is really felt when viewed collectively on the website50; it stirs up in you the passive onlooker, the consequences and vulnerability of this loss of power and violation of trust.

Having discussed the negative repercussions and impact of social media, the question is, why has it become such a dominant tool? There have been studies conducted, proving that we find it intrinsically rewarding sharing and disclosing information about ourselves.51 We devote 30-40% of our speech output to self-disclosure and our experiences.52 This goes up to above 80% on social networking sites. 53 Diana Tamir and Jason Mitchell conducted a series of experiments in 2012, looking into the act of sharing selfreferential content. The results of these experiments show that the regions of our brain associated with reward, are activated significantly more when we are discussing and sharing our opinions, experiences and our thoughts; these regions are also activated when we are thinking about ourselves. The results of one study showed people are willing to give up money in order to talk about themselves. ‘Both self-referential thought and sharing with others provide two independent motivators for self-disclosure’54; Maybe this explains why, as Hodkinson notes, ‘the greater the proliferation of content, the more self-referential it becomes’.55 These studies demonstrate that we feel rewarded when sharing and disclosing ourselves; combine these findings together and we realise it is not only rewarding to share information but rewarding

49 Jillian Mayer, Artist Photoshop’s 400 Nude Selfies To Explore The Future Of

The Online Image (NSFW), (Priscilla Frank, Huffington Post, 11th April 2014) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/04/jillianmayer_n_6064116.html [accessed 10th November] 50 Jillian Mayer, 400 Nudes homepage, <http://www.400nudes.com/> [accessed 8th March 2015] 51 Diana I. Tamir, Jason P. Mitchell, ‘Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding’ (PNAS, 7th May 2012) <http://wjh.harvard.edu/~dtamir/Tamir-PNAS-2012.pdf> [accessed 27th November 2014] 52 Diana I. Tamir, Jason P. Mitchell, ‘Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding’ (PNAS, 7th May 2012) <http://wjh.harvard.edu/~dtamir/Tamir-PNAS-2012.pdf> [accessed 27th November 2014] 53 Diana I. Tamir, Jason P. Mitchell, ‘Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding’ (PNAS, 7th May 2012) <http://wjh.harvard.edu/~dtamir/Tamir-PNAS-2012.pdf> [accessed 27th November 2014] 54 Diana I. Tamir, Jason P. Mitchell, ‘Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding’ (PNAS, 7th May 2012) <http://wjh.harvard.edu/~dtamir/Tamir-PNAS-2012.pdf> [accessed 27th November 2014] 55 Paul Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: an introduction, pg277

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receiving back via social media too. This may explain why social media platforms have become a prominent form of communication and feature in our lives today.

This chapter reveals how the internet has granted us and enhanced our human right to freedom of speech but how we choose to use this to share self-referential content, because we find it more rewarding to do so; even the co-founder of the Tetley gallery in Leeds is uploading selfies. (Fig 3) However, as we have seen in some cases, the over production and distribution of such self-referential content, coupled with the positive reinforcement mechanisms over social media can have a damaging effect; will this become any less adverse or even more so as time goes on?

Fig 3: Collection of print screens from Kerry Harkerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Instagram< https://instagram.com/kerryharker/> [accessed 8th March 2015]

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3: The impact of the Internet and Social Media on Art and Artists.

In this chapter I will discuss how the internet has impacted art, with a concentration on social media as this has become highly prominent in recent years; applying what I have found out from the previous sections, specifically to art and artists. The internet allows museums and galleries to document and archive their collections and past exhibitions, available to access anytime, anywhere. Social networking platforms allow art organisations to reach a wider variety of people at a much lower cost than any other medium. Is having art in this readily available and easily accessible form encouraging people to view art in the flesh or are people satisfied enough by online content to the point they don’t physical view it? Art critic, Gene Mchugh says in his e-book Post-Internet, ‘When art is on the internet, there is a tendency to always put off viewing it or understanding it in-depth because it is always at hand’.56 It is easy to see how well Ai Weiwei’s sunflower seeds (Fig 4) are documented and how much content there is about them and surrounding them, years on.

Fig 4: Print screen of Google image search for ‘Ai Weiwei’s sunflower seeds’

Documented art on the internet is useful in terms of research and information, but I believe it has other benefits. The internet does not carry the charge nor the aura of galleries or museums. It also strips away the financial barriers and restraints the art world can have; mechanical reproduction such as photography and

56 Gene Mchugh, ‘Post Internet’,

Notes on the internet and art 12.29.09>09.05.10’ (LINK editions 2011), 1-247. pg38

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film destroyed the pilgrim and the ritual that used to exist57. I suspect this encourages people to view art online, as such isolating qualities are not apparent on the internet. Marshall McLuhan’s essay ‘The medium is the message’ suggests, the medium in which the content is given can have an influence. As said previously, the internet is multidirectional and collaborative. I conclude people will view art online as they are able to disclose their opinions and thoughts to a bigger audience than compared to a gallery setting; as research58 has revealed, we find it rewarding disclosing ourselves, hence, people may find art, not only more accessible but more rewarding, viewed online.

I noticed how the internet and digital technologies has had an impact on the exhibition, The Vanity of Small Differences (2014) in particular. Grayson Perry’s exhibition not only exists in the digital age of today, which his tapestries make full recognition and acknowledgment of, but their actual making relies upon this digital age. The Vanity of Small Differences is not just an exhibition of Perry’s six tapestries, there is a television documentary series and Perry created an app, 59 which aids and supplies extra content to the work/exhibition. By using these other mediums I feel Perry is really trying to connect with his viewer and to reach people who would not normally view art, in a medium they know and understand. The tapestries went through a transfer process; they started off as drawings created on Adobe Illustrator; based on sketches taken from his primary research. These digital files were then sent and converted to a format suitable for the loom to produce the physical tapestry. Nigel Walsh told me, during these transitions, elements of the design were altered, “colours changed”.60 This is interesting as it means there has been a digital influence exerted onto the physical tapestries, which gives the machines a human like quality; almost as if they are making a choice for the art work. Nigel Walsh also revealed to me, Grayson Perry had used Google to find a picture of a car crash to reference (Fig 5) and base his drawing for the tapestry ‘#Lamentation’ on61 - note the hashtag in the title, making a salute to our digital era. I personally believe Grayson Perry is attempting to free art from its elitist and exclusive nature.

57 Walter

Benjamin, The Continental Aesthetics Reader: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, ed. by Clive Cazeaux, 2nd edn (Routledge 2011, 1936), p. 326 58 Diana I. Tamir, Jason P. Mitchell, ‘Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding’ (PNAS, 7th May 2012) <http://wjh.harvard.edu/~dtamir/Tamir-PNAS-2012.pdf> [accessed 27th November 2014] 59 iTunes, Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences, <https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/grayson-perry-vanitysmall/id655623697?mt=8> 60 Nigel Walsh, In conversation with Nigel Walsh and James Lomax, Talk at Temple Newsam House, 27th November 2014.

61 Nigel Walsh, In conversation with Nigel Walsh and James Lomax, Talk at Temple Newsam House, 27th November 2014.

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Fig 5: Picture of a Car crash, (Wikipedia) <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/ e/e1/Car_crash_1.jpg > [accessed 3rd March 2015]

Fig 6: Close up of ‘#Lamenation’ (2014) <http://www.victoriamiro.com/custom_images/x790/usr/images/exhibi tions/429/gp363__lamentation_2012_full.jpg> [accessed 3rd March 2015]

When I attended a talk at Temple Newsam House; older members of the attendees seemed puzzled that I was there and asked me, “What do young people think of Grayson Perry?”, so these associations still exist.

Along with his TV programmes and the app he designed to accompany his exhibition, Perry also delivered the Reith lectures on BBC Radio 4 (which in today’s age, are available on the iPlayer, anytime) and published a book based on these. I think Perry demonstrates that the role of the artist has changed; artists are self-promoters, ‘applying managerial strategies’62. The internet’s distribution platforms allow artists to share their work and also share themselves, ‘now more than ever, artists need to be entrepreneurs and not just artists.’63 They are in control of their distribution and construction of their image; they are their own media companies. The medium of the internet has opened up the role of the artist; to be successful the artist of today needs to ‘build a brand, a network and a social media presence’64 ‘Being an author isn’t a fixed status anymore, but a temporary role played alongside curator, promoter, and Wikipedia archaeologist, among others’.65 The notion of the artist has changed and evolved over time. One element that has always been apparent in the many re-imaginings and associations, is this feeling they are unreachable and special human beings.

62

Brad Troemel, Art after Social Media, (New York Magazine of Contemporary art and design, Issue 6) <http://nymagazine.org/PDF/06.07.EN_Art_After_Social_Media.pdf> pg 1 63 Kristin Thomson, Kristen Purcell, Lee Rainie, Arts Organizations and Digital Technologies (Pew Research Centre, 4th January 2013) <http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/01/04/section-6-overall-impact-of-technology-on-thearts/>[accessed 19th February 2015] 64 William Deresiewicz, The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur, (Atlantic Magazine, January-February Issue, 2015) 65 Brad Troemel, Art after Social Media, (New York Magazine of Contemporary art and design, Issue 6) http://nymagazine.org/PDF/06.07.EN_Art_After_Social_Media.pdf pg 3

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The internet gives the artist control over presenting and establishing themselves as an artist, through their online presence. The aura surrounding them is subsided, being ‘levelled and spread across dozens of daily opportunities to comment, like, and reblog’, via social media; which could result in career opportunities. 66 This is something Brad Tromoel discusses in his essay Art after Social Media, ‘the attention an artist can accrue around herself through branding can be leveraged into a more traditional notion of success as seen through gallery exhibitions, magazine features, books, and speaking engagements.’ 67 Summarily, I think social media has opened up and made it more accessible to be an artist today.

What does the internet do to the art audience? As discussed previously, the internet turns the audience from passive onlookers into active participants through the ability for feedback, this of course can be a valuable aspect; it builds up context and documentation surrounding the work. For Instance, people tweeted about Lara Favaretto’s ‘Doing’ performance event sculpture (Fig 6); this not only helped publicise it, but it also worked as feedback for Favaretto as well as the Henry Moore Institute.

Fig 6: Collection of print screens from Henry Moore Institute’s twitter page, <https://twitter.com/hmileeds> [accessed 20th January 2015] 66

Brad Troemel, The Athletic Aesthetics, (The New Inquiry, 10th May 2013) <http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/athletic-aesthetics/> [accessed 7th February 2015] 67 Brad Troemel, Art after Social Media, (New York Magazine of Contemporary art and design, Issue 6) http://nymagazine.org/PDF/06.07.EN_Art_After_Social_Media.pdf pg 3

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This becomes an ‘element in their creative processes’.68 The audience can believe that they are ‘cocreators’ of the work and collaborating with the artists through social networking platforms.69 As well as this, often ‘Iconic works of art inspire followers, knockoffs, and remixes, reaching far beyond the context of their original creation’. 70 For instance there was a great deal of reaction to Marina Abramovic performance The Artist is present (2010). (See appendix D) These create a feedback loop. I believe the internet/social media’s rewarding system encourages these and creativity as people can share their creations online and receive recognition and social nourishment. ‘A number of organisations mentioned the demise of trusted critics’ due to digital technologies.71 Everyone is an author in the age of the internet, this means there is a loss of hierarchy as anyone can publish anything, so the role of the trusted critic has diminished as others are willing to write reviews for less. This is something Grayson Perry touches upon in his book, Playing to the Gallery, ‘The days when a critic like Clement Greenberg could make or break artists are over’.72 I deem it is also because people are engaging more with producing their own content, i.e. prosumption ‘the act of consuming and producing at the same time’73, rather than solely consuming. I conclude this, because of the study proving we find it rewarding disclosing our own opinions; thus people may be more interested in what is being said and using it to create their own version or reacting/commenting back, which are acts of prosumption, rather than who is saying it. The nature of the internet has empowered the art audience which has effectively decreased the demand for art critics.

Having discussed how the internet and social media has effected artists and their audience, how has it impacted the art work itself?

Many artists have already seized the opportunity to make art work with the material on social media platforms. Brain Lobel’s interactive performace lecture Purge utilises his Facebook account. In 2011 over 5 days in café’s in London and Kuopio, Brian instructed strangers to decide which of his 1300 Facebook friends to keep or delete.74 The event on the Thursday 22nd January (which I conveniently found out about

68

Brad Troemel, The Accidental Audience, (The New Inquiry,14th March 2013) <http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/the-accidental-audience/> [accessed 7th February 2015] 69 Brad Troemel, The Athletic Aesthetics, (The New Inquiry, 10th May 2013) <http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/athletic-aesthetics/> [accessed 7th February 2015] 70 Kyle Chayka, 15 Viral Works Of Art, From Cave Paintings To Computer Hacks, (The Creators Project, 20th July 2012) http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/en_uk/blog/15-viral-works-of-art-from-cave-paintings-to-computer-hacks [accessed 9th February 2015] 71 Kristin Thomson, Kristen Purcell, Lee Rainie, Arts Organizations and Digital Technologies (Pew Research Centre, 4th January 2013) <http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/01/04/section-6-overall-impact-of-technology-on-the-arts/> 72 Grayson Perry, Playing to the Gallery, (Great Britain: Particular Books, 2014) pg25 73 Brad Troemel, The Athletic Aesthetics, (The New Inquiry, 10th May 2013) <http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/athletic-aesthetics/> [accessed 7th February 2015] 74 Brian Lobel, Purge, <http://www.blobelwarming.com/purge/>[accessd 25th January 2015]

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through Facebook) was an interactive lecture made from the initial 2011 performance. Lobel, read aloud the emails and responses he received back and we the audience decided whether we thought they should be kept or deleted. Brian then revealed their fate in 2011, and the consequences after. His interactive performance suited the active audience of today; which I think was where its success lied.

Lobel’s performance really brought up some fundamental questions about the very essence of ‘friendships’ and relationships on and over social media platforms. We, the audience discussed feeling liberated after ‘purging’ people from our accounts; which correlates to the title ’purge’, which means to ‘to rid of whatever is impure or undesirable; cleanse; purify’.75 This potentially corresponds to a study showing that Facebook use has a relation to feelings of depression and low self-esteem76 and feelings of envy.77 Purge offered a light hearted critique of our online sociality and our dependency on the connection and what these mean or represent, and the parallels between these and real life relationships.

I put Brad Troemel’s theory, that social media has made the artist more accessible, to the test and decided to ask Lobel his thoughts on the relationship between social media and art, over Facebook.

When asked how social media and the internet has impacted art, Brian Lobel answered: BL: “I don’t think of it as a separate thing. I use Facebook, social media, the internet and I make art. Of course it’s had a major influence, but less because of what it is but more that it is the stuff of life. We are surrounded by them, how could they not be in an artwork? I take in a lot of information! I have no attention span anymore! These things all affect my practice – but not in any way that’s too dramatic. It’s impossible to separate art making” And his thoughts on the future of art and its relationship with social media and the internet: BL: “I think it will become less of an exciting thing – not that people will not use it (they will) but they won’t be obsessed with it being different. They will just think it’s normal – which it is” Brian Lobel highlights, it is impossible to separate art from our culture and society, thus, as social media is integrated into our society so heavily, then it must be apparent in art works too. (For full convocation see Appendix E)

75

Dictionary Reference, Purge, <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/purge?s=t> [accessed 25th January2015] Ethan Kross, Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults, (Plos one Journals, 14th August 2013)<http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0069841#s5> [accessed 16th February 2015] 77 Andrea Shea, Facebook Envy; How the social network affects our self-esteem, (Wbur News, 20th February 2013) <http://www.wbur.org/2013/02/20/facebook-perfection> [accessed 2nd February 2015] 76

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Lee Walton also utilises material from social media. His work Fbook, what my friends are doing on Facebook (2009), explores the blurred boundary between public and private spheres, imposed by social media. Walton very playfully, explores and questions what people are sharing over social networking platforms. He uses people’s statuses as scripts for videos. He then uploads the video back onto the social media platform, which recirculates the status. There is an interesting relationship in the process of this work. The status encountered is derived from an experience in the physical world; it has then been curated and shared onto Facebook. Walton then encountered this digital post of information and interpreted it back into a physical action. He then recirculates it back into the digital realm. This piece playfully highlights issues of oversharing; as social media allows for this extension of ourselves onto the internet, the boundary between public and private information is often tested and pushed, varying in each individual. Fbook, what my friends are doing on Facebook (2009), works as a strong artistic representation of the findings from Tamir and Mitchell’s studies into sharing and disclosing information.

I suspect in some instances, Walton’s interpretations are more literal than the source of origin -Kristen Griffon Marcozzi’s status ‘is watching the clock turn to 5pm so I can enjoy a glass of wine’ 78 and Coelynn McIninch’s status ‘is staring at the fifty books in front of her and wondering where the hell that quote went!’

79

These are the most successful that Walton has created, because they highlight how social media

identities are curated to have more impact in order to increase the likelihood of them receiving likes, comments, i.e. pellets of social nourishment. By choosing quite mundane and banal statuses, Walton strengthens this question of why are people choosing to share this? I think the work also touches upon Hodkinson’s point of how the internet (and social media platforms) empower people to be producers as well as consumers. However, the works also raises up notions of whether people are listening /consuming, or are people too wrapped up in producing and distributing their own productions rather than consuming others?

I got in contact with Lee Walton and asked him his thoughts on social media and art: LW: “Social media has affected my practice is many ways. Immediately out of graduate school (2000) I realized that the gallery / exhibition space was extremely limited in audience and accessibility. I didn't like that somebody had keys and you had to have permission. So, for about $11 a year I got a website. I then started making work with this space in mind. ”

78

Lee Walton, Kristen Griffon Marcozzi is watching the clock turn to 5pm so I can enjoy a glass of wine, (Vimeo, 1999) <https://vimeo.com/2916241> [accessed 24th January 2015] 79 Lee Walton, Coelynn McIninch is staring at the fifty books in front of her and wondering where the hell that quote went!, (Vimeo, 1999) <https://vimeo.com/3155410> [accessed 24th January 2015]

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LW: “One of the most significant changes social media has made on art is the way we experience it. The context for where the artwork is situated is completely new - phones, tablets, laptops, mobility, digital screen, interactive, etc. In the same way that the Renaissance artist made paintings specifically for the ceilings of churches and Cy Twombly made paintings specifically for the walls of a museum, artists now make art specifically for social media. The entire experience is different.”

LW: “I think art, much like our culture in general, now expects to participate. It’s how we learn and affirm we are alive. Not just consume and observe from a distance - but actively and creatively participate.” (For full conversation see Appendix F) Walton’s answers resonate many of my findings and thoughts, but he surprised me when he indicated how he, as an artist, found the internet more accessible and liberating.

Rachel Knolls piece Listen and Repeat (2013)80 raises questions of consumption and listening. Knoll modified a megaphone to convert text into speech; which recited tweets from twitter which included the hashtag, ‘#nobody listens’. The megaphone was situated in the woods which created an irony; playing the tweets to the lonely trees. Again, much like Lobel and Walton, there is a playfulness to this piece, but it also touches upon the concerns that Walton address in his piece. Knoll’s piece references this paradox of how ‘we are together, even when we are alone’ because we are constantly tethered to our devices and thus each other - Something Turkle discusses in her book Alone Together. 81 Whilst social media connects us all together, it also ironically can disconnect us from the real world by absorbing your attention from the real physical world around you. This piece really highlights the question of whether people are listening on social media, or are they more concerned with producing and distributing their own content. Again this piece further reinforces and represents the findings of Tamir and Mitchell’s study that we find it rewarding to share ourselves.

80

Rachel Knoll, Listen and Repeat, (Vimeo, 2014) <https://vimeo.com/64517752> [accessed 7th December 2014] 81 Turkle, Alone Together, pg 169.

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Fig 7: New Portraits (2014) by Richard Prince, at the Gagosian Gallery, New York.

(Hyperallergic, 23rd October 2014) <http://hyperallergic.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/10/sean-fader-gagosian-4.jpg> [accessed 8th March 2015]

Richard Prince uses Instagram as the raw material for his work, in his exhibition New Portraits (2014) exhibited at the Gagosian Galley in New York. (Fig 7) Prince trolls Instagram looking for a photo he likes, he then comments on it, takes a photo and prints it out on six feet by four feet canvases. 82 Prince is exploring the space between the offline physical world and the online space we inhabit through social media representations of ourselves. Social networking platforms have given us this power to self-promote ourselves and our lives; producing and curating virtual extensions of ourselves. Richard Prince is exploring this. He’s also exploring and testing the boundaries of copyright, privacy and appropriation; by using people’s Instagram photos without their consent and permission, he’s highlighting the ease to own anything you see on the internet, either through the right click action or the print screen button. Some of Prince’s subjects have visited the works in exhibition and uploaded a photo of them standing with their ‘portrait’,(Fig 8) this creates an interesting loop and conversation between the two authors. Through Prince’s comments featured on the works, he stirs up questions; how genuine are these comments? and how much is he

82

Jerry Saltz, Richard Prince’s Instagram Paintings Are Genius Trolling, (Vulture, 23rd September 2014)http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/richard-prince-instagram-pervert-troll-genius.html [accessed 2nd February 2015]

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‘trolling’ them? 83 This also highlights questions relevant to social media; everything online has been decisively curated by the author, subsequently, how genuine is social media? The nature of social media and the internet enables anyone to view and contribute; how much do people/authors consider this?

Furthermore, by exhibiting Instagram and appropriating it into the gallery, Prince is not only questioning the relationship between the offline and online world and personalities, but he’s also breaking down the wall between these two worlds. As social media and the internet democratises producing (particularly Instagram), I believe he’s questioning the relationship and the difference between the active audience, producer (someone who produces material and uploads it onto the internet) and artist of our time.

Fig 8: Print screen of ‘nightcoregirl’ standing with her Richard Prince portrait, (Instagram) < https://instagram.com/p/tLX6OrArHo/?modal=true> [accessed 3rd March 2015]

Fig 9: Google chart comparing search statistics for art and Instagram [Accessed 8th March 2015] 83

Anon, Trolling definition, (Know your meme) <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/trolling> [accessed 23rd February 2015]

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Google trends shows that Instagram over took art in August 2013 (Fig 9). Artist Polly Morgan shares behind the scenes photos84 of her taxidermy sculptures in progress. Although this may demystify the end result it keeps her audience interested and feeling connected by this element of reveal.

85

Polly Morgan not only

uploads photos of her works in progress, but also more intimate and personal photos.86 Albeit, Kwong Lee doesn’t agree with ‘mixing art and what you had to eat’87 i.e. mixing your personal and professional life, I feel this helps create a more personal connection between Morgan and her audience; this may result in a bigger audience, which consequently means more people viewing her work. As Brad Troemel discussed in his essay Athletic Aesthetics, social media creates this ‘ongoing self-commodification’88 this is true of everyone, not just artists; we become media companies for ourselves, publicising ourselves and our lives. Walter Benjamin stated how ‘the desire of contemporary masses (was) to bring things ‘closer’’, social media enables this.89 The study conducted by Tamir and Mitchell reinforces why artists (and others) enjoy turning themselves into commodities, therefore suggesting how and why social media has become so prominent.

Dealers and Galleries also use Instagram, in order to generate attention for upcoming sales and exhibitions.

Chelsea Gallerist, Zach Feuer has admitted to using Instagram in conjunction with art fairs; 90 he uploaded photos of the art for sale at the 2014 Amory show a day before and the entire booth had sold out before the show had opened; Jon Rafman’s piece was still in the packaging. (Fig 10) Emanuel Aguilar, assistant director of Kavi Gupta gallery in Chicago has admitted to using Instagram to promote works and exhibitions91, as well as the Susanne Veilmetter gallery in Los Angeles92. Alberto Mugrabi posted one of Warhol’s paintings from his Marilyn Monroe series from his collection with the comments, “It can be yours

84

Polly Morgan, Polly Morgan’s Instagram, <https://instagram.com/p/scM9KFNtam/?modal=true> [accessed 2nd February 2015] 85 Hannah Duguid, Instagram art: How artists are cashing in on social media, (The Independent, 7th November 2014) <http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/instagram-art-how-artists-are-cashing-in-onsocial-media-9846220.html> [accessed 23rd February 2015] 86 Polly Morgan, Duke's lovely new family. Gulp. #rehomed, (Instagram) <https://instagram.com/p/rCjAANtdY/?modal=true> [accessed 2nd February 2015] 87 Conversation with Kwong Lee, 10th February 2015 88 Brad Troemel, The Athletic Aesthetics, (The New Inquiry, 10th May 2013) <http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/athletic-aesthetics/> [accessed 7th February 2015] 89 Walter Benjamin, pg 325.

90 Rozalia Jovanovic, Chelsea Gallerist Zach Feuer Sees Sales Bolstered by Instagram, (Art Net, 6th March 2014) <http://news.artnet.com/market/chelsea-gallerist-zach-feuer-sees-sales-bolstered-by-instagram-4353> [accessed 2nd February 2015] 91 Rozalia Jovanovic, Chelsea Gallerist Zach Feuer Sees Sales Bolstered by Instagram, (Art Net, 6th March 2014) <http://news.artnet.com/market/chelsea-gallerist-zach-feuer-sees-sales-bolstered-by-instagram-4353> [accessed 2nd February 2015] 92 Susanne Vielmetter LA Projects, Instagram, <http://instagram.com/svlap/>[accessed 20th February 2015]

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for the price is right at Philips May auction” [sic]’93. These findings strongly suggest the art world has adopted and incorporated social media to propel the arts.

Fig 10: Image showing New Age Demanded (2014) by Jon Rafman, still in the packaging. <http://news.artnet.com/market/chelsea-gallerist-zach-feuer-sees-sales-bolstered-by-instagram4353/> [accessed 8h March 2014]

http://news.artnet.com/market/chelsea-gallerist-zach-feuer-sees-sales-bolstered-by-instagramInstagram allows people to ‘Transform everyday moments into works of art you'll want to share with 4353/ friends and family.’94 It enables people to easily create aesthetically pleasing photographs to add to their account. An Instagram account becomes a curated and managed collection of its user’s productions and uploads; it is like a mini online ongoing exhibition.

John Berger’s book, ‘The ways of seeing’ may offer some insight and relevance to Instagram and social media trends.

Adults and children sometimes have boards in their bedrooms or living-rooms on which they pin pieces of paper: letters, snapshots, reproductions of paintings, newspaper cuttings, original drawings, postcards. On each board all the images belong to the same language and all are more or less equal within it, because they have been chosen in a highly personal way to match and express the experience of the room's inhabitant. Logically, these boards should replace museums. 95

93 M,H Miller,

The Gallery, Unfiltered: On the Art World’s Instagram Obsession, (The Observer, 30th April 2014) <http://observer.com/2013/04/the-gallery-unfiltered-on-the-art-worlds-instagram-obsession/> [accessed 20th

February 2015] Google Play, Instagram, <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instagram.android>[accessed 2nd February 2015] 95 John Berger, Ways of Seeing, (Penguin Classics; reprint edition, 25th September 2008) pg23 94

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This strongly relates to Instagram and other social media platforms such as Tumblr and Pinterest. These are online digital versions of the notice board. Mechanical reproduction and the internet have enabled people to virtually collect, gather, and curate displays and collections of their interests and productions. Art critic and writer, Ben Davis makes a valid point in saying that the ‘most typical and maligned genres of Instagram imagery correspond to the primary genres of Western secular art’96. What he means by this is that images of food on Instagram, (coined ‘#food porn’)97 is the classic still life reinvented and ‘Selfies’ are modernised self-portraits. John Berger wrote, ‘Oil painting, before it was anything else, was a celebration of private property’.98 The artistic power of image making which was mainly associated with aristocrats, has been democratised and made available for everyone through technology and in particular, social media. 99 To reference Paul Hodkinson once more, the internet empowers ‘ordinary people’ to easily produce and distribute their own material.100 Instagram acts as a visual celebration curated by the account holder. Just how, as Berger noted, oil paintings acted and represented riches and advertised the owners’ lives; social media users produce photographs which do this. This is most evident and explanatory on Rich Kids on Instagram, Tumblr.101 Does this mean Instagram is the modernised oil painting? If that is the case, does that make all Instagram account holders artists?

Overall, from my investigation I have noticed the art world has been opened up through social media and the internet, and empowered the audience. I’ve also realised how the exhibition space can be limiting and inaccessible, not just for the audience but the artist too; combine this with the collaborative nature of the medium, I consider this is why the internet has become a platform for art. Some interesting correlations between Instagram and traditional fine art have been identified; perhaps the boundary between artist and internet producer is becoming blurred as technologies have made it easier to produce material. Gene Mchugh states in his eBook ‘Post Internet’, an artist’s ‘evolution of their website or manager online presence itself becomes a work’, often their social media accounts become, ‘the performance of the artist as an

96 Ben Davis, Ways of seeing Instagram, (Art Net, 24th June 2014) <http://news.artnet.com/art-world/ways-of-seeing-

instagram-37635#.VFhDcLyEjaB.facebook> [accessed 29th November 2014] 97 Particle Mare, Food Porn, (Know Your Meme) http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/food-porn [accessed 2nd

February 2015] 98 John Berger, Ways of Seeing, (Penguin Classics; reprint edition, 25th September 2008) pg 133 99 Ben Davis, Ways of seeing Instagram, (Art Net, 24th June 2014) <http://news.artnet.com/art-world/ways-of-seeing-

instagram-37635#.VFhDcLyEjaB.facebook> [accessed 29th November 2014] , pg36 101 Anon, Rich Kids of Instagram, (Tumblr)< http://richkidsofinstagram.tumblr.com/> [accessed 23rd February 2015] 100 Paul Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: an introduction

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artist’102 As highlighted by Walton’s work, social media accounts/identities are curated by the account holder, does that mean people can curate themselves into the role/identity of an artist?

102 Gene Mchugh, ‘Post Internet’, Notes on the internet and art 12.29.09>09.05.10

(LINK editions 2011), 1247.<http://www.lulu.com/gb/en/shop/gene-mchugh/post-internet/ebook/product-17354797.html> [accessed 24th October 2014] pg87

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4: The Relationship between the Art Image and the Art Object.

In this chapter I will be exploring the relationship between the photograph of the art work you encounter online and the physical art object; questioning what the image of the art work does to the art object, if anything. I shall also be discussing the term ‘Post Internet Art’.

The term ‘Post Internet art’ has been trying to emerge and establish itself in recent times.

‘Post internet denotes a movement in arts and criticism that refers to society and modes of interaction following the widespread adoption of the internet. It emerged from Internet Art, however the movement has not been thoroughly defined’ 103 The internet is an omnipresence that influences and affects a great majority of our lives, not just individually but globally. Marisa Olson’s definition of Post Internet Art which appears in Gene Mchugh’s eBook is; ‘Art made after one’s use of the internet. “The Yield” of her surfing and computer use.’104 Whilst the term ‘Post Internet Art’ suggests an origin imbedded in the internet, often works associated with the term, have a physical presence; ‘post-Internet art makes the leap from the screen into brick-andmortar galleries’, ‘it crosses over between online and offline formats’105. Artists who ‘frequently uses digital strategies to create objects that exist in the real world’ could be categorised under this term. 106 Therefore, Grayson Perry’s tapestries, The Vanity of Small Differences, would be defined as post internet art because of his use of software, Adobe Illustrator; as well as his use of google images for a visual reference which would also define him under Olson’s definition. Paul Digby and his series of work Portraits of Emotions (2013) employs digital strategies. These acrylic paintings, (Fig 11) have recently been exhibited at The Tetley

103 Wikipedia, Post Internet Art, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postinternet [accessed 13th February 2015] 104 Gene Mchugh ‘Post Internet’, Notes on the internet and art 12.29.09>09.05.10’ (LINK editions 2011), 1-

247.<http://www.lulu.com/gb/en/shop/gene-mchugh/post-internet/ebook/product-17354797.html> [accessed 24th October 2014] pg 16.

105 Ian Wallace, What Is Post-Internet Art? Understanding the Revolutionary New Art Movement, (Art Space, 18th March 2014) <http://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/post_internet_art> [accessed 12th December 2014] 106 Ian Wallace, What Is Post-Internet Art? Understanding the Revolutionary New Art Movement, (Art Space, 18th March 2014) <http://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/post_internet_art> [accessed 12th December 2014]

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gallery in Leeds. The blurb107 for the exhibition reveals Digby digitally manipulated his photographs before painting them.

Fig 11: Portraits of Emotions by Paul Digby (2014) < http://eaststreetarts.org.uk/members/portraits-of-emotionspaul-digby/ > [accessed 8th March 2015]

I contacted Paul Digby as I was interested in why he decided to reveal his process. (For full conversation see Appendix G)

Q : Why did you alter/manipulate your photographs before painting them?

PD: “The photos only ever served a purpose to aid the painting. The size of the canvases are large and so I needed something fixed, a digital image on a4 print out, that I could rely on in the studio.”

Q : Why did you choose to include this bit of information in the exhibition description?

PD: “I wanted to divulge of any secrets and dispel any myths surrounding the artist and there process. So informing people I worked with a photographer in documenting the subjects, taking

107

The Tetley, Portraits of Emotions, (The Tetley, 2014) <http://thetetley.org/portraits-emotions/> [accessed 20th January 2015]

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this digital image to Photoshop and then having the print out colours scanned at the paint store seemed as important to me as actually applying the paint.”

It should also be noted that the colours used in the paintings ‘were achieved through using colour recognition technology at Johnston's paint store, they mixed the acrylic matt paint needed with an industrial paint mixing machine.’108 Hence technology aids and influences art practices and work in ways you wouldn’t necessarily think. This makes it hard to establish what post internet art is and what is not.

Kwong Lee, director of Castlefield Gallery in Manchester says “Digital presence is important” “Documentation of your work represents you the artist”. 109 Does seeing documented art work online before seeing the art in its physical form, create expectations – what the art WILL or even SHOULD look like? Artist Artie Vierkant explains ‘usually the act of visiting does little more than produce a sense of déjà vu.’110 As a work can have many different vantage points online, each varying in the amount of information and credibility, peoples understanding can become fragmented and undergo different perceptions. To illustrate this, Zander Olsons’ ongoing work Tree Line (2004-present) features heavily on Tumblr under multiple tags. (Fig 12)

Fig 12: Tumblr search of ‘Zander Olson’ <https://www.tumblr.com/search/zander+olson> [accessed 8th February 2015]

108 Portraits of Emotions, Portrait Paintings, <

http://portraitsofemotions.uk/> [accessed 1st February 2015]

109 Kwong Lee, conversation 10th February 2015.

110

Ian Glover, Artist Profile: Artie Vierkant,(Rhizome, 10th November 2011) <http://rhizome.org/editorial/2011/nov/10/artist-profile-artie-vierkant/> [accessed 12th February 2015]

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These tags (Fig 12) promote different perceptions; an installation implies that it is temporal piece you can visit, land art implies that it is long living, ‘photography’ could even imply that he has not physically created the work but it is a trick of the camera. His work is in fact, site specific intervention/installation which comes together in the cameras viewpoint.111 This work offers itself well to the art image, but would it have been as successful pre internet age, when the art image was not so dominant?

Art critic and curator, Brian Droitcour, believes ‘Post-Internet art is about creating objects that look good online’, in other words, the art image. ‘Post-Internet art flaunts a cheap savvy about image distribution and the role of documentation in the making of an art career.’112 Artists have begun challenging this notion of the art image being seen more than the physical art object. Artie Vierkants’ ongoing project, Image work (2011 – ongoing)113 resists the classic interpretation of the art image being a direct representation. He deliberately distorts the photos of his work in situ, employing editing techniques commonly used in image retouching and publications. Thus, the photos do not accurately represent the physical object exhibited.

This causes a difference and tension to emerge between the art image and exhibited art objects. The viewer's experience becomes split between the physical encounter in a gallery setting and the countless variations of the objects circulated in prints, publications, and on the Internet. 114 Brad Troemel is another artist exploring the relationship between the art image and the art object. Troemel creates art objects which he puts up for sale on Etsy.115 He uses perishable materials which will often decay or fall apart during their shipment; so upon receiving they look different to when first encountered online.

Fig 13: Image from Brad Tromel’s Etsy store <https://www.etsy.com/uk/transaction/239710482 ? > [accessed 8th March 2015]

Fig 14: Image of received purchased Item ‘DORITOSLOCOS taco MASTER LOCKED shut (Key Sold Separately) < http://conceptplusobject.net/post/30577538717/ta co-lock-an-interview-with-brad-troemel> [accessed 8th March 2015]

111

Zander Olsen, Tree, Line, <http://www.zanderolsen.com/Tree_Line.html> [accessed 11th February 2015] Brian Droitcour, The Perils of Post-internet Art, (Art in America Magazine, 30th October 2014) <http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazine/the-perils-of-post-internet-art/ > [accessed 26th January 2015] 113 Arite Vierkant, Image Objects, <http://artievierkant.com/imageobjects.php> [accessed 12th February 2015] 114 Arite Vierkant, Image Objects, <http://artievierkant.com/imageobjects.php> [accessed 12th February 2015] 115 Brad Troemel, BSTJ’s Sold Items, (Etsy store) <https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BSTJ/sold?ref=shopinfo_sales_leftnav> [accessed 8th March 2015] 112

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In this work, Troemel is reversing the role between the image and art object. We the internet user come to see the image as a ‘token’ and a reproduction of the physical art object, however, in Troemels’ work the object becomes the ‘token’ to the more idealised image online.116 This raises up questions of idealisation through the camera and editing techniques. There is a strong reference to Instagram which encourages people to create idealised photographs of their daily lives and moments, and how these edited images are more aesthetically pleasing than the moment they were captured from. Brad Troemel asks the purchasers to upload images or videos, 117 of the items in their home, this creates a feedback loop. This is an interesting dynamic that the internet allows. Through their work, Both Vierkant and Troemel provide proof that artists are aware their work is seen and engaged with predominantly online and challenging this notion.

With the internet acting as a viewing platform for art, the work has to look as good as possible in its documented form; thus documentation is arguably more important than the work itself. Vierkant states in his essay The Image Object Post internet, ‘Even if an image or object is able to be traced back to a source, the substance (substance in the sense of both its materiality and its importance) of the source object can no longer be regarded as inherently greater than any of its copies’.118 Does this mean that the image of the art work is just as valued and important as the physical art object? In today’s age of internet dependence, this does hold some truth. For there have been art works where their digital representation lives longer than the physical object. The most famous example being Duchamp’s Fountain (1917). This is one of the most famous pieces of contemporary art. It is interesting that the original does not exist, being lost soon after its first exhibition in 1917, yet nearly a hundred years on, seventeen reproductions have existed.119 Without the photograph of the original taken by Alfred Stieglitz,120 would these reproductions exist? This highlights that photographic documentation is important to art as it asserts it a place in history. ‘In theory the digital image has an indefinite life. The code that creates it does not decay’. 121 Tracey Emin’s tent titled, Everyone I have ever Slept with (1963-1995) was destroyed in 2004, but it is alive online, through the

116 Whitney Mallet, An Interview with Brad Troemel, (The Editorial Magazine, Issue 8) <http://the-

editorialmagazine.com/?p=830> [accessed 27th January 2015] 117 Michael Mandiberg's Videos, Unboxing Brad Troemel's "DORITOSLOCOS taco MASTER LOCKED shut" (YouTube,

8th August 2012) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP2IiEX_bWs> [accessed 9th February 2015] 118 Artie Vierkant, The Image Object Post-Internet, (Art Lurker) <http://www.artlurker.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/03/image-object-postInternet.pdf> [accessed 12th January] 119 Cabinet Magazine, An Overview of the Seventeen Known Versions of Fountain, (Cabinet Magazine, Issue 27 Mountain falls 2007) < http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/27/duchamp.php> [accessed 9th February] 120 MOMA, Marcel Duchamp: The Readymade as Reproduction, (MOMA) <http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/originalcopy/works05.html#1> [accessed 8th March 2015] 121 Anna Bentkowska-kafel, Trish Cashen, Hazel Gardiner, Digital Art History, (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2005) pg 6

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recorded images of it. 122 Therefore, documenting the art image is important as it preserves the art object.

However, with the increasing consumption of the art image online, is the documentation becoming the art itself?

I believe the art world is changing due to the internet. Petra Cortright uses the webcam to explore the aesthetics and performative cultures of online consumption. She often tags her videos ‘with spam keywords like “sex” and “porn” with the intention of hijacking search results to drive more traffic to her own work’123. She started making her webcam videos in her bedroom, sharing them online and now they are shown in galleries, art fairs and bought by dealers and collectors. Frieze commissioned her in 2013 to produce a film. This suggest the internet has not only changed how art is preserved and viewed, but also how the art world works. Her most famous work vvebcam (2007) 124 was added to the internet in 2007 and you can see from her resume 125 that this is when she started showing in galleries. Cortright demonstrates how today’s artist needs a following/audience to create art126. Is the internet turning art into a popularity contest? Without an audience Cortright would have been drowned out by the vast numbers of ‘producers’ 127

online, and subsequently she would not have been noticed by Frieze and other galleries. The traditional

recipe, you need to create art to have an audience, has been reversed. Todays’ artist needs an audience to create art.128 ‘If an audience for their work isn’t maintained, it loses the context necessary for regarding it as art’.129 This turns the artist into a commodity, as they will be inevitably aiming to secure an audience around themselves. The bigger an audience the artist has online, the more likely they will be seen by galleries, curators, directors etc, as the internet audience has a snowball effect; thus, getting popular online can increase the chances of career opportunities.

122 Gordon Burn, Buried into the Memory, (The Guardian, 27th May 2004)

<http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/may/27/art.britartfire> [accessed 11th February 2015] 123 Kyle Chayka, How going viral has changed art, (Creators Project, 14th June 2012)

<http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/en_uk/blog/how-going-viral-has-changed-art> [accessed 8th February 2015] Rhizome, vvebcam 2007/ Petra Cortright, (Rhizome) <http://archive.rhizome.org/artbase/53474/vvebcam.html> [accessed 8th March 2015] 125 Petra Cortright, Resume¸<http://assetsp.artcat.com/file_uploads/file_asset/asset/a9b22c4d0746ac1bdb7a0066e877bd907493429c/a5e6c7f816549fe2e29d a7a94e897323.pdf> [accessed 28th February 2015] 126 Brad Troemel, Art after Social Media, (New York Magazine of Contemporary art and design, Issue 6) <http://nymagazine.org/PDF/06.07.EN_Art_After_Social_Media.pdf> pg3 127 I am using the term producer in this sense to mean anyone who creates and uploads something onto the internet.

128 Brad Troemel, Athletic Aesthetics, (The New Inquiry, 10th May 2013) <http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/athleticaesthetics/>[accessed 8th February] 129 Brad Troemel, Athletic Aesthetics, (The New Inquiry, 10th May 2013) <http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/athleticaesthetics/>[accessed 8th February] 124

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Cortright has developed an algorithm to price her work on the view count it receives, she then sells her work on ‘a USB stick in a pretty box...I (just) sell the file’.130 However, If we think about Vierkants’ view, ‘the substance…of the source object can no longer be regarded as inherently greater than any of its copies’, how does the file on the USB differ to downloading it from YouTube? 131 After all, there is ‘no original of a digital image, since every version has equal status by virtue of being absolutely identical’.132 Does this mean anyone can own digital art through the act of saving/downloading it? Does this apply beyond digital art, to the digital art image? Therefore, can we own the art image? This is an interesting notion, one that needs further consideration. From my exploration into the art image, I believe the image of the art work offers a second life/form for the physical art object and has become as valued as the object in the age of the internet.

130

Petra Cortright, (DisMagazine, 22nd October 2013) http://dismagazine.com/blog/53092/frieze-london-interviewwith-petra-cortright/ [accessed 20th February 2015]

131

Clip Converter, Homepage, <http://www.clipconverter.cc/> [accessed 8th March 2015]

132

Anna Bentkowska-kafel, Trish Cashen, Hazel Gardiner, Digital Art History, (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2005) pg 6

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Conclusion.

My aim of this paper was to investigate how the internet and social media have redefined art and what it is to be an artist in this digital age. There has been a great deal of research into the effects of the internet and social media, however, through conducting my research I have realised how few books or academic writings have been published about their effects, particularly social media, on the art world. This is something artists are definitely thinking about, proven when Lee Walton said my research was “radical.”(Fig 1) Through my research, I have discovered that it is easier to publicise yourself, as the internet allows you to reach a wider audience. As well as this, it’s been proven we find it intrinsically rewarding to talk about ourselves; explaining not only why social media has grown exponentially in the recent years, but also why there are a lot more ‘producers’133 sharing via the internet. Positive reinforcement also explains why we engage through social media and the internet. Everyone is a producer/author in the age of the internet, this potentially has the danger to turn art into a popularity contest in order to get noticed; as highlighted by Petra Cortright. In order to get attention online, you have to play by the rules i.e. become a commodity, share, like, and be active online. The audience of the internet has a snowball effect, thus this may end up influencing artists into not only using tactics in order to receive more hits/attention (as Cortright did with tagging her videos with ‘sex’ and ‘porn’), but to change their work into something they know the internet audience will like and approve of. As we have seen our attention spans have eradicated over time; we can say for certain that we live in a world where attention is a tradable asset, this is the ‘economy of attention’.

The internet has imposed itself into the art world, the active audience of the internet are able to encourage and influence what art gets seen and attention, and this can be especially dangerous when you can buy followers.134 There is a good chance that the shortening attention economy of today, is effecting the art itself; for instance it affects people to take pleasing photos of the art in situ and edit these to look even more idealised, which may encourage artists to value aesthetics over concept, presence, form, etc, or create easy to consume art. I do not feel this has become the case, yet, but perhaps it will as the internet and social media continues to grow. However, galleries, museums and art organisations still hold and play a part in accrediting art and artists. This aura and prestige the art world has is not going to diminish any time soon; as long as they keep this charge then they will still be able to award validity and acclaim.

133 I am using the term producer in this sense to mean anyone who creates and uploads something onto the internet.

134 Anon, Instabuyagram, <http://www.instabuyagram.com/instagram-followers/>[accessed 15th February 2015]

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Overall from my research, I have come to the conclusion that the medium of the internet encourages viewing art online. This medium not only makes art more inclusive by being more accessible, through the fact that is does not carry the charge of a gallery, nor require the same investment and pilgrim; but because we find using this medium both rewarding and positively reinforcing. I personally believe this is positive as I think art shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have barriers; but perhaps, as stated, I feel there could be a danger with it becoming a popularity contest. The similarities between Instagram and art are very interesting. It is no doubt interesting to see whether the term Post Internet art will establish itself, I personally am excited to witness an art period defined in my lifetime, and I wonder how much of a period it will be, given that the internet influences art practices but also how digital technology aid their making in many ways. As Perry says in his book, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;art now follows technology rather than leading it; art is struggling to keep upâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;; 135 thus it is hard to make clear cut distinctions between art that has been influenced and yielded from the internet or technology. As social media and the internet will continue to evolve it will be interesting to see what the future holds and how the relationships between them develops.

135

Grayson Perry, Playing to the Gallery, (Great Britain: Particular Books, 2014) pg100

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Appendix.

A- There have even been a few case of people being diagnosed with selfie addiction. 136 In one such instance, Danny Bowmen spent ten hours a day, taking 200 hundred photos of himself. Psychiatrist Dr David Veal says one in three people diagnosed with Body Dysmorphic disorder are addicted to taking selfies. 137 There has been a potential relationship identified between selfies and an increase in plastic and cosmetic surgery. One woman spent nine thousand pounds on cosmetic surgery; she makes a living taking selfies promoting brands.138 Another woman spent fifteen thousand on cosmetic surgery in order to be more satisfied with her selfies.139 The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery revealed one in three surgeons saw an increase in procedures due to people dissatisfied with photos of themselves on social media.140 B- As Of February 2015, in New York it will be illegal to pose for photos with big cats, lions or tigers. 141 This law was effectively brought about after it became popular for people, particularly men on the dating app Tinder,142 to pose with tigers and big cats for selfies and share these online.143 The truth behind many of these photos is that the animals are chained, sedated and drugged, some declawed and their teeth pulled out, violating the endangered species act.

136 Huffington Post, 'Selfie Addiction' Is No Laughing Matter, Psychiatrists Say, (Huffington

post, 25th March 2014) <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/selfie-addiction-mental-illness_n_5022090.html> [accessed 5th December 2014] 137 Dr Paul, Narcissism, Addiction & Mental Illness Are Offshoots Of Selfies, Say Scientists, (11th April 2014) <http://www.healthowealth.com/narcissism-addiction-mental-illness-are-offshoots-of-selfies-say-scientists/> [accessed 11th December 2014] 138 Bianca London, Woman, 38, so selfie-obsessed that she spent £9k on cosmetic surgery now helps social media stars make £120,000 a MONTH promoting big brands through their online snaps, (Daily Mail Online, 28th May 2014) <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2640455/Woman-38-selfie-obsessed-spent-9k-cosmeticsurgery-helps-make-120k-MONTH-promoting-big-brands-online-snaps.html> [accessed 20th December] 139 Caroline Mcguire, Woman, 63, spends £15,000 on face lift and Botox JUST so she looks good in selfies (and now she takes one every day), (Daily Mail Online, 11th December 2014)<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article2869843/Woman-63-spends-15-000-face-lift-Botox-JUST-looks-good-selfies-takes-one-day.html>[accessed 12th December 2014] 140 Patty Mathews, Annual AAFPRS Survey reveals celebrity look-alike surgery on the rise, (American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 22nd January 2015) <http://www.aafprs.org/media/stats_polls/m_stats.html> [accessed 22nd January 2015] 141 BBC News, United States: New York ban on 'tiger selfies', (BBC News, 13th August 2014) <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-28778947> [accessed 29th August 2014] 142 Tumblr, Tinder Guys With Tigers, <http://tinderguyswithtigers.tumblr.com/> [accessed 29th August 2014] 143 BBC News, United States: New York ban on 'tiger selfies', (BBC News, 13th August 2014) <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-28778947> [accessed 29th August 2014]

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C- In some instances people have died immediately after taking a selfie.144 Other selfie collections and ‘trends’ which have emerged include ‘selfies at funerals’ 145 and ‘selfies a serious places’146 which consists of people taking selfies at memorials D- There’s a Tumblr dedicated to stills of participants crying during the performance,147 and a spoof of this Tumblr called ‘Marina made me high’.148 Vladimir Maislin has created photos of Abramovic, manipulated to make adverts for medicine.149 E- Brian Lobel conversation JL: What impact do you feel, social media and the internet has had on art?

BL: “I don’t think of it as a separate thing. I use Facebook, social media, the internet and I make art.

Of course it’s had a major influence, but less because of what it is but more that it is the stuff of life.

We are surrounded by them, how could they not be in an artwork?

JL: How has the internet changed or affected your practice?

BL: “In terms of research, finding out about things, events, organizations, exhibitions, documentation etc. I take in a lot of information! I have no attention span anymore! These things all affect my practice – but not in any way that’s too dramatic. It’s impossible to separate art making practices from how we make life! “ JL: How has social media changed or affected your practice? You use social media as you’re material but how else has it impacted your art?

BL: “I don’t really think it has. See above. “ JL: What do you see happening to art in the future, with our ever growing demand on reliance on the internet and technology?

BL: “I think it will become less of an exciting thing – not that people will not use it (they will) but they won’t be obsessed with it being different. They will just think it’s normal – which it is.”

F- Conversation with Lee Walton.

JL: How do you feel social media has changed art, the artist and the art world?

144 Nophar and Guy, When Selfies go wrong; 17 Deadly Selfies, (Caliser, 2nd November 2014)

<http://caliser.com/when-selfies-go-wrong-deadly-selfies/> [accessed 18th December 2014] 145 James Hamblin, Selfies at Funerals, (The Atlantic, 29th October 2013)

<http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/selfies-at-funerals/280972/> [accessed 30th October 2014] 146 Jason Feifer, Selfies at Serious Places, (Tumblr, 4th September 2013) <http://selfiesatseriousplaces.tumblr.com/>

[accessed 30th October 2014] 147 Katie Notopoulos, Marina Abramović made me Cry, (Tumblr, 2010)

<http://marinaabramovicmademecry.tumblr.com/> [accessed 30th January 20115] 148 Anon, Marina Abramović made me High, (Tumblr) <http://marinaabramovicmademehigh.tumblr.com/> [accessed

30th January 2015] 149 Cait Munro, This Marina Abramović Meme Is Hilarious, (Art Net, 3rd July 2014) <http://news.artnet.com/in-

brief/this-marina-abramovic-meme-is-hilarious-54007 > [accessed 30th January 2015]

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LW: “Tom Marioni says that an artist is a "trained observer" and "poetically records" the world around them. I like this idea. I don't think artist are smarter, more aware, more clever, talented, and such than people who don't identify themselves as artist. That would be a crazy and limited thought. However, over time, some people develop strategies, skills and daily practices to both participate in culture - and reflect it back to us - in a way that reveals something that is already there.”

LW: “In this sense, I believe that culture is the creative force. Culture, like nature, is violent, selfish, graceful, beautiful, organic, connected and necessary. In this regard, social media has changed culture - and subsequently art, the artist or the art world. As Warhol said “artist simply point to things" that are already there. I believe artist use the language (visual, technological, social) of contemporary culture in order for us to see it.”

LW: “One of the most significant changes social media has made on art is the way we experience it. The context for where the artwork is situated is completely new - phones, tablets, laptops, mobility, digital screen, interactive, etc. In the same way that the Renaissance artist made paintings specifically for the ceilings of churches and Cy Twombly made paintings specifically for the walls of a museum, artists now make art specifically for social media. The entire experience is different. I think art, much like our culture in general, now expects to participate. It’s how we learn and affirm we are alive. Not just consume and observe from a distance - but actively and creatively participate. We have the tools. If we can’t touch it, we can tweet about it. I believe that because of the mediated, on-line aspect of our lives becoming so dominate - we are beginning to value the novelty of actual lived experiences (and then we pull out our phones to share them with our on-line networks - heck, even David Henry Thoreau had to write a book about his experience at the pond). With ‘Wappenings’ I try to combine real actual experience with social media participation: http://leewalton.com/Project_Wappenings_main.html”

JL: How do you think social media has changed the audience to art?

LW: “I wish I could be more specific about how exactly the art audience has changed, but in truth I have never really been a huge fan of the art audience. When I make work with this audience in mind, I lose interest. I find it unnatural and often more a reflection of the art world itself. My strategy Page 45 of 55

is to create my own audience and context – these are the actual materials I work with. They are not given – but chosen.”

JL: How has social media affected your practice as an artist? (in your work 'what my friends are doing on fb' you use it as the material, but has is had any other affect?)

LW: “Social media has affected my practice is many ways. Immediately out of graduate school (2000) I realized that the gallery / exhibition space was extremely limited in audience and accessibility. I didn't like that somebody had keys and you had to have permission. So, for about $11 a year I got a website. I then started making work with this space in mind. It was a new space. I made it all white - like a gallery. I had the same intention; to remove all the context. At any rate, I started making work just for this space. Drawings, sculpture, actions, etc.. All for this space. Concept and experience became major aspects of the work. Not texture. I imagined my audience at work in cubicles and on couches at home.

I did things like this: http://www.leewalton.com/work/projects/shot_a_day/index.html and this: http://www.leewalton.com/work/performances/35_pounds/index.html”

LW: “I also realized that people could shape the work through participation. Prior to the term Web 2.0 - I did things like this (here is the original site http://www.leewalton.com/work/projects/silentgallery/walton/redball/index.html)” LW: “Today, I think the social media is so infused with everything we do. It shapes our experience before / after and during. It’s hard to pull it apart. I often wonder if we are a time that making a painting or walking aimlessly is "pure activism" - an “Experiential Practice”. Unless it was done purely with the intention to post on-line or hang in a gallery - then perhaps it has a function and we are back to square one.”

JL: Do you consider yourself a 'post internet artist'?

LW: “My good friend and long-time creative colleague Marisa Olson came up with that term "post internet art". I am probably a second or third cousin at best. I would probably be at the family picnic with my mashed potatoes.”

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G- Conversation with Paul Digby JL: Why did you alter/manipulate your photographs before painting them?

PD: “The photos only ever served a purpose to aid the painting. The size of the canvases are large and so I needed something fixed, a digital image on a4 print out, that I could rely on in the studio.”

JL: Why did you choose to include this bit of information in the exhibition description?

PD: “I wanted to divulge of any secrets and dispel any myths surrounding the artist and there process. So informing people I worked with a photographer in documenting the subjects, taking this digital image to photoshop and then having the print out colours scanned at the paint store seemed as important to me as actually applying the paint.”

JL: How has technology changed your practice? (i.e. photoshop etc) PD: “Yes it has and for the positive. You don't have to waste as much time and materials when you can quickly accomplish things using specific programs. I am only requiring a basic use of the software as well. E.g. filters on photoshop etc.”

JL: How has the internet and social media changed or affected your practice? (In terms of publicizing, communication, research etc) PD: “I can sometimes post images of my practice and see what people think but I mainly post things of interest inc. Science stuff, Exhibitions, art work by other artists etc. you don't have to waste time having flyers printed and just an email out, which probably has a similar effect.”

JL: And more broadly, how do you perceive the internet and social medial have impacted and changed art? For the better or worse?

PD: “It gives you a rough gage of who is liking your work but overall I don't think social media has a dramatic impact. It's slightly useful as a marketing tool. Have a website is a good useful ever changing thing and as I can directly post via my tablet it makes updating very easy. If I apply for things I can reference my website. I can compare this to when I graduated in 97 when we were submitting for applications using slides and this was time consuming, costly and awkward.”

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