The Year That Was

The clock’s ticking is becoming ever more pronounced, 2011 shall soon be placed in the archives of our collective history. So as we bid farewell to this year, let’s not forget the events that made the technology-art axis rotate for a full 365 days!

The year began with the unfolding of the Google Art Project, which revolutionized not only the way we view and how much we could view of an artwork, but also how art in museums became accessible at a global level.

And as art became accessible to a host of people, people became accessible to arts organizations through crowdsourcing. This year, we saw an incredible rise in the use of crowdsourcing, in many different areas and for many different purposes. Operas were crowdsourced, exhibitions were crowdsourced, and even art-works were crowdsourced. But it was the concept of crowdfunding that received a standing ovation from a crowd of people, organizations, and artists.

And in the pockets of these crowds of people were smart-phones and tablets, all glowing with the slide-to-unlock signs. With the rise of the iPhone/Droid/Blackberry and the iPad, many museums developed apps for specific artists or exhibitions in order to augment and guide the viewing experience. In fact, apps revolutionized the way audiences interact with art and museums were quick to capitalize on this opportunity.

Moreover, some galleries and museums relocated to the online world, and entire exhibitions moved from the realm of the physical to that of the virtual. Paddle8 and Art Micro-Patronage were both introduced this year, and only time will tell whether online exhibition spaces can be just as successful as offline ones. Moreover, there was an increasing emphasis on tailoring the arts towards one’s aesthetic and visual interests through Art.sy and Artfinder, the Pandoras of the art world. Additionally, s[edition] rebelled against the procurement of tangible art forms through its effort to sell digital limited edition prints of big name artists such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

As always, social media analytics remained at the forefront, and arts organizations realized the importance of sharing and conversing with their audiences through social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Many studies were done on Millenials and their motivations, which helped organizations engage and connect with this tech-savvy generation.

And as conversations became heated in social platforms, the world of art and technology did not let us forget that Earth itself is experiencing global warming. There were some excellent fusions of art and technology aimed at the problem of climate change and the move towards green energy by organizations such as GlacierWorks and SolarFlora.

But what will the year 2012 bring in the technology-arts realm? Innovation, progress, the unexpected, awe , wonder, but surely not an apocalypse, right?

Happy New Year!

Paddle8: The Next Generation of Art World Experiences

An exhibition opening at a gallery or a museum is a colorful scene; an installation at odds with gravity, a massive video projection, a performance art piece, some marvelous, some questionable paintings, the bubbling and clinking of glasses, erudition with a tiny bit of pretension. And this very scene is re-enacted almost every week in cities around the world, causing one to wonder if the term ‘well-informed of the contemporary art world’ is becoming ever elusive, for a new exhibition signals yet is a new direction in the fast paced art world of today.

Besides the swooping pace, geography and money are limitations for those who would like to keep abreast with the continual and amazingly relentless evolution of the art world. Perhaps you are one of the privileged few who can jet-set across the globe, going from the Frieze Art Fair in London, to the Biennial in Istanbul, followed by a stop at the Venice Biennale, and a final sojourn at the FIAC Art Fair in Paris (this isn’t a fanciful itinerary, I am merely recounting the travels of Lynn Zelevansky, the Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art).

But considering that a mere 1%  hold most of the wealth, chances are, you’re probably missing out on a lot of new and upcoming artists that fall under the categories of the provocative, the obscure, the fascinating, and the truly remarkable.  Yes, you can always read hundreds of exhibitions reviews but art, at its core, is experiential and reviews convey the feelings of the writer; you’re own thoughts and feelings bow down to the constraints of geography, money, time, and a tendency to declare that writer knoweth best.

Yet what if there existed certain exhibitions that featured the work of contemporary artists, and were curated by leading figures in the art world, solely for the purpose of online viewing? And, almost simultaneously, I retract the what if because Paddle8, a new online art market venture, is exactly that which I described above :

“Paddle8 is a new destination for examining, understanding, and acquiring unique artworks. Paddle8 is directed towards a generation of collectors, artists, and gallerists who see the web as a viable space for learning and access.”

Since its official launch in June, Paddle8 has hosted an online exhibition every month that features artworks selected by a guest curator. The curator also selects eight “quirky art world influencers” who provide “multifaceted insights on works in each exhibition.”

Every artwork in an exhibition is accompanied by a dossier that offers the viewer a deeper understanding of the artist’s inspirations and motivations. These include video interviews, written explanations of a particular piece, other artists that have inspired the artist at hand, and write-ups on related works that have been exhibited elsewhere. As such, the dossier is both textually and visually rich, with some interactive multimedia experiences that are well suited to an online exhibition format.

With the aid of the dossier, an entire context is created around a particular artist or artwork, which is often difficult to accomplish in a physical gallery setting. In fact, it is the dossiers, the curators, and the 8 “quirky influencers”, that make Paddle8 a viable alternative to a physical gallery space. Since its launch, Paddle8 has already had four amazing exhibitions, the most recent of which is titled Immaterial, and is curated by the performance artist, Marina Abramović.

So, if you happen to be a collector, Paddle8 is definitely worth a visit or, more aptly, multiple clicks, some of which may set you back by a few thousand dollars or more. If you happen to be a make-belief collector like me, you can still register to gain access to their virtual exhibitions, and one evening, you may find yourself raising a silent toast to the next generation of art world experiences.