The museum-going experience of the mid 1990’s meant selecting an exhibition to visit, perhaps based on newspaper reviews, brochures and advertisements, and if it was enjoyable, one might have purchased the exhibition catalogue to gain further insight. The emergence and development of the internet has added an extra layer to this experience. Websites reach a far broader audience and enable potential visitors to have a preview of the exhibition, including images of artworks on display, and links to multiple reviews. Through the use of websites, museums can encourage more visitors to their collections, but they still keep them at arms length insofar as establishing a dialogue between the art itself and the visitor.
Art blogs have been changing that with increasing success over the last few years. Art blogging is essentially an electronic outlet for informal reporting used to exchange critique, opinion, and ideas about art. Engaging with art in this way inevitably expands the accessibility of art dialogue to everyone who wishes to, rather than a select group of art-types, and in doing so, accentuates art’s subjectivity by allowing more lenient editorial censorship, if any at all.
'The established contemporary art scene used to be very top down, white middle class, academic and not inclusive at all. Art blogs are starting to change this slowly.’
Tom Elsner, Artrabbit
These days museum-goers do not have to rely on the opinion columns in newspapers - like those found in the Guardian or Independent - for their exhibition reviews, they can simply Google the exhibition of their choice and not only read a multitude of blog posts from a widely diverse selection of writers but post their own comments, questions, and opinions.
Tom Elsner, owner of Artrabbit, a website featuring international contemporary art events listings and critique, asserts,‘The established contemporary art scene used to be very top down, white middle class, academic and not inclusive at all. Art blogs are starting to change this slowly.’ Elsner is intrigued by the mix of disciplines, for example, art, fashion, and architecture, which are sometimes incorporated within one blog. He says, ‘Since blogs are more informal about the clear delineation [of genres] than institutions or even magazines interesting juxtapositions happen.’
‘Art blogs and the web in general have speeded up the reporting of art and has made art seem more alive, immediate and exciting - monthly bi yearly art magazines are beautiful objects to own but does anyone care what they say?’
Mark Westall, FAD
The added benefits for art enthusiasts include an online community in which they can interact, a speedier way to absorb and react to information, and a range of media to experience such as video, audio, and daily images all in one blog. While the benefits for arts organisations is that visitors’ perceptions are changing and audiences are expanding as the art world is increasingly patronised.
FAD website owner, Mark Westall, adds, ‘Art blogs and the web in general have speeded up the reporting of art and has made art seem more alive, immediate and exciting - monthly bi yearly art magazines are beautiful objects to own but does anyone care what they say? ’ Westall also points out that the benefit of blogs and something that cannot be expressed in print is the use of video and sound used to describe, understand, and enjoy art.
'As a result, the number of people reading and writing about art is on the rise.'
Artists and art professionals have also embraced blogging as a means for self-marketing, reaching a wider audience, and establishing their own voice within the art community. As a result, the number of people reading and writing about art is on the rise. Technorati, an Internet search engine for searching blogs, lists 185,000 art-related blogs to date.
Blogging is bringing the art world to the public thus piercing its privileged elitist skin. The personal, instantaneous, and uncensored nature of the blog often sparks controversial tête-à-tête. For example Art Fag City, the New York based blog featuring art news, reviews and gossip, has recently published a post titled, ‘David Hockney’s iPhone and Digital Art. Take Two.’ The ‘Take Two’ relates to the ongoing debate between the writer (or blog ‘poster’) and readers who have left comments on the site regarding iPhone art, which was instigated because of an article by Daily Mail journalist, Beth Hale. The debate involves the connection between artistic merit and the hipness of digital technology. These kinds of debates about art are typical, but whereas in the pre-blog days they occurred when a few friends had a coffee at a museum cafe, a blog such as Art Fag City sees about 261,000 visitors in a three-month period [1].
Most glossy arts publications, namely Art Review, Artforum, and Dazed & Confused, have adopted blogs, which are accessible via their websites. It is also common for a website to host several blogs. Online digest Arts Journal hosts 42 blogs covering various arts topics, including popular favourites such as Modern Art Notes and Culturegrrl.
But what does this mean for the arts journalists? Currently, the hot debate centred on editorial integrity begs the question; if an arts journalist blogs – are they compromising their professional repertoire?
It is a question of ‘authoritative voice’, which deserves to be the primary interface with contemporary art.’
Shana Nys Dambrot, The Magla
Art critic, Shana Nys Dambrot is Features Editor for The Magazine of and for the Arts Los Angeles and Managing Editor of cultural events website, Flavorpill LA, and she does not blog. For Dambrot,’ It is a question of ‘authoritative voice’, which deserves to be the primary interface with contemporary art.’ However, she concedes that this also creates ‘a fine target for overthrow.’ She argues that she seeks to place the coverage she generates, ‘in the discourse continuum of contemporary art history.’ While she admits that blogging does add value as far as ‘man-on-the-street engagement with the art itself and the art world in general’, she believes that this kind of engagement ‘subverts the academic bubble’ adding that blogging is ‘a worthy companion to the serious work that she is doing in the non-blog format.’
Nevertheless, blogging does not strip arts journalists of their academic credentials and editorial content can certainly, and often is, compromised in newspapers and magazines. Thus, whether online or in print, editorial integrity is inherent to the individual not the format in which he or she chooses to engage. Moreover, as for the ‘average Joes’ who are blogging, it is simply another means of communication, not a claim to expertise.
NOTES:
[1] According to alexa.com, a web information company that tracks web traffic, top sites, and viewer demographics
©Stephanie Cotela Tanner 2009
FURTHER INFORMATION:
1. To find an art blog covering a specific genre, search Technorati via keywords
2. Love Art online gallery hosts a section called Art Connect, which boasts a directory of over 400 blogs including descriptions, reviews and traffic reports.
3. The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London’s website has useful links
4. artreview.com
5. artforum.com
6. artrabbit.com
7. fadwebsite.com
8. artfagcity.com
9. themagla.com
10. flavorpill.com
11. dazed&confused.com
