How Exquisite is a Digital Corpse? Digital Art, Amateurism and Platformization Avant-la-Lettre

Vortrag | Lecture
The Association for Art History's 2022 Annual Conference, Section: Digital Amateurism and the Platformisation of Art, London (Online), April 6-8, 2022 | 06.-08.04.2022

[Disclaimer: In the following abstract the terms (and notions of) "art" and "amateurism" are used according to and referring to traditional concepts formed by dominant threads of Western/European art history and cultural history. So what we are discussing here is problems and perhaps also promises of certain, but certainly not globally relevant and for sure highly debatable perspectives on culture and cultural production. Keeping this in mind should also offer chances for critical reviews and necessary widenings of these perspectives. I hope to be able to contribute to the latter. V.K.]

One would think with the "platformization of (almost) everything" the idea of an "art for all" that embraces not only its perception and reception, but also its production, has entered its Golden Age. For any conceivable demand there is a supply, as it has become considerably easy to search and find, to discover, look at and behold, to appreciate and validate, to collect and discard, to study and to learn more about art – and also to learn how to do it yourself.

Obviously distinction, and with inclusion also exclusion are still remaining as driving forces, especially within the professional operating system(s) of art. However, the rise of amateur art production – as many amateur cultures increasingly accessible to more people and increasingly popular in Western bourgeois societies from early modernity onwards – has again gained momentum with the broader access to digital media, digital networks and networked platforms as means for the production, presentation and distribution.

So may we speak of a "Here Comes Everybody" in the arts? Has at least in the arts the "Access4All" dream of early network cultures finally become true? And if so, are we already facing – no, not really a "War of the (Art) Worlds", but a "clash of the systems" that has also the power to challenge and change the traditional institutions of art?

In order to further explore the recent developments it should be helpful indeed to take a look back to look forward into the (art) histories of network cultures, and to include in addition to the technologically and culturally marked threshold period of the early 2000s also the earlier decade of the 1990ies into our perspective, before we return to the more recent years. My paper will draw this line along selected projects and scenarios that I want to discuss with respect to the general focus of the panel and some of its more specific questions directed to digital amateurism and the platformization of art.

tags: alltagskultur, alltagstechnologien, analogital, art & media, art & society, art history, digital culture, digitale kultur, diy, do it yourself, do-it-yourself cultures, do-it-yourself-kulturen, everyday culture, everyday technologies, geek, institutionen, institutions, kunst & gesellschaft, kunst & medien, kunstgeschichte, media, media history, medien, mediengeschichte, network cultures, netzkulturen, technologie, technology, tools, werkzeug