Art exhibit all a twitter about social media
Curator says social media inspires, promotes, connects artists
By Cheryl Rossi
Vancouver Courier
Friday, March 26, 2010
It's impossible to ignore the fact that social media is becoming the inspiration, subject and vehicle to promote art.
All which explains why the Diane Farris Gallery is excited to present its first juried show, Twitter/Art Social Media, through the month of April.
"I have been interested in how social media is really changing things," said Lili Vieira de Carvalho, curator of the exhibit and associate director of the Diane Farris Gallery, who points to the speed and efficiency with which recent public protests of arts funding cuts were organized through social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.
Vieira de Carvalho represented artists for much of her 20-year career in Brazil before she moved to Vancouver two years ago. Artists needed her because they were isolated, toiling away in their studios.
"Social media is changing this landscape, it's really different now," she said. "They have an opportunity, while being there in their studios, to show the process many times while the works are being developed."
The concept for the exhibit evolved from an idea by Mia Johnson, who completed a PhD on the emergence of the Internet as a vehicle for artists. She's been responsible for the commercial gallery's website since 2004.
The gallery and online exhibit will include nearly 100 painting, photography, sound and video works of 44 unrepresented artists, most of them from the Lower Mainland and others from Indonesia, the Netherlands and San Francisco. Some draw their subject matter or medium from social media while others work in traditional forms but use social media to display their work.
Visitors will be able to leaf through a set of six books called "Slightly Damaged" created by Liza Eurich from Surrey. She's devoted each volume to one type of furniture, say couches or chairs, featuring photos she's pulled from Craigslist on the right hand page with information about the piece on the left.
Megan Smith from the U.K. has fashioned digital prints that highlight the news on Twitter on certain days. The gallery will display three of her prints, one about the recent election in Iran, another about an airplane landing in the Hudson River and a third about Canadian hockey players winning Olympic gold.
"It's a commentary on how this is affecting the way communication happens and how fast this can be and how personal, too," Vieira de Carvalho said.
Andrew Buszchak from Edmonton translated an MSN conversation into sound in a nine-minute piece called "Reconstituted Dialogue" complete with minimal inflection and pauses between replies. The gallery plans to insert it into its music playlist on opening night.
One work included in the exhibit is actually an event--a drawing party, organized by Vancouver artist Myron Campbell. Instead of rolling out long sheets like he does for his Draw-By-Night affairs, 10 invited artists and 25 others will sketch on 18 sheets of paper on the walls April 24, which will remain posted and for sale until the exhibit ends.
None of the works up for grabs in the exhibit will be priced over $1,000 and small books incorporating photos and MSN messages by Sarah Pinder from Toronto will go for $3.
The gallery's new blog will feature works including "Masterpiece 2.0" by Baschz Leeft from the Netherlands. He fashions collaborative stop-motion animation by encouraging the public to send photos of people and images of objects that he incorporates into his piece.
The jury — Vieira de Carvalho, photographer and web strategist Kris Krug, Maria Lantin of Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Hank Bull, executive director of Centre A gallery — chose exhibit participants partly based on their artistic statements.
Questions raised by Vancouver painter Kristofir Dean, such as how much energy should artists really be putting into promoting their work online, was just one of the issues raised that's ripe for exploration, Vieira de Carvalho said. A panel discussion will be held sometime in April, and Krug and Rebecca Coleman, who's written an e-book for artists about social media, will teach a workshop on social media 101.
All of the works included in the exhibition will be posted to the gallery's blog along with the artists' statements and space for others to weigh in.
Vieira de Carvalho expects the exhibit will enlighten artists who aren't aware of the exposure and support they could gain online.
"Many artists, when they leave art school, they feel very lonely, because there they have the shared studio spaces, they were showing their work all the time to teachers and students and other colleagues," Vieira de Carvalho said. "And then that ends and you are out there."
The exhibit runs at 1590 West Seventh Ave. from April 1 to May 1 with an opening reception April 1 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
© Vancouver Courier 2010 |
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TWITTER/ART+SOCIAL MEDIA |
Press
Georgia Straight, April 15, 2010
Vancouver Observer, April 5, 2010
Vancouver Sun, April 1, 2010
The Province, April 1, 2010
The Peak, March 29, 2010
Vancouver Courier, March 26, 2010
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Diane Farris Gallery's Lili Vieira de Carvalho says social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are "changing the landscape" of the art world.
Photo by Dan Touloget |
