Can Facebook fire up creativity? Can Twitter trigger art? These are questions that the folks at the Diane Farris Gallery are hoping to answer with their ambitious new show, Twitter/Art+Social Media.

Featuring 80 to 100 artworks by more than 40 artists from across Canada and abroad, the exhibit will examine what effects social media is having on artists in terms of inspiration, production, presentation and dissemination of their work.

Curator Lili Vieira de Carvalho notes how artists, at least locally, are using these modern forms of communication to rally together.

"You must remember last summer when there were these big budget cuts for arts in British Columbia and how artists all got organized to protest, like at the Vancouver Art Gallery," says Vieira de Carvalho, during an interview at the gallery last week. "They would get together and they were very effective and they were heard and it was very visible that they were connecting through social media."

That sort of collective approach is a big change from the traditional archetype of the artist as individual creator.
"I moved here from Brazil two years ago," says de Carvalho. "I was an art agent. I had my own production company to put on shows and get grants but essentially I was the person between the artist and the museum or the artist and the gallery. [Artists] kind of needed a translator [then]. That is changing pretty fast.

"I think what happens in the isolation of the studio is it's so difficult to get feedback during the process. It's something artists get during art school, from other students and teachers. That kind of support is cut when you leave school, unless you share studio space. But it's reduced a lot. I really feel social media is changing the landscape for that."

As examples, Vieira de Carvalho cites things like artists being able to pull back the curtain on the creative process, whether via webcams, digital photos and/or blog posts. This enables them to receive feedback quickly and, in turn, engage in a dialogue with others. It's almost as if they're now sharing a studio space, but a digital one. They can also get together to create events and present work.

That's the theory

The gallery was a pioneer during the early days of the Internet, launching its website way back in 1996 when less than one per cent of the world population was online. So it's a completion of the circle, in a way, for the gallery to undertake a show like Twitter/ Art+Social Media in 2010.

The exhibition -- the artworks for which were selected by a multidisciplinary committee from submissions to the gallery's open call in February -- will be accompanied by a forum on the gallery's newly launched blog, www.dianefarrisgallery.com/blog. The blog will also feature various web-based artworks throughout the duration of the exhibition and, along with Facebook and Twitter, will announce performances and events in and around the gallery.

"Yesterday I sent out an email to the artists saying these are the social media resources you have and that the blog is party central," says Vieira de Carvalho." It's where things are going to happen."

As for the works themselves, Vieira de Carvalho says they can pretty much be divided into two groups.

"One is people who are actually using social media as medium and as subject. And the other group would be people who are traditional artists using traditional mediums -- like painters and photographers who are dealing with their own subjects and their own things -- but they use social media as a way of showing their work, getting feedback, getting in touch."

Webcams and photo walks

A look at some specific examples better illustrates the delineation.

Fitting into the first group would be a series of 50 small "books" from Toronto artist Sarah Pinder, which she'll sell for $3 each. The books feature photos of a woman taken from the neck down, with short poems on the facing pages. The photos were taken with a webcam and thus are directly inspired by modern communication.

Falling into the second group are several noirish-style photographs from Vancouver artist Alex Firmani. After reading Firmani's artist statement, the reason for their inclusion in the show becomes clear. He writes that the photos were taken on "photo walks" that were arranged online. After meeting, the participating photographers would go out and scout together for interesting characters.

Finally, some works won't even be physically in the gallery. One artist submitted her own blog for the show, explaining that she tries to make a 10-minute digital image every day. This way she can "develop ideas and play with them over time. My blog is my sketchbook."

Vieira de Carvalho points out that this intent to post something every day is a way for artists "to commit, because you have an audience."

"So it's interesting to see all these different approaches," she continues. "We are opening this conversation, we are stirring the waters."

She adds that because Diane Farris is a commercial gallery, the works will be for sale. And buyers will be allowed to take them home from the opening night on.

"So the exhibition will change. It will be refreshed," she says — just like reloading a slow web page. "You have to keep coming back."

EXHIBITS
Twitter/Art+Social Media
Where: Diane Farris Gallery, 1590 W. 7th Ave.
When: Artist reception 6-8 p.m. tonight.
Exhibit runs until May 1.

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