G R A P 2 4 9 5 New York Minute Study Tour

The BACK story:

ART POOL

#artpool#NYM14

A d e l i n a O n i c a s ( s 3 4 2 4 3 5 1 )

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THE new in art

The art world is predominantly a relationship-driven business. You need to have relationships and trust; you need to build a brand. Some big brands in the art industry include MoMA, Tate Modern, Christies, Sotheby’s etc. With the advent of digitization the way this brand is built and communications in general has evolved and the New York art scene provides key evidence of how industry leaders are dealing with this change. Galleries, museums, curators, artists etc all have to navigate the ‘new’ in art. Digital technology and services have not only altered the content of visual arts, but also the manner in which art is consumed, traded and valuated. Various actors in the art world have embraced digitization in its many guises and forms, and its online applications, albeit at different speeds and with different intensity.

Art Pool explores these different levels of adoption and use of new media technology by the various actors within the New York art scene. It also investigates the start-ups making waves within the art world, that is, Artsy and Paddle8. This investigation occurred through several interviews and research of current academic writings and reviews of the industry. The exploration is presented through several online platforms such as Medium, Twitter, Facebook and Hi.co. Findings the audience would takeaway from Art Pool is that big name museums and younger galleries and artists are adoptive of social media and digital technology and are using them in ways that grow new, interactive relationships with their audiences. The more commercial galleries however seem to hold onto old methods of communication and are hesitant in their use of new media technology. The final documentary was presented in poster format – homage to art itself and it’s tangible existence within the digital world.

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RELEVANCE OF MEDIA USED

Art Pool used several mediums to present its findings. Given that the documentary focused on the art world I thought it best to keep the documentary very visual and artistic in its nature – so that it may better related to those involved in the art industries (the key audience of the documentary). This resulted in Art Pool being more visual than text heavy.

Medium, Facebook, Twitter and Hi.co were employed to present findings online. Medium was used as a platform that would present the academic writings and the ultimate findings behind Art Pool. The articles are short and the visual header is key. Facebook, Hi.co and Twitter were used to communicate interesting findings, related images, relevant links etc to the audience. These platforms illustrate the evolution of the documentary as I progressed through New York and how it came to be.

https://medium.com/@pool_journal

https://twitter.com/pool_journal

https://facebook.com/pool_journal

https://hi.co/people/pool_journal

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ART POOL: the people

People I would have wished to speak to:

• Fiona Romeo - Director of Digital Content & Strategy, MoMA

• Sarah Goulet - Head of Communications, Paddle 8

• Kellie McLaughlin - Director of Sales & Marketing, Aperture

• Carter Cleveland - founder of Artsy

• Alexander Gilkes and Aditya Julka - founders of Paddle8

• Anyone from the Marketing or Communications departments

of larger commercial galleries and the established museums

1. Kat Slootsky – curator of High Tide exhibition at Dossier Outpost; personal assistant to Skye Parrot (editor at Dossier); recent graduate of Pratt Institutes art program Kat provided great insight into the life of a temporary art space and how Dossier Outpost makes use of new media technologies. She also described how they had partnered with Paddle8 in the past.

2. Artists: Cara Stricker; Pete Voelker; Aaron Stern; several artists from Con Artist There were several artists I met at exhibition openings in New York who I then interviewed. The artists ranged from established to new (Pete’s exhibition was his first show in NYC). Artists were able to provide information on how they used new media technologies and their views on its use.

3. Admin staff at the various museums and galleries I visited I talked to staff members about their use of social media and digital technology in their roles - although not a part of the communications team they talked candidly about what the company was using when it came to digital technology, according to their experience.

4. Sonel Breslav – owner of art book and zine publishing company Blonde Art Books Sonel was able to talk about her experience with social media and new digital technologies as an owner of a company that relied on interaction with artists and selling books and zines in museums.

5. MadelaineD’Angelo- founder of start-up Arthena; used to work at Paddle8 Madelaine’s interview was not able to be recorded or written about as her start-up, Arthena was only going to be launched in the weeks following our interview. This was unfortunate but just talking to her about art-based start-ups and her time at Paddle8 was very informative in terms of the art industries acceptance of start-ups etc.

6. Brendt Barbur - Founding Festival Director of Bicycle Film Festival I interviewed Brendt about his experience in curating the Bicycle Film Festival Art Show which involved over 20 artists. His use of new media technologies in promoting the show and getting artists involved was informative.

7. Jason Bailey - Digital Media Associate at Aperture FoundationJason shed some light on the digital media happenings of an independent gallery in the Chelsea district - one which is very adoptive of new media technologies. He talked about Aperture’s use of applications to reach new audiences and further their art programs.

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art pool: the events

• High Tide exhibition opening curated by Kat Slootsky, Dossier Outpost

• You Belong in an Expanding World exhibition opening, Con Artist Collective

• Bicycle Film Festival Joy Ride art exhibition opening, Marlborough Gallery

• Artist performance at Capricious 88 gallery

• 2014 Bushwick Art Books and Zine Fair, Brooklyn

• Book binding workshop run by Small Editions, Brooklyn

• Letterpress Workshop at the Arm Letterpress, Brooklyn

• Non-fiction Story Tour through the Phizer building

• Might As Well Enjoy It exhibition by Pete Voelker, Niagara

• Aaron Stern Book signing at the International Centre of Photography

• Mossless book launch at TGIF Gallery

• Make Love to the World exhibition opening by Cara Sticker, The Hole gallery

• Entrepreneurial Journalism and Media Meetup at VU Rooftop Bar

ABOVE: Cara Stricker’s exhibition opening ABOVE: Book-binding workshop

ABOVE: BABZ fair ABOVE: The Arm letterpress workshop ABOVE: TGIF gallery exhibition opening

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THE DOCUMENTARY

Art Pool was presented in a poster format – hung up on a wall it acts as a piece of art. I wanted the final documentary to tell a story of the offline and the online worlds of the different stakeholders in the art industry, whom I had investigated. The map of Manhattan, with push-pins of each of the locations of the different stakeholders, meant the audience could actually see where the museums, galleries, start-ups were physically located in NYC. The collage work acted as a visual tool – there were sketches I had done of the different locations, photographs I had taken of the different people I interviewed or researched, screenshots of their social media pages, key quotes from the interviews conducted. They were created to give a brief idea of the effect digital has had upon the art industry - a highly tangible industry. The overall documentary aims to encourage the audience to visit the various media pages of Art Pool (Medium, Twitter, Facebook and Hi.co) to find out more about the ‘new’ in the art industry.

Appendix A offers full-size images of the collages used in the documentary.

SEE PAGE 8 - MoMA collage - the sketch is one I drew of the MoMA building itself, I had scanned it in at ConArtist using their facilities - the portrait is one of Fiona Romeo, I researched articles she had written and interviews she had done regarding her position as Director of Digital Content and Strategy to gain insight into MoMA’s use of new media technology. She was unavailable to interview but there is much written about her and her position at MoMA and about what MoMA does in terms of digital use etc. - the screen shots are of MoMA’s different social media pages and their website illustrating their level of commitment and use of new media platforms. - the photo is one I had taken when I had visited the museum during the tour.

The other collages are much like the MoMA collage - including links to websites, physical addresses (given that central to the documentary story is, not only the online component but also the tangible aspect behind each of these stakeholders), photographs I have taken, portraits of people interviewed or researched, screen shots etc.

Each of these stakeholders: the start-ups, the commercial galleries in Chelsea, Aperture, MoMA, New Museum and Dossier Outpost have a Medium post written about them and what insights I gained in regard to the ‘new’ in the art industry according to each of these stakeholders. To visit the Art Pool Medium page go to: https://medium.com/@pool_journal

There are also several tweets and Hi.co posts about my personal encounter with these spaces and the type of work they do offline and online. To visit the Art Pool Hi go to: https://hi.co/people/pool_journal and the Art Pool Twitter is found at: https://twitter.com/pool_journal

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APPENDIX A: DOCUMENTARY collages

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References

Links to some online articles, to give a taste of the sort of information I researched for Art Pool:

Interview with Paddle8 employee, Charlie Manzohttp://leslierankow.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/a-professional-path-in-the-art-world-step-by-astute-step-with-paddle8-specialist-charlie-manzo/

Article by Artsy founder, Carter Cleveland, about the future of art: http://online.wsj.com/articles/carter-cleveland-says-art-in-the-future-will-be-for-everyone-1404762157

Aperture Magazine, issue #210, Spring 2013 Hello, Photography:http://aperture.org/shop/magazine/aperture-210-hello-photography-magazine?SID=4157d0tjeb-34a1tdnqq5i00f95#sthash.F54pkfyr.dpuf

Art Market Monitor report on startups success:http://www.artmarketmonitor.com/2014/07/01/art-based-startups-expected-to-raise-145m-in-2014-up-14-from-2013/

More on art-based startups: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8ee39248-b485-11e0-a21d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz37PJAQf4T

FionaRomeo’sbloghttp://www.foeromeo.org/

ArtinAmericaarticleaboutFionaRomeo’sappointmenttoMoMAhttp://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/fiona-romeo-to-direct-momas-digital-strate-gy/

Article in Interview Magazine about Paddle8: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/paddle8

TechCrunch video interview with Paddle8 founder:http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/04/paddle8/

New York Magazine article on how to make it in the art world: http://nymag.com/arts/art/rules/

Artist Daily article about social media and the art industry: http://www.artistdaily.com/blogs/theartistslife/archive/2012/10/18/how-has-social-media-transformed-the-art-business-industry.aspx