Art, space and technology: how the digitisation and digitalisation of art space affect the consumption of art—a critical approach

Abstract

In an increasingly digital world, art is transferred from a physical to a virtual space. This essay examines three effects of this digitisation (conversion of physical into virtual content) and digitalisation (processing of digitised content) on the consumption of art. In particular, it analyses to what extent digital art space democratises, educates and socialises the way in which art is consumed. These three effects are critically assessed by a review of literature, studies and projects. As a result, digitisation democratises by making art collections accessible without time, money or location barriers. This, however, excludes audiences from underdeveloped areas. The implementation of digital technology in museums enhances an active engagement with art, thereby fostering art education, which yet increases the importance and difficulty of content management. And whilst finally the communication of museums with their audiences through social media potentially enlarges their sphere of activity, this socialising trend is still in their infancy within the art world.

Keywords:

• digital
• art
• space
• digitalisation
• consumption
• (new) media
• technology
• digitisation
• museum studies
• experience
• engagement

Notes

¹ The digital revolution is said to be the third evolution after the agrarian in the ancient times and the industrial from the eighteenth century onwards (Schoenherr 2004).

² On the basis of a world population of 7.06 billion there are approx. 2.4 billion Internet users (PRP 2013).

³ Photography, the former medium of documentation made the world's artworks available more than a century ago and therefore equally represented a cultural shift in consumption (Galassi 1981). However, even this medium of reproduction that became art itself was altered by the advent of digitisation and digitalisation.

⁴ Analogue information is converted into digital data that is bits or 0-1-codes, the smallest unit of computers (Collin 2013).

⁵ Unfortunately, the GAP was not properly ranked by Alexa and can therefore not be analysed.

⁶ So-called new digital media as a contrary to analogue media are widely transforming electronic communication in the postmodern society (Parry 2005).

⁷ The portmanteau of education and entertainment was designed to facilitate learning by the integration of games, also referred to as learning by playing. Both purports have to be balanced in order to fulfil this concept (MedienHochschule 2013).

⁸ That are communication platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr and Instagram, which are only regulating functionalities and mostly a certain code of behaviour between their users (Stanoevska-Slabeva 2008).

⁹ https://www.facebook.com/tategallery—‘likes’ taken on 16 November 2014 between 09:00 and 10:00 o'clock.

¹⁰ In 2014, the MoMA has 1,664,179 followers on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/MuseumofModernArt].

¹¹ http://www.essl.museum/jart/prj3/essl/main.jart?rel=de&reserve-mode=active&content-id=1366790541558&article_id=1374242651922.

Additional information

Marisa Enhuber studied international culture and business in her Bachelor course in Germany and went afterwards to the Netherlands to complete a Master in Arts and Heritage: Management, Policy and Education in 2014 with merit. Her research focuses on the overarching effects of art economics and art management/marketing. Currently, she lives and works in London in the commercial art sector.