BEIJING — I moved to China almost a year ago now, into a country where I knew no one and where even the internet was foreign. I pulled away from my main social circle geographically, but did what I could do stay connected via the internet and phone.
And yet, just as I turned to the internet for social connection, I also realized it was increasingly difficult to rely on my usual circles. Timezones, the Great Firewall and the weak internet connection in my neighborhood all made me realize that the utopian ideal of global connection was far from being achieved.
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Did video kill the performance art star? The New York Times asks this question in an article that claims that the constant spectacle of YouTube and social media have trumped performance art’s shock value.
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A deadly train accident in China becomes a source of social media street art on the highly censored Chinese microblogging site, Sina Weibo.
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Artist William Powhida has taken to Twitter for his latest project, “Everyone We’ve Never Met (from memory and imagination),” and he explains, “In another effort to broaden the project and to make the ideas of ‘Everyone’ mean more than Sheboygan and vacationers from Chicago in a way that I can still incorporate over the next two weeks, I am going to introduce it to Twitter and use this social media platform to ask people to share their memories through the drawings of others … “
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My latest thoughts on the evolving discussion about the use of social media in art and where it should (in my opinion) go.
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Critic Paddy Johnson just penned a column for L Magazine about something she terms “Twitter art,” by which she means (I assume) art that uses Twitter. I often enjoy her take on new media but in regards to her treatment of Twitter-related art, I think she misses the mark. Here’s why.
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This month’s ARTnews includes an extensive feature by veteran arts writer Barbara Pollack on social media art. This is a fascinating read for anyone interested in understanding the emergence of social media art and how artists are using the medium to create work.
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This week, Creative Time Tweets begins on Wed, March 25 with Man Bartlett’s “#24hPort” (2011) performance at Manhattan’s Port Authority bus terminal. The project is the first of three commissions, and I spoke to curator, Shane Brennan, about the project and why Creative Time is commissioning Twitter-based art works.
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The Brooklyn Museum has posted an archive of its 1st Fans Twitter art. The Twitter Art Feed was a benefit for @brooklynmuseum‘s 1stfans (formerly @1stfans) members from December 2008 to December 2010. The feed featured tweets by contemporary artists every month, including Joseph Kosuth, Tracey Moffatt, Mike Montiero, Duke Riley, and names familiar to social media art fans, such as An Xiao, Man Bartlett, Lauren McCarthy, Nina Meledandri, and Joanie San Chirico.
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