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 … “
My latest thoughts on the evolving discussion about the use of social media in art and where it should (in my opinion) go.
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.
Is it time for the Western art world to join Chinese social media? That depends on your goals. “I don’t see any reason for anyone not directly involved in the Beijing/Shanghai art world to be on Weibo,” argued Robin Peckham. “It’s more about back-and-forth in-scene and doesn’t have much application in terms of PR and such, at least on the small scale of galleries and organizations.” Indeed, Chinese sites like Weibo and Douban, even as they gain more attention from the West, remain predominantly Chinese in both language and user base.
@MuseumNerd, that anonymous art personality on Twitter, has blogged an interesting graphic that lists the attendance to New York museums, their Twitter following, and how they measure up.
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.
Internet users looking for information on Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s arrest will now find another roadblock put in their way, as Ai Weiwei-related hashtags are now being spammed by Chinese-language bots. Hashtags including #aiweiwei and #freeaiweiwei are being bombarded with semi-risque jokes and one-liners.
In response to my post on ambient creativity, speaking to how our online creative outlets of Twitter and Facebook might be sapping our ambition for bigger projects, the idea came up that maybe we don’t need to seek out masterpieces of these new media. Instead, what about thinking of social media networks as aggregate works of art?
![Post image for NYT Goes Museums, Hosts Twitter Chat [LIVEBLOG]](http://hyperallergic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/museumsNYT_HOME.jpg)
In the mood for some museum news? You’re in luck, because the New York Times has more than you could EVER READ. Their annual special “Museums Section” was just published, and we sorted it for you. Check out a selected list of their stories here, plus stay tuned for an NYT Twitter chat this afternoon about museums and social media. [UPDATE] We have a collection of the best tweets from the #nytmuseums conversation in this liveblog.
Social media has brought the art community huge benefits, chief among them the ability to easily share artistic creations, whether it’s through Twitter, Facebook or a group Tumblr. But is the possibility of easy creation and publishing diminishing our drive for making more ambitious works?
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