We listed tonight’s #ArtsTech social media art panel in last week’s Art Rx and — as expected — it’s sold out! Over 125 people have RSVPs and the waiting list is 75 people deep. Thankfully the group has decided to livestream the event tonight between 7:30 and 9pm EST.
“It’s the third social media art panel, and we’ve organized one every year for Social Media Week,” ArtsTech founder Julia Kaganskiy says. “I think social media is playing a bigger role in the artistic and business side of art making. People are not just using it for promoting their work but as a venue for experimenting with new artistic practices. Creative Time really hit it on the head when they started thinking of social media as a space for public art and more artists are experimenting with that to see what they can do.”
Artist Man Bartlett was involved in organizing tonight’s panel for #ArtsTech. He explains that tonight’s event will be diverse and filled with people he respects and wants to hear from. “It was mostly a way that I can hear from people I really respect who are making work or helping for work to be made with social media,” Bartlett says.
Tonight’s panel includes Annie Werner of Tumblr, Shane Brennan of Creative Time, artist Amber Hawk Swanson, artist/curator/viral marketer Ryder Ripps and artist Jayson Musson (aka Hennesy Youngman).
Bartlett sees the perception of social media and its role in art changing but wider recognition for social media art is going to be a “slow process.” Artists like Amber Swanson have done residencies related to their social media practice, Jayson Musson has been invited internationally to speak about his work on YouTube and Bartlett has even recently received a commission related to his social media work. It’s a brave new world out there.
Watch the Social Media Art panel tonight here: ustream.tv/channel/artstech
