It is hard today not to be caught by the strong tide of social media.

They set trends, they determine our friendship, our social life and even our professional life. No wonder they ended up invading contemporary art too!

 

The field of art is not the absolute, it is the possible. Art and technique are not two rigid and antagonistic modes of expression and thought, but two fields likely to cross and reinforce each other in order to generate novelty in the individual's hand and mind.

 

Services such as Facebook and Instagram have come to be seen as essential spaces where emerging artists share their work. Social media platforms not only launch artists' careers under the radar, but also provide the world with a whole new way to access art. Artists had to first get the support of elite critics from the art world, galleries and collectors of big names, which led to museum exhibitions before reaching the masses. Today, artists use Instagram as their own virtual art gallery, while their fans become critics and collectors as well as witnesses to the creative process in real time.

 

Thanks to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, a growing number of people can enjoy art and discover exhibitions that take place around the world. Recent surveys show that a growing percentage of the general public discovers art primarily through social media rather than visiting museums and galleries, especially younger ones.

 

But how do social media influence the world of art, and what forms of art do artists use to shape contemporary cultural and social trends?

 

SOCIAL MEDIA - INSTRUMENT OF SALE

 

In addition to being a great way to enhance public awareness and engagement, the effective use of social media is becoming a valuable marketing tool to attract new audiences and create new sales channels.

 

As a large part of the market is developing more and more online, it is important for the galleries themselves to engage with collectors through digital means. Although personal meetings and discussions remain a key element in the sale of art, effective communication via social media and the ability to order works via online markets could significantly increase sales.

 

As art galleries struggle to keep their physical locations, the growing use of social media could enable online art sales to become a sustainable business model for galleries, and support their traditional businesses. As artists develop their work directly online perhaps social media accounts of galleries and museums will become new venues.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA - MEANS OF EXPRESSION

 

While the Internet has been a substitute for other creative mediums, it also offers an equally interesting platform for an artist's voice. In 2005, Ai Weiwei wrote a blog for freedom of conscience, speech and art. He used the Internet as a tool to promote art and the act of art in a country that did not recognize his creation.

 

Artists themselves have reacted to the rise of social media sites creatively. Since the closure of some gallery, curators have used their gallery's website as an online platform for series of digital residencies, where artists have produced and have exhibited their works for these sites. For instance, Since the closure of her La Scatola gallery in 2013, curator Valentina Fois has used the gallery's website as an online platform for a series of digital residencies under the title #Post and # Post2. Some twenty-four artists have already produced works for the site.   These includes videos, animations, images and text - many of which could only exist online. Contemporary art is derived from conditions and influences specific to our society, In Western societies, many of the parameters are shaped by digital evolution. So, it's inevitable that artists will be influenced by the Internet and digital technology.

 

COMMUNICATION TOOL

 

Some artists have launched an online meet platform with different social media such as Facebook and Instagram fetching them thousands of subscribers. Example is Takashi Murakami, a Japanese artist who launched an InstaMeet and a thousand fans rushed to the gallery. The artist now has more than 400,000 subscribers on Instagram. In 2015, to close off his exhibition at Gagosian, he launched a last-minute InstaMeet. Two days after the Japanese star announced the event on his Instagram account, about 1,000 fans headed for Gagosian, hoping for a photo with their idol.

 

PLATFORMS

 

Instagram- created in 2010, is arguably the most important social network for contemporary art with over 500 million daily active users. As recent studies have shown, Instagram's incredible success is due to the need for interaction, archiving, self-expression, escape and peeking (take a look), which explains why the visual platform seems to be the favorite place for art lovers and it also becomes a legitimate means of contemporary art.

 

ArtStack- Created in 2011, today is one of the most influential social networks in the art market, adopted by 9% of online art buyers. Bringing together more than 650,000 works of all kinds and from all ages, the platform allows you to build your virtual collection and share it with other enthusiasts. You can also research trends or artists. ArtStack allows artists to broadcast their work and offers a list of local or worldwide exhibitions.

 

Curiator- created in 2014, also proposes to build its virtual gallery by drawing the works exhibited on the platform. Younger than the previous one, curiator has the same vocation, but it presents an interesting and original catalog, enriched by the users with the fairs and exhibitions of contemporary art. With an efficient design and smooth navigation, the application is an extension of the website which is also very well designed.

With the social media account, we rent services, which we pay with our data and our attention. The time has come to question new forms of criticism, to revisit the utopias of the beginning of the canvas, to create new networks of art, activism and friendship - the question of alternatives.

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