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008-whyonlineartgalleriesaresoimportant.txt
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Why online art galleries are so important
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The world is changing, art is changing, artists are changing.

The establishments which have set the rules for how art is viewed and valued 
are crumbling under the strain of turbulent and rapid pivots in the dynamic 
of media consumption. Their rules no longer apply. Artists can exhibit 
without permission from the establishment and this is a good thing. Art 
should never need permission to find an audience, or indeed, simply exist.

Technology and atmospherics are conspiring to take the method of display 
out of the hands of stagnant systems and placing the ability to create, 
display and promote, and do so effectively, directly into the hands of 
an entirely different breed of artist and art connoisseur.

The Internet has allowed the transfer and display of images for over 
thirty years but the ability for artists and curators alike to create 
spaces and experiences is a game changer for the democratisation of 
art. Anyone can load a series of jpg’s in a sideshow… but they don’t. 
That’s no fun. It is not an entertaining or exciting experience.

What is exciting, is the execution of experience design. Artists can 
now easily create spaces as extravagant as galleries in the real 
world but which also allow for new and unique experiences many of 
which would not be possible in a real life setting. The extra freedom 
of online can be executed in new and exciting ways… by new and exciting 
people.

A key factor to a this is that it is possible to provide these experiences 
to relevant audiences at a relatively low cost. In the real world even 
providing a white wall experience is a cost prohibitive and geography 
limiting endeavour. Both those restrictions are removed when exhibiting 
virtually, opening up any experience that can be imagined to anyone with 
an Internet connection.

All of this represents a significant change in the dynamic of art delivery, 
both for established artists, and perhaps more importantly, burgeoning artists 
looking to show their work to the world. Their options for doing so are more 
varied than they have ever been in the entire history of humankind.

This whole epoch does however often raise two questions from those who have 
trouble likening a real world experience to a virtual one.

What is more important; the experience or the art?

The concern being the medium can detract from the work.

What is more important; the art or selling the art?

The concern being that virtual experiences often resemble shopping 
environments, by design, or by accident (usually a bit of both).

The answer to both questions is the art.

However, the assumption that a choice between experience and art is binary 
is a fallacy - it isn’t either or. That dualism is a construct. It can be 
both, degrees of both - on a case by case. A binary judgement is an unnatural 
ideal.

There is a balance here where the experience supports the value of the art. 
This is where online galleries excel in supporting the delivery of art direct 
from those interested in it to a like minded audience, and critically, in a 
medium free from all traditional barriers of privilege.

No one has to ask permission anymore.

To some, this is a frightening prospect.

It’s time to do it yourself.

- Tengushee, 2020

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