Shared Spaces @ Whitney Museum - Quotes, Ideas, Thoughts

Last night The Whitney Museum hosted Shared Spaces — a "two-part symposium [that] addresses the transformation of the museum in the age of social media."

Here, were first three key speakers, and biggest fucking takeaways.

First up, Donna De Salvo — Chief Curator at TheWhitney Museum.

De Salvo had interesting things to say about seeing work online vs experiencing it in person.

Notable Quotes

• "The material brings something to the art"
• "There's something about bringing the viewer into the dialogue"
• "We remember art less when we photograph it"
• "People still want to see the real thing"
• "People still want to see the real thing"

Key Ideas

• Sometimes we only see art online, or a photo of it, but it's just not the fucking same as experiencing it in real life
• It's getting harder and harder to control how your art works are perceived, because it's getting easier and easier for others to document it as they wish and share it how they want.

To Think About

• Should we create with this mass re-consumption in mind? Should that now be a part of how work is presented and therefore created?

Next up in Shared Spaces was Jonathan Crary - art critic, theorist and history professor

Crary's presentation felt more like a university lecture than anything else, but if you were actually fucking interested in what he was saying (which I was), then it was a blast to sit through. His key idea was asymmetry between art that is "local" vs the "unlimited resources of images".

Notable Quotes

• "The distance that separates the museum and theme parks is narrowing"
• "We have to know background of museum history to understand how museums are changing"(amen)
• "Online images are allowing for more manipulation and destabilization of museums"
• "There is a totally new kind of access... and modification of art."

Key Ideas

• Museums as a public, accessible space was a new idea in the late 1800's, and we are going through another new way of accessing art today.
• Museums are catering more towards the experiences it gives its visitors

To Think About

• Where do we draw the line with what people want and how art should be respected, appreciated and digested?
• We want art to be appreciated and enjoyed by all, but at what cost to the intention of the art?

Finally, there was Ed Shanken - writer and teacher of art, with a focus on new media and the entwinement of art (whatever the fuck that means.)

Shanken seemed to be looking to the future more, with his key idea questioning; what's next?

Notable Quotes

• "We're in an infancy [of social media and art], so we're acting infantile."
• "It's not going to be interesting anymore, something different will emerge."
• "Where do art and culture reside? Community"
• "People don't know how to interact with the art, so they default to taking a photo of it."
• In response to De Salvo's comment on how people still want to see the art in real life: "Yeah, but just to take a photo of it."

Key Ideas

• We're all still just figuring it out, but know that there's something to community and creation.
• We can use technology to create new and interesting ways of art production and consumption, but it's just the beginning.
• Fuck no to the idea of a customized museum experience.

To Think About

• In a new age of art mixed with technology, where is the line drawn between the two? Could an app be a work of art?
• Who will lead art and museums out of it's social media and technological infancy? 

After the show, I walked down a misty 75th st towards the subway and snapped this baby:

(inverted digital photograph)

Bananas.