User:Joak/graduation/proposal

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Proposal

Introduction

In the last years, online platforms for the distribution, sharing and production of digital art opened there doors for a public at large and picture them self as a "revolutionary new way to collect, share and trade art", claiming to "push the possibilities of creativity" or to "place the artist’s work in a broader global visual context free from the hegemonic monetary system" . However, following my interest in art and the artsystem I will focus for my gradution project on this recent developments and impacts of those platforms on art. The most relevant question that will follow my research are how to show the underlining structure and mechanism of such platforms and through that answer how it will affect the conditions of an artwork.

Distribution and Destruction

The current model of an artist could be called "exhibition artist"(in German "Ausstellungskünstler") - a term coined by the Swiss art historian Oskar Broetschmann. The exhibition artist does not - like his predecessor the court artist - rely on commissions by his king, a lord or an aristocrat. As a distributor for this "free" artist comes the gallery market into the play and to say it in the language of the free market functions mostly as his and sometimes as her point of sale. Galleries in this case work as an agent for the artist by providing exhibitionspace and managing the costumer relation. The ideal customer is of course a ambitious collector interested in the artists aesthetic and supporting with his investment identity of society with the foresight of the curators, the jugement of critics, the acceptance of the audience and contextualization by art historians.