Whoa – restricted access twitter art – a new arts funding model
June 12th, 2009 by eleanor - blog collecting resources neat projects opportunities the exposure problem
The Brooklyn Museum has a Twitter Art Feed! Every month they welcome an artist to utilize twitter as a medium for their work. This is wrapped up as part of a benefit for their 1st fans program- where you get to go to parties and meet artists, skipping ticket lines and such. They call it a “socially networked museum membership.” So you get some of the benefits of being a museum member without the high price and free access to the museum. It is $20/year to join. I’m not sure how they handle the yearly resubscribing – do they just block people and then allow them again?
The part that seems so great to me is that people have to pay to see this twitter feed. And that is the only way that people are going to be able to see those artworks Now, it seems from their open call that the artists would be doing this for “exposure” which I do not like. I could be wrong about this, but there is no mention of money on the submission form at all. However I love this idea and it is really simple.
It does seem as though they’ve gotten some backlash for charging people to see their twitter feed. But I don’t think they are explaining it right. If they were giving money to the artists and it was clear that the money that people would be paying was giving them access to art and not just a twitter feed, then I think people would be more open to it. People pay $20 to get into museums all the time.
I came upon this through Maryann Devine’s smArts & Culture blog. She did an interview with An Xiao, one of their 1st Fan twitter artists. Xiao used the twitter space to think about the evolution of communication and the similarities between twitter and morse code. She tweeted in morse code for a month. You can watch a short video of her explaining the project below.
Go here for more info on 1st Fans.
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Thanks for posting on 1stfans. Shelley Bernstein, our Chief of Technology, and I run the program together here at the Brooklyn Museum.
Just so you all know, we take a mixture of artists for the Twitter Art Feed, both from the Open Call and through our own research and with help from our Curatorial staff. We do not pay any artist to use their work in the feed, just as we do not pay artists when their work is exhibited here in the Museum. Museums are not in the business of paying artists, they are in the business of showing art. In fact, I can’t think of any Museums who pay artists to exhibit their work. All we can offer is exposure, and we definitely run into challenges working with artists to get them to give their time to the Museum for this project. At the same time, I think many of our artists realize the opportunity that comes with experimenting with their work on twitter and exposing their work to a new demographic.
As for yearly resubscribing, I’ll be totally honest with you all: we haven’t completely figured out how we are going to renew everyone at the end of the year. Logistically it will be difficult, but it is something Shelley and I discuss frequently and we’re confident we’ll have a good system in place by the time 1stfans begin to be up for renewal in December.
Thanks again for writing about 1stfans. The program is something that we are generally happy with, but work hard to keep fresh, fun, and worthwhile for our Members.
-Will
Hi Will,
Thanks for responding. I am surprised to find out that the Brooklyn Museum does not provide stipends or honorariums to artists at all. I am under the impression from artists that I have spoken to that most museums do provide some funds to artists, especially when the artist’s assistance is required to install the work, or the artists creates or performs new work for the show. I don’t know if this practice is different in New York.
Shelley has told me over email that what you are doing mirrors closely a typical museum membership- as many artists donate their time to give lectures for members. The difference to me is that these artists are looking at twitter as a medium and are creating new, exclusive work, that they will never be able to show again.
The idea of exposure for payment is one that we have been thinking about a lot here, and it is a problem that we are try to address. If we value art in our lives, then we need to support the artists that make it. Otherwise, at some point, they won’t be able to make it anymore.
Future of art viewing is in opening mediums RT @thepresentgroup Restricted access twitter art-a new arts funding model? http://bit.ly/aeB8Q
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Restricted access twitter art- a new arts funding model? http://bit.ly/aeB8Q
This comment was originally posted on Twitter