Forces creating radical paradigmatic shifts in art and society have been at play for quite some time and they are revolutionising the way of showcasing and selling art. This means that the art system has been shaken out of its comfort zone and forced to modernise. The 22nd century Modernity is here to stay!
Artists as true innovators have been responding to the new paradigms for years now, creating art highly responsive and merged with the tech and digital world: and at the forefront of creative innovation we see a production pullulating with artificial intelligence (AI) art, NFTs and artworks made in the METAVERSE.
The radical paradigmatic shift we are seeing is the following:
On the other hand, given the economic uncertainty we all still live and which was induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and given the looming global crisis in the second half of 2022, collectors are starting to view digital art as a value-preserving asset meant to diversify their investment portfolios and mitigate unpredictable times. And of course NTFs here are playing a big part. NO NEED FOR MATERIAL WHITE CUBES TO SHOW AND BUY ART…
On the one hand, we have the digital revolution and its pervasion of the creative domain. Creative communities have begun to adapt to immersive virtual events and exhibitions, enabling artists to reach global audiences from the comfort of their homes.
…HENCE THE PROLIFERATION OF SPACES IN THE METAVERSE WHERE NEW WAYS OF CURATING AND DISPLAYING ART ARE DISRUPTING OLD RULES AND ADAPTING TO THE ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES OF THE VIRTUAL ART WORLD!
Additionally, with the absence of geographical boundaries that the process of art moving online is offering, art buyers are enjoying new ways of conversation and connection with the artworld. As well as they are increasingly cherishing the ‘feeling of a community’ within the global art world that the digitalisation of the art market is capable to offer…
…THERE IS NO SUCH A FEELING OF ‘GLOBAL ART VILLAGE’ WHEN TRAVELLING TO THE ENCLOSED AND LIMITED SPACES OF PHYSICAL GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS…AT LEAST NOT AT THE SCALE OFFERED TO THOSE JOINING THE DIGITAL ART COMMUNITY!
Hence, the white cube has lost its vital and somewhat authoritarian role in the art system: artists do not need physical spaces to display art that is so radically away from the material world. Collectors are either dismissing the gallery space because the new generations of collector despise the snobbism of the gallery world or are enthralled with art forms which are immaterial and circulating in the digital space.
A glimpse of change…whilst we wait for the RADICAL REVOLUTION:
Galleries, museums, fashion houses and even massive art festivals around the world have been forced to move away from the TRADITIONAL AND PHYSICAL WHITE CUBE FORMAT: Since the global lockdowns resulting from the pandemic, they have begun to use various platforms in the metaverse to capture the spirit, culture and qualities of a real-life event and emulate them in an interactive virtual reality (VR) space.
The virtual world has been the only way for them to keep afloat over lockdown and to cope with the global reopening last year ruled by stringent rules of social distancing in the physical exhibition spaces.
These are mere glimpses of the big revolution in the art system that will, in our view, gradually lead to the extinction of that ‘Dinosaur Institution’ that has ruled the life, fortune and misfortune of artists since the Parisian Salons of the 1800s…
…And hey, Paris has lost its supremacy as the centre of cultural production with World War II…It is time that the old notion of the Salon through which it used to express this supremacy loses its dominance too!
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