Art and Social Media
The 75s at the Kemper Art Museum, from Flickr
A lot has been written lately about museums and their presence on Twitter and Facebook and other social media venues; in St. Louis, there is a great variety of levels of social media engagement among the arts institutions. On the one hand there’s the Saint Louis Art Museum, with nary a Facebook page to speak of - and yet, as one of my colleagues there has noted, setting up a simple Google Alert reveals that people are absolutely engaged with them online, whether it be from YouTube videos or blog posts about a class visit or public program - clearly the Saint Louis Art Museum has a social media presence even if it is “unofficial.” At Laumeier Sculpture Park, they now regularly review Flickr to find pictures of visitors illegally climbing all over the artworks-a mildly funny, if troubling, instance of social media exposing visitor behavior. On the other end of things, 2buildings1blog.org, featuring posts from both the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, was an early foray into museum blogging and remains a unique format and viable platform for both institutions. Almost every space associated with this blog now has a Facebook presence of some sort, and a few spots, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum included, now started using a Twitter account.
There reason why every art space in town is taking a slightly different approach to these things, at least in part, is because social media is not just something to do because it exists, but should be used as a tool to help connect existing or new audiences with the art-related experiences and education that we offer both virtually and in real life. When it comes to social media and museums/galleries, the real question to ask is - how do these online activities relate back to the mission, and audience, for each? At the core of the mission of the Kemper Art Museum is the idea of “connecting art to contemporary life,” and I’m sure there are innovative ways to achieve this through social media that we haven’t arrived at yet-while this is something that am constantly trying to refine and improve at the Kemper, I don’t want to claim that I am any kind of expert.
How do you see museums and other art spaces fitting into your life online? Do you have any suggestions for things that we could do to strengthen those interactions? How could this blog even be a hub for arts and social media in St. Louis? What social media applications do you use, and why?…
Dave
on May 21st, 2009
@ 5:26 am:
My two cents: I think the current cultural conversation regarding contemporary art is already superficial enough without adding the even thinner layer of veneer that is “social networking”. As much as I appreciate the potential of all these new “technologies”, the reality is that the internet and it’s associated forms in a popular sense have been entirely co-opted for marketing mass culture. Great if that is your purpose, but if you want to involve large numbers of people in a deeper and more sophisticated conversation about art, I’m not sure I see that happening. I’m hopeful, but even looking at this blog, which involves a fair number of big players in the local scene, it so far consists of student reviews and little bits of information about local happenings.
That all having been said, I am here, waiting, watching, and hopeful that this site can be used more effectively and will generate more thoughtful conversations.
Rachel
on May 21st, 2009
@ 6:42 am:
Dave - Thanks for your comment! I definitely hear what you’re saying about social networking being co-opted for marketing purposes. It can certainly be this (and is this for a number of institutions), but it can also can be much more, giving institutions an opportunity to interact with their visitors in a way that’s exciting and meaningful. The Brooklyn Museum has done an incredible job of this. Beyond interaction possibilities, social media can also help to “de-mystify” the inner workings of an institution. Some of my favorite blogs or Twitter accounts are the ones that gives me glimpses into the behind-the-scenes - something I would never hear about otherwise.
In terms of this blog, it’s still a baby and in what I’d like to call the “gearing up” phase. I’d love to hear from you on the types of posts you’d like to see here. Our goal is to really make this a relevant place for discussion, and feedback on what types of commentary would help spark this is very much appreciated.