There is an ever expanding ocean of images flooding the internet – it is a kind of Hunger Games for creatives striving to establish their brand. This fast and invasive form of communication and self-promotion is a tricky world to navigate.
My IG experiment is faltering. A game I am playing with IG grids has locked me into multiple postings per day with very little apparent return other than the enjoyment of creating a visual aesthetic in the digital ether. I decided to stop for a few days to see what happens on the engagement front, to get on with other work, and to remind myself of the distractions offered by my digital devices.
Part my distraction is due to the dramatic proliferation of digital technology available to experiment with for the cost of 2 cups of coffee.
Making fine art through digital devices is evolving all the time, particularly in the VR domain where the “hold it in your hands” artefact meets the unreal world of digital manipulation.
This art form brings together music, moving images, sensual manipulation and actual unique objects that you can hold in your hand or hang on the wall. But what happens when the power switch is turned off? This question has trouble many people working in the medium since the first finger painting on iPods and similar devices started around a decade ago.
How do you make something unique when it can be replicated thousands of times over?
It is a valid medium with many artists looking for ways to monetise their labour outside the realm of curated exhibitions and art institutions.
Approaches have included selling a fine art print with the rights to the data, printing a fine art edition series then destroying the data, presenting work through multi screens and looped devices, integrating the digital work and physical objects as the art product, or by playing with scale in printing and presentation.
An example of my play in the digital realm with the work hanging in a gallery and using social media to extend viewing interaction with the work outside the gallery. It was a marginal success 🙂 Onwards and upwards.