How Tech Is Fuelling Transformation and Inclusivity in Art

Like many institutions, art has a class problem. To make art you need money which has led to it being primarily a pursuit of the middle classes. As well as this, many gallery directors at some of the world’s top museums are earning way above average salaries while their working-class employees and artists trying to make a living off of their art face an uphill financial battle.

In the 1990s, satirical street art appeared on brick walls and around the roads, lanes and alleys across Bristol and London in the UK. They were created by an artist who at the age of 14 was expelled from school and spent time in prison thereafter. He is one of the most known artists of this generation whose paintings sell for thousands of dollars and are recognized as cultural icons. What’s more, despite many rumours over the years, no one even knows who he is. Going by Banksy, the English street painter turned iconic anonymous artist is a tale of an artist working outside the walls of institutions and doing so successfully. Now with the abundance of technology available, the possibilities to make and sell art independently hold little limits.

Art and Social Class

The glitz and chic surrounding art have contributed to the industry being simultaneously desirable and unreachable to many. Peddled by the idea of exclusivity, the undertones of class are noticeable in the art industry making it difficult for working-class artists with no connections to break through glass ceilings.

Remnants of the bourgeoisie still play a part in dictating who enters the art industry. A 2018 UK report found that individuals from a working-class background as well as Black and minority ethnic people and women face significant exclusion in creative industries. Although it isn’t always a marker of class, in 2019, 18 major museums in the US were found to hold artists who were 85% white and 87% male. Last year, contemporary art company Artvisor predicted that one of the year’s industry trends would be battling the perceived inequalities within the industry regarding elitism, exclusivity and race. They highlighted the pressure put on Western art institutions and museums to return looted works to Africa and protests confronting art elitism in the form of exhibitions such as 2018’s "Hello, we're from the internet."

Calls to make the art shown at exhibitions a democratic choice are just the start. We need to ensure that the artists who make it to a position of living off their art are from a variety of different backgrounds. Currently, the art displayed at galleries is selected by a small group of curators from artists that are already well connected and are rapidly becoming well known. However, trends such as the consumer power of social media are getting to the heart of redesigning the nepotism and classism at the heart of the art industry. 

A new route in?

Many new artists are finding methods outside of the gallery’s white walls to enter the industry. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, museums were starting to exhibit works and collections online and via apps, making it much easier for artists to get their art out there. In particular, blockchain is being used by digital artists to store their work, ensure buyers that it is authentic and track the work from creator to owner. Blockchain art companies can also remove middlemen, allowing artists to sell directly to consumers and keep all of the profits. Companies like this include All Public Art and Artlery.

Artists can gain a following on Instagram, post their work on the Art subreddit and utilize the wealth of platforms online to showcase and sell their art such as Artfinder, Tappan Collective and Fine Art America. Some artists got their start by selling to collectors directly through Instagram, such as Dan Lam who creates bold and iridescent objects that resemble fluids.

Tech and Art Move Together

As well as changing how some artists enter the industry, tech is providing artists with new ways to promote, showcase and have audiences interact with their art. In 2019, visual artist  Emilio Chapela designed his piece El Mejor de los Mundos Posibles using software to generate infinite universes on screen. In her After Image installation, Aarati Akkapeddi used machine learning and computational techniques to assemble and sort old family photos. She also used a subject detection machine learning model and a clustering algorithm to group the photos. Tech allows artists to create works in new and unpredictable ways. 

In the 1950s, American mathematician, Ben F. Laposky created one of the first-ever versions of digital art. Using an oscilloscope which is an electronic device that displays graphics corresponding with signal voltages, Laposky produced graphic designs and patterns. 

As tech has transformed everything we do, art is also being constructed utilizing new tech-enabled methods. Art and tech have a lot in common and both require creative and focused minds and numerous tech innovations have influenced how art is consumed by the public. Recently, Immersive Van Gogh transformed the Dutch painter’s work into psychedelic animations using digital projections. 

Likewise, Your Progress Will Be Saved created by artist and avatar LaTurbo showcased online pieces by a roster of international artists presented via a virtual installation. The installation offers users a virtual tour of a new cultural space opening Manchester, England where they can respond to and configure the environment. These initiatives help art to become more accessible to the public.

Looking to the Future

As technology continues to progress, art will surely progress with it. Alongside this, tech will hopefully increase opportunities for working-class artists and those from diverse backgrounds. Many aspects of society are now digitized and because of this, old systems that displayed someone's class are becoming harder to uphold. When most people have access to the internet and social media, it’s more difficult to maintain art as something exclusive that you need to travel to see.

The classism that comes with art is exhausting and tech can imagine a world where inclusivity in art won’t just mean artists working outside of the industry, but will be how the industry is designed in the first place.

Tali Ramsey is a UK based writer. Visit her here.