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[blackculturepost-blog]

Art Appreciation in the Internet Space

The effects of the internet and its accessibility to the current generation is undeniable. Almost everyone  can be seen glued to their tablets or cellular phones, streaming through articles and images any  anything that the internet brings them. People in groups also do the same. Although I’d like to believe  that it was not the initial goal, the internet and the social media in particular, both have degraded  human interaction and attention.  

I happened to have stumbled upon a couple of artist website. At first I thought “Wow this is great.  Artworks are now more accessible. We can already skip gallery trips and entrance fees.” But I have also  realized how saddening this can be. I tried sharing it with a friend and did a little experiment. I  wondered how he would go through the posted works on the website. As expected, he went scanning  down the page. He paused for a couple of seconds on artworks he found amusing, and then continued  scrolling down. Until he reached the bottom and concluded with “It’s nice!”.  

Before, art works are visited. And viewing means pausing in front of an artwork and appreciating its  details. Visitors would try to relate to the works, or even the crafter. Viewers really spared time  appreciating art works. I am not saying that putting artworks online is a wrong move. It is good as it  expands the reach of your works. But, the “old ways” of appreciating art has been reduced to a fraction  of a second viewing. And that is what I do not like about it.  

The degradation of art appreciation is much of a problem for the artist as it is to the viewer. I believe we  should start rethinking the way we see artworks online. We should always remember that these are far  different from the usual images, memes and GIFs we see in our news feed. Artworks require more time  to appreciate as they also required more effort to be crafted.