The Black Box Book: Archives and Curatorship in the Age of Transformation of Art Institutions
The Black Box Book: Archives and Curatorship in the Age of Transformation of Art Institutions
Contributor(s): Jana Horáková (Editor), Marika Kupková (Editor), Monika Szűcsová (Editor)
Subject(s): Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Museology & Heritage Studies, Visual Arts, Preservation, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: art; visual arts; curatorship; AI; ICT; preservation;
Summary/Abstract: The publication is the result of the efforts of an international collective of authors to capture the transformation of exhibition institutions and curation during the Covid 19 pandemic, with a focus on the year 2020. It seeks an answer to the question of how curatorial strategies, communication platforms and the social function of exhibition institutions have changed under the influence of rapid and external circumstances, that forced transition from physical gallery spaces to online. It critically reflects on the exhibition project Černá skříňka/The Black Box (Galerie TIC), in which several curatorial approaches were applied, including the use of artificial intelligence, and places it in the broad context of curatorial projects that were carried out at the same time at home and abroad as well as in the network of terminology apparatus, which is built around the phenomenon of online curation. The research method is a combination of writing the history of presence, mostly from the pen of direct participants, which lends authenticity and engagement to the texts, with theoretical reflection informed by digital and network media theory.
- E-ISBN-13: 978-80-280-0225-1
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-80-280-0225-1
- Page Count: 398
- Publication Year: 2022
- Language: English
Digital curating and ai curating: the network of terms
Digital curating and ai curating: the network of terms
(Digital curating and ai curating: the network of terms)
- Author(s):Jana Horáková, Monika Szűcsová
- Language:English
- Subject(s):ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:28-43
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:art; curating; AI; terms network;
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter contains a selection of concepts crucial for understanding the conceptual and theoretical background of contemporary curatorial practice conducted online, with a sensitivity to the specificities of digital and networked media (Digital Curating). In turn, it serves as a basis for theoretical reflection on using artificial intelligence (machine learning) in curatorial projects focused on processing digitized art collections or experimenting with AI as a new medium in digital art (AI Curating). This chapter aims to provide a basic understanding of the current discussion on digital media curation by defining the terms used in this publication.
What to look for in a black box? an attempt to recapitulate the pandemic experience in gallery management
What to look for in a black box? an attempt to recapitulate the pandemic experience in gallery management
(What to look for in a black box? an attempt to recapitulate the pandemic experience in gallery management)
- Author(s):Marika Kupková, Monika Szűcsová
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, Management and complex organizations, Health and medicine and law, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:48-84
- No. of Pages:37
- Keywords:black box; art; gallery; management; pandemics;
- Summary/Abstract:This text is an insight into the life of a city gallery during the turbulent period of the last three years, which have been defined by the pandemic and the ongoing crisis associated with, among other things, the war in Ukraine. This is not a tumultuous period in the organization’s history, as it is not shutting down or severely reducing its operations. At least for the time being. Thanks to its status as a municipal contributory organization, Brno Galerie TIC1 has a relatively stable background. In any case, the crisis has accelerated some of the longer-term trends in the gallery’s management; in addition, novel developments and challenges have emerged. These include an increased awareness of the social responsibility of cultural institutions, the search for and verification of functional ways of communicating with audiences, or the abandonment and return of presentation to the exhibition space. Still, this focus on one particular gallery is not intended to be a case study; our ambition is to capture the contemporary development of the production, distribution and, to some extent, interpretation of visual art in a more general sense.
The new archivist
The new archivist
(The new archivist)
- Author(s):Jana Horáková, Štěpán Miklánek, Pavel Sikora
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, Archiving, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:88-112
- No. of Pages:25
- Keywords:archivist; curators; art; digital curator;
- Summary/Abstract:The curatorial experiment New Archivist (Nový archivář) is a subversive gesture that addresses the current trends in the use of artificial intelligence in the field of art sciences and visual culture. While it is generally accepted that artificial intelligence has been used in recent years to process online databases of cultural heritage as a logical consequence and the ‘next step’ of large projects aimed at digitizing and making accessible the collections of memory institutions (such as Google Art and Culture or Europeana projects), in our project we work with a small dataset containing about 1000 images. While most projects based on the automatic classification of large datasets are framed by the endeavour to create tools for the accurate study of art and cultural history (Digital Curator, Vasulka Live Archive), our project was devoted to a subjective and artistic reflection on the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, without the ambition to generate outputs with the general validity of a sociological probe. We emphasized the personal testimonies of the artists involved and experimented with ways of mediating these accounts through different interfaces and media, with a high degree of added value in the form of a personal interpretation of the collected digital traces of artistic existence.
Web is the key. On the design of black box
Web is the key. On the design of black box
(Web is the key. On the design of black box)
- Author(s):Alena Mátejová, Oliver Staša
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:116-134
- No. of Pages:19
- Keywords:web; visual arts; AI; curator;
- Summary/Abstract:The Black Box / Černá skříňka project was a challenge in terms of the circumstances in which it was created, its thematic focus, and its design. During the Covid-19 pandemic, external circumstances in the form of recurrent and lengthy lockdowns necessitated the usage of the internet environment for communication among the creative team as well as the public presentation of the project’s outputs. It was therefore, clear, from the beginning that the project would be presented on a specially designed website. However, the website’s layout, UX design, and visual conception had not yet been decided.
2020: was it the end of curating on the web?
2020: was it the end of curating on the web?
(2020: was it the end of curating on the web?)
- Author(s):Marialaura Ghidini
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:140-166
- No. of Pages:27
- Keywords:AI; web; art; curators;
- Summary/Abstract:The act of curating exhibitions online was unfamiliar to the most until mid-2020, when the world was in the midst of the first wave of lockdowns in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Till then, there were a handful of people discussing it — though many were the curators that had operated on the web since the 1990s. And till then, the web was often considered an unusual site for curatorial practice, and web exhibitions a corollary to curatorial work. But after March 2020 this scenario seemed to have undergone a change.
2020 digital odyssey: online or nothing
2020 digital odyssey: online or nothing
(2020 digital odyssey: online or nothing)
- Author(s):Gaia Tedone
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:170-189
- No. of Pages:20
- Keywords:curatorship; ICT; visual arts; online;
- Summary/Abstract:The spread of COVID-19 at the beginning of the year 2020, put the whole world in a position of forced pause. For a short moment, the global pandemic presented itself as a great equalizer, forcing people across various geographies to reconsider and change their habits and behaviors. However, the social and economic costs of the pandemic did not spread evenly across the globe. Vulnerable people and communities were hit harder, and pre-existing social inequalities were reinforced. In this context, technology played a double role, acting as a social glue among geographically dislocated communities and people, whilst also rendering more palpable the so-called digital divide – a term which is used in the social sciences to refer to the gap between the information ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ and, more generally, to uneven access to technology and network infrastructures.
Networked art practice after digital preservation
Networked art practice after digital preservation
(Networked art practice after digital preservation)
- Author(s):Sarah Cook, Roddy Hunter
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, Preservation, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:192-227
- No. of Pages:36
- Keywords:art; visual arts; curatorship; network; digital preservation;
- Summary/Abstract:Over the last six decades, networked art practices have evolved in response to and in anticipation of changing material conditions of communications systems, infrastructures, and technologies. Whether pre-internet correspondence art, or born-digital software-based, or net art, the material and, at times, ideological dimensions of networked art challenge existing approaches, methods, and protocols of not only the production of contemporary art but also its conservation, which this text seeks to address. Often tactically amorphous, integrated, and inseparable from conditions and questions of (im)materiality (see Lillemose, 2006), networked art resists conservation efforts to trace its edges and boundaries. Therefore, how and should we develop conservation efforts to offer access to the ‘original’ work in context without undermining its unruly materiality and institutional critique, particularly after the digital? Whether these efforts are called ‘conservation’ by museum curators, or ‘preservation’ by librarians and archivists, they share the same intent: making the work accessible. In the words of Peggy Phelan this “ labour […] to ‘preserve’ [performance] is also a labour that fundamentally alters [it]” (Phelan, 1993, p. 148).
Ecosystems and artistic research in forming digital curatorial infrastructures
Ecosystems and artistic research in forming digital curatorial infrastructures
(Ecosystems and artistic research in forming digital curatorial infrastructures)
- Author(s):Michal Klodner
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:230-258
- No. of Pages:29
- Keywords:curatorship; ICT; ecosystem; artistic research;
- Summary/Abstract:Digitization and digitalization have become fundamental means of transformation of memory institutions and their role in the information society. Not only the collections of artworks, literature, and documents, but also majority of social representations have turned to data formats. Digital media and institutional critique have transformed knowledge processes and organizational ecologies. Archives and galleries have become content providers for digital distribution channels. While they became primarily providers of digital content, the indicators according to which their performance is evaluated are quantity of digital content they produce, its reach, and consumer engagement on digital platforms.
On computer creativity. Machine learning and the arts of artificial intelligences
On computer creativity. Machine learning and the arts of artificial intelligences
(On computer creativity. Machine learning and the arts of artificial intelligences)
- Author(s):Andreas Sudmann
- Language:English
- Subject(s):ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:264-280
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:art; curatorship; computer; creativity; ICT; AI;
- Summary/Abstract:In the debates on artificial intelligence (AI), one objection against attributing creativity to computers has been raised regularly for decades. It is based on the claim that they can only execute what has been designed and programmed by humans. However, already the General Problem Solver, developed by Allen Newell, John C. Shaw, and Herbert A. Simon, in the second half of the 1950s did not define every state of its system a priori, but linked the occurrence of rules to the conditions of their applicability (Newell et al., 1959). So-called machine learning methods, however, go a considerable step further in this respect. Their central characteristic is that they enable computers to master different tasks (automatically) without in principle being explicitly programmed to do so (Samuel, 1959). Among the existing approaches to machine learning, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have given the research field of AI a new upswing after many years of stagnation. Whenever innovations in AI have been discussed in the last ten years or so, whether with reference to self-driving cars, to the prediction of stock market prices or to the field of medical diagnostics, ANNs were always involved (Sudmann, 2018).
Digital curator at the museum of fine arts
Digital curator at the museum of fine arts
(Digital curator at the museum of fine arts)
- Author(s):Lukáš Pilka
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Museology & Heritage Studies, Visual Arts, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:284-325
- No. of Pages:42
- Keywords:fine arts; museum; curatorship; ICT;
- Summary/Abstract:If we examine a painting in a gallery, we can see it contains an array of different things. When we are looking at it from a distance, we are likely to be drawn to its dimensions or overall composition. When we edge closer, we discern the abstract style of the painting, our eyes follow the lines, surfaces, edges and shapes. When the style of the painting is representative, we start to explore a motif, a figure or the elements and how they are spatially arranged. In the case of a portrayal of a human being, our eyes will naturally turn to the face, the features and gestures depicted, the position of the body or the attributes of the figure. We might also be intrigued by the creative style, the schematic aspect of the image, or the specifics that emerge from the artist’s handwork, such as brushstrokes, contrasts, or the color scheme; we might even pay attention to the unique and defining artistic signature.
The next biennial should be curated by a machine - ubermorgen
The next biennial should be curated by a machine - ubermorgen
(The next biennial should be curated by a machine - ubermorgen)
- Author(s):Not Specified Author
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:328-339
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:art; curatorship; machine;
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter attempts to negotiate the contradictions of synthetic curating machines and the resulting exclusion of dominance as a form of synthetic curating of text through semantic and semiotic manipulation itself. The counter-aesthetics of this text are created by intentional structural machine refractions. Content and style reveal the text’s spaces and bends the all too rigid – if not laughable – notion of reality and logic. Processing deforms, transcribes, and transforms this text from its German source, fragments it via automatic translation software, and then translates and optimizes it with the Grammarly digital writing assistance tool.
AI: all idiots
AI: all idiots
(AI: all idiots)
- Author(s):Barbora Trnková
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:342-386
- No. of Pages:45
- Keywords:art; curatorship; AI;
- Summary/Abstract:This article provides the conceptual basis and examples of the implementation of the group exhibition project AI: All Idiots, which was part of the Other Knowledge exhibition series at the MeetFactory Gallery in Prague in 2021. (for a view of the exhibition, see Figures: 1 and 2). The purpose of the project was to bring the subject of modern artificial intelligence to the attention of the general public while still being artistically stimulating. In lieu of the conventional strategy of curating a selection of artworks created by artists working with AI, we opted to start from scratch by gathering online digital copies of selected artworks by Czech artists, which served as a training dataset for our original AI software. The artists were also involved in the data’s interpretation. The experiment addressed the widespread use of AI for web content analysis, artists, curators, and the art community as a whole, as well as the question of whether AI operates as a source of information to generate stereotypical products that cannot do more than statistically confirm and continously repeat what is already known.
Conclusion
Conclusion
(Conclusion)
- Author(s):Jana Horáková
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:389-389
- No. of Pages:1
- Keywords:art; curatorship; ICT; AI; conclusion;
- Summary/Abstract:This publication is a follow-up publishing project initiated by the online curatorial venture Black Box / Černá skříňka, which combines the search for alternative approaches to fulfilling the social and cultural role of brick-and-mortar exhibition institutions, the experience of transforming curatorial practice at a time of the pandemic, but also an experiment with the use of AI as a non-human curator of the exhibited artworks. These three aspects, which have merged within the Black Box project, are discussed separately in this publication from the broader perspective of international online curatorial practice and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in various art projects in recent years.
Zusammenfassung: The Black Box Book Archiv und Zuratorium im Zeitalter des Wandels von Kunstinstitutionen
Zusammenfassung: The Black Box Book Archiv und Zuratorium im Zeitalter des Wandels von Kunstinstitutionen
(Summary: The black box book archive and curatory in the age of change of art institutions)
- Author(s):Not Specified Author
- Language:German
- Subject(s):Visual Arts, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Sociology of Art
- Page Range:391-398
- No. of Pages:8
- Keywords:art; AI; ICT; curatorship; summary;
- Summary/Abstract:Die Publikation stellt einen der ersten Versuche dar, die ganz außergewöhnliche Zeit der globalen Covid-19-Pandemie zu analysieren und zu reflektieren, deren Auswirkungen auf die Kunstwelt mit einem Schock verglichen werden können, der zusätzliche Reflexion als Bedingung für die bewusste Integration dieser Erfahrung zusammen mit einigen Krisenlösungen in die kuratorische Praxis der Post-Pandemie-Ära erfordert. In diesem Buch abbildet und kritisch untersucht das Autorenkollektiv die Erscheinungsformen der Transformation von Ausstellungsstrategien von Gedächtnisinstitutionen und Galerien mit Fokus auf den Zeitraum um 2020, beschleunigt durch die weltweit umgesetzten Anti-Pandemie-Maßnahmen zur Verhinderung der Ausbreitung von Covid-19. In dieser Zeitraum kam es zu einer allgemeinen Verschiebung hin zur Nutzung von Online-Kommunikationsplattformen für die Kunstpräsentation, die in Konvergenz mit dem langfristigen Prozess der Digitalisierung von Kunstsammlungen und der Entwicklung von Kunstpraxis und -kultur unter Verwendung digitaler Medien zur Erprobung neuer kuratorischer Ansätze führte, oft in einer Konfrontation zwischen der Galeriepraxis traditioneller White-Cube-Ausstellungsinstitutionen und den parallelen Online-kuratorischen Projekten, die sich bis dahin in der Entwicklung befanden.