{"id":7540,"date":"2020-06-01T02:10:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T02:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=7540"},"modified":"2020-06-02T10:39:43","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T10:39:43","slug":"how-to-save-the-art-world-by-debra-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=7540","title":{"rendered":"How to Save the Art World! by Debra Hand\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u201cHow to Save the Art World!\u201d<\/b> by Debra Hand\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Just like with every other industry, the pandemic has affected the art world on every level. \u00a0 Everyone has had to revamp the way in which they do business:\u00a0 the museums, curators, administrators, staff, fair organizers, auction houses, galleries, framers, suppliers, and especially, especially the artists.\u00a0 This mandatory reset has left even the most stable cultural institutions scrambling to pivot in place.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like everyone else in the art world, I\u2019ve pored over certain questions. \u00a0 As an artist, I ask myself — what of relevance can I possibly offer the world around me at a time such as this?\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried to answer that question, not just for myself, but on behalf of artists everywhere who have been in the trenches all along, trying to create what the world calls culture.\u00a0 What is our collective relevance to the world around us as we plan the way forward?\u00a0 How do we continue to create and share culture when so much of the infrastructure we rely upon is effectively shuttered in place?\u00a0 How do we continue to keep ourselves uplifted?\u00a0 By the way, I want to say Thank You to each and every reader who commended me on the perspective I offered in my last article \u201cThe New Art World plus Life after the Pandemic.\u201d\u00a0 Your encouragement was truly needed and appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the last article focused on artists and why we need them, today I wanted to talk a little bit about why we need the formal infrastructure of the art world itself, and specifically, the upper-tiers.\u00a0 I also want to suggest ways that these cultural institutions might save themselves as they face the uncertainty of a new tomorrow.\u00a0 So, if you\u2019re at the helm of one such organization, please hear me out.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By now you know that the entire art world has moved online and it continues to spin on its axis.\u00a0 And although you may have operated websites before the pandemic, and used your online resources to\u00a0 supplement the main activities of your physical spaces, there are many artists that call the online platforms their full time jobs.\u00a0 This is where their galleries live, and where they have built communities of followers from the bottom up. These artists come from every part of life.\u00a0 Some are scrappy young art students trying to make their way through school with occasional sales; some are seasoned artists who hustle every day to engage audiences and refuse to give up despite rejection from the mainstream art world; some are online content creators who give art classes for free, or share videos of everything from painting to sculpting to art history.\u00a0 I bring this up because when the pandemic hit the art world like an asteroid, your world was able to spin right into the trajectory of the one that these artists have been collectively building and maintaining since the dawn of the Internet. Up until now, many of these artists dared not dream of being in the same room with you, let alone having access to your VIP audiences. \u00a0 Yet now, here you all are\u2026together\u2026everyone on one equal platform.\u00a0 With a single click or swipe, your customers can switch from a multi-million dollar art auction on their screen — to the open studio of an unknown artist working in their basement.\u00a0 The collectors, like everyone else, are adapting to an art world online.\u00a0 There, they are free to curate their own cultural experiences and, just like you, they are finding and building new relationships.\u00a0 Personally, I think this is wonderful news for the entire art world.\u00a0 There should have always been room for everyone.\u00a0 Now there is.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rule With Velvet Glove by Nyame Brown<\/p><\/div>\n

In many ways the top tier members of the art world have brought the cultural prestige of their brands to the online commercial space.\u00a0 If one can buy from the auction houses and the blue-chip galleries online, that eliminates stigma that art is somehow less worthy of attention simply because you didn\u2019t attend some ritzy opening to acquire it.\u00a0 But with the 100% online arrival of the top tier institutions, also comes the historical baggage; an image long overdue for a makeover.\u00a0 The top tier of the art world is thought of as snobbish and exclusionary.\u00a0 Even if this is not true of your institution, and even if your new wing is shaped like a sculpture of a Gen X spaceship, that old image still lives in the minds of everyday people when they hear the word museum.\u00a0 And how everyday people see you, post-pandemic, should be a priority in your planning because this is potentially the audience that could save you.\u00a0 And pitching for their attention will be all about understanding what your organization looks like to them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From the everyday people-on-the-ground point of view, the top-tier of the art world has always appeared to exist within the security of its own orbit \u2013 far off and aloof; making guarded elliptical revolutions around its hand-picked cluster of \u201cart stars\u201d while the other satellite-coordinates whirl in and out with the appropriate synchronization to sound the \u201cwho\u2019s next\u201d headlines: a satellite network of brand name mega-dealers, museums, international art fairs and major auction houses \u2013 all locked in gravitational pull with each other, to the exclusion of everyone else.\u00a0 Now, if this is the image you want the world to have of your organization, then no problem, the work has already been done for you and your reputation is intact.\u00a0 But if your organization truly wants to use art to affect social change and to build unity through culture, then outlining your relevance for the post-pandemic art world should probably be high up on your to-do list.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We have all been shaken by a pandemic and art is now more important than ever.\u00a0 People are longing for connection, culture, and community as we prepare to fully emerge from the aftermath.\u00a0 Art institutions should be there to welcome them, like havens of retreat and healing.\u00a0 From the art organizations to the artists, it should be about how we can all help each other to help each other, without any dampers of classism.\u00a0 If we, as the creators and guardians of culture cannot accomplish unity in the art world, then we certainly will never accomplish it in the larger society.\u00a0 So, not only do we need you to be saved, but we also need you to need us to be saved.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Art is not separate from life, not for any of us.\u00a0 Art is literally life as we know it. And if art doesn\u2019t survive, well, I\u2019ll just quote myself from the last article where I noted\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWithout art and the ability to create it, our existence amounts to nothing more than the mundane tasks of surviving\u2026humankind is reduced to nothing more than a collection of microbial-hosting vertebrate roaming the face of this globe.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I paraphrased a bit, but you get the point I\u2019m going for.\u00a0 Art is culture, and culture is the collective means by which we conduct our existence.\u00a0 It\u2019s where we get our say in who we are as a society; and where we get to weigh in on the mandates of survival. \u00a0 Not one of us gets to bypass nature\u2019s directive to attain food, clothing, and shelter from the elements.\u00a0 However, we do get to decide how we create the solutions to those mandates.\u00a0 We get to creatively decide the aesthetics of our lives; what reflects us in our homes; the way we present ourselves to the world; the accoutrements of our ceremonies and sacred spaces; and even how we represent our rituals and belief systems.\u00a0 We get to wield the power of creative choice\u2026a popcorn-tile ceiling versus the Sistine Chapel.\u00a0 These choices define our experiences in the world.\u00a0 And one of the most important choices we have as a society is — we get to decide how to tell our stories — individually and collectively.\u00a0 We get to decide the forms we preserve those stories in and how we will pass them down to new generations.\u00a0 We get to decide what lessons we extract from those stories and how they should be honored, or dishonored.\u00a0 We get to form our social infrastructure based upon those stories, either in celebration of, or in opposition to the narratives they create for us to learn from; and we get to use those stories to unite ourselves for the common good.\u00a0 All of these choices are brought to us through art in some form — and through art, they are made more profound.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Museums have traditionally served as command central for preserving and disseminating those stories.\u00a0 They are considered to be the thought-leaders of culture.\u00a0 Historically, they have charged themselves with the work of deciding what is culturally relevant for all the rest of us.\u00a0 They have saturated culture with their value systems which, in turn, have seeped down into every level of the art market.\u00a0 In many ways, it is precisely the upper-tier of the art world that helps the rest of the art ecosystem hold firmly together.\u00a0 Museums feed the notion that art should be valued and preserved.\u00a0 In concert with this, auction houses feed the notion that art can be a great financial investment.\u00a0 Furthering this cause, high profile art sales at International fairs, and blue-chip galleries excite the market and create new collectors who then set trends of their own.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So often, what happens at the top tier of the art market seeps down to every level, and even where collectors are only buying artworks because they love them, they are mindful that the work could multiply astronomically in value in the future.\u00a0 But, the main reason the top tiers of the art world should be saved is not just a financial one.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, there certainly should be more diversity in this tier of the art world.\u00a0 And yes!…additional institutions are needed.\u00a0 All of that should happen as soon as possible.\u00a0 That does not negate the fact that right now, whatever cultural institutions are in place will be desperately needed because that is where the formal infrastructure for cultural gathering exists.\u00a0 The platforms are already there and in prime position to serve.\u00a0 Utilizing what\u2019s already in place, along with institutions sharpening their focus on creating social unity, chances greatly increase for bringing audiences through the doors.\u00a0 Messages of togetherness, hope and renewal are vital for a society staggering out of the stress and strain of a pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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“Enlightened” by Kevin Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

On the post-pandemic horizon, the museums that will beam with relevance are those that are currently figuring out ways to bring people together in celebration of each other\u2019s so-called \u201cotherness.\u201d\u00a0 The image of the museum world needs to be shifted.\u00a0 Museums are more than giant storage houses with showrooms for showcasing the scrap books of the past.\u00a0 Their images should reflect them as places of relevance and excitement where communities can converge and be inspired.\u00a0 Museums can preserve the past, but they should also help to create the future.\u00a0 Life is happening now, and we are in a generation where technology is all about making the \u201cnow\u201d more intensely felt and widely seen.\u00a0 Museums should look beyond their catchy-sounding mission statements and into ideas that will make them relevant to the present day needs of the culture.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the final analysis, the upper tier of the art world is a network comprised\u00a0 of both for-profit and not-for-profit businesses, and they are trying like every other business to keep the doors open and the lights on through a pandemic.\u00a0 And while the general public might tend to think of those doors as gilded with gold, the same concept applies.\u00a0 In order to stay in business, art institutions and artists alike have to figure out how to attract and retain customers.\u00a0 A $20 entr\u00e9e fee paid by a billionaire looks no different than the $20 bill paid by a bus driver.\u00a0 Cultural experiences should be open to all who want to participate, but no one wants to enter spaces where they don\u2019t feel welcome.\u00a0 When is the last time a bus driver union was invited to a cultural institution to be entertained by a program?\u00a0 What about culture represents them?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the midst of this pandemic, as we try to anticipate a return to some form of normalcy, how will you make your organization, gallery, or institution more relevant to the communities that surround you or\u00a0 to the cities you serve? \u00a0 Your neon marquee on the global landscape might have blinked impressively pre-pandemic, but in the voice of Edward G Robinson\u2026Where\u2019s your tourists nowwww?!\u00a0 For a while, at least, the top tier of the art world will have to figure out how to welcome and engage the surrounding communities.\u00a0 And how much support they receive from those communities will be determined directly by their ability to both inspire and serve them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s time for cultural institutions to humble themselves and learn from some of the very artists who have long stood on the outside of those gilded door, looking in; those non \u201cmainstream\u201d artists who have long been pounding the pavement of the online thoroughfares where museums and others now find themselves searching for ways to reach audiences.\u00a0 While cultural institutions were telling the world what culture was, these artists were actually creating it, along with the communities to support them.\u00a0 In many ways, they are the experts on online art culture.\u00a0 Host an online \u201cart influencer\u201d night and hear what they have to say about creating meaningful art experiences online.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have always respected how the late Dr. Margaret Burroughs, principal founder of the DuSable Museum, designed\u00a0 cultural institutions around the idea of serving the community; around creating space for everyday people to come together for community fellowship and enlightenment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This, I believe, will be the key to saving the art world; creating museums that welcome like beacons in the community, rather than that tower with intimidation over the everyday person.\u00a0 They can create\u00a0 programs and exhibits that invite communities to come together, to play together, to learn together, to be enlightened together, and to be inspired together.\u00a0 Maybe some of the cultural institutions can consider skipping the marketing fanfare that seeks to convince potential audiences that their artists walk on water.\u00a0 Or skip the exhibits designed to elevate single-artist\u2019s brand names up to the mega million stratospheres so that audiences can applaud price tags rather than the art.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, maybe they can search for ways to create critically needed dialogues led by thought leaders with answers rather than cryptic art talks led by artists who float around on delusions of grandeur; or host a community paint party for families, rather than hosting artists who ask endless questions as performance pieces rather than as a true intellectual explorations.\u00a0 Asking questions that can\u2019t possible lead to answers is not art at its best.\u00a0 And asking questions whose answers don\u2019t matter is not art at its best.\u00a0 The answer to a question and the answer to a problem are not necessarily the same thing.\u00a0 Right now art has the ability to actually provide solutions that we desperately need as a society.\u00a0 In the face of a pandemic, who really cares whether or not a tree falling in a forest actually makes a sound when no one is present to hear it?\u00a0 And anyway, sound is created in the ear from incoming sound waves; so, no ears present = no sound present is my guess.\u00a0 But, knowing this, or debating whether or not I\u2019m right or wrong does nothing to uplift either of us.\u00a0 I\u2019m all for fun questions, riddles, and art that challenges us to think; but think about what?\u00a0 Right now the world is in need of meaningful and inspiring dialogue and art, rather than gimmicks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The art world has spent more than enough time marketing art and artists as saviors who are examining and restoring the world via their cryptic canvases.\u00a0 But the state of the world reveals otherwise.\u00a0 And when you look at the state of the world \u2013 at every level from the ocean to the skies, to the people in between — what grade would you give your institution regarding its ability to actually effect change.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If your organization is truly in the business of using the influence of art to impact society and shape culture, then how will you use your infrastructure, your platforms, your influence, your name brands, your endowments, grants, or resources to position yourself as an institution of cultural relevance, not just for the select few, but for all of the communities around you.\u00a0 How will you attract and engage the interests of those communities?\u00a0 What is your plan for serving them?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Life during and after this pandemic, will require support and healing on every level \u2013 from our social platforms to our mental health.\u00a0 Think how much our lives have changed in just a few short months.\u00a0 Our human brains have been quickly rewired such that the built-in \u201cfight or flight\u201d instinct once reserved for responding to the threat of a Bangor tiger, can now be activated by someone who accidentally stands too close to us in a supermarket.\u00a0 This is deep stuff, and the art world can play a large part in leading discussions and creating activities that help to promote empathy and kindness among us.\u00a0 The populations of our cultural institutions need to look less like elitist country clubs, and more like diverse community centers where we can engage in harmony.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Interconnectedness\u201d is the main keyword in this whole pandemic and it will be the enduring theme, even if we choose to ignore it.\u00a0 In fact, interconnectedness was always the theme of human life, and now we are all being crudely reminded.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a new art world, how do you plan to remain relevant?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How the museum boards, art fair organizers, gallerists, and other regents of the art world choose to answer this question is yet to be seen, but I believe the secret to saving themselves begins with asking it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I will close with another quote from my last article.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cAs we sit here currently, locked in our homes — sheltering in place, we have all turned to our artists to get us through this.\u00a0 We have turned to our televisions, our film-makers, directors, set designers, and cinematographers.\u00a0 We have turned to our phone screens to sedate ourselves with a constant infusion of images, songs, videos and other content brought to us by artists.\u00a0 We have turned to our books, curled in the fetal position, searching for momentary escape and refuge in other worlds provided to use through our writers.\u00a0 We have turned to our artists, and we have never needed them more than in this moment\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

As always, please share your comments with us in the space below where you will also find a link to share this article.\u00a0 Thank you and be well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Paul Laurence Dunbar by Debra Hand<\/p><\/div>\n

Debra Hand is a museum-collected sculptor, painter, and writer.\u00a0 She is the creator of the historic bronze statue of Paul Laurence Dunbar in Dunbar Park.\u00a0 Among the history makers who own her works are former President Barack Obama; Hillary Clinton; Harry Belafonte; Cicely Tyson; Smokey Robinson; Yo-Yo Ma;\u00a0 Spike Lee; Seal; Sinbad; and the renowned sculptor, Richard Hunt; the late Winnie Mandela, and the late Dr. Maya Angelou also owned her work. Debra Hand holds a Master of Science Degree from the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.\u00a0 She is a self-taught artist whose talent was discovered by the legendary Dr. Margaret Burroughs, principal founder of the DuSable Museum. It was Burroughs who arranged for Hand\u2019s first public exhibit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Would you buy stock in BAIA if you could? Well we invite you to join us in becoming a monthly supporter, starting at just $3 a month\u00a0YOU<\/b>\u00a0become a stakeholder and begin to help us transform lives through art. We are growing the BAIA team and will use your contributions to hire more team members for the purpose of creating more educational and marketing resources for schools and universities about african american artists both past and present.
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