Digitization in art and culture
Introduction
On November 23rd, we discussed digitalization in the arts and culture sector at the Krems Future Wine Festival. Guests and speakers from various arts and cultural institutions were among those invited. A big thank you to Claudia Pitnik (Kunstmeile Krems), Gabriele Ecker (Lower Austria State Government), and Wendy Coones (Danube University Krems) for their fantastic and, above all, engaging presentations!
This broad and multifaceted topic offers exciting discussion points on several levels, and in some cases, even sparks heated debate. The arts and culture sector is considered a sector where innovation and creativity are particularly prominent. But what is the current status quo of the arts and culture sector? The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly disrupted many things, much to the detriment of the stakeholders involved. Which formats were already promising before Corona, and which (new) insights gained from recent events can have a lasting impact?
Where do we begin?
It's clear that a single blog post won't be able to a) address all the challenges in this incredibly broad field, or b) provide THE solutions. Nevertheless, I believe it's important to touch on certain aspects. Art and culture are essential components of our society and—this is just my personal opinion—should be introduced to us from early childhood. Museums, theaters, and creative workshops are important incubators for gathering cultural experiences and experiencing diversity and creativity firsthand. And yes, the digital realm is playing an increasingly crucial role. Firstly, because it offers enormous potential for both communicating art and culture and reaching target audiences, whether through social media platforms or digital technologies like augmented or virtual reality.
It's a long list that would exceed the scope of this blog post, but I want to address some of the aforementioned aspects:
1) Target Audience
A crucial aspect of cultural outreach is ensuring that the chosen formats reach the appropriate target audience. In other words, marketing and PR are essential tasks for arts and cultural institutions.
This leads to the following guiding principle:
„Be there, where your customers are. Use, what your customers use!“
Since the offerings should be as broad and diverse as possible, there are numerous avenues to explore. This means that the public image of arts and cultural institutions doesn't begin with a flyer and end with a newspaper article after the premiere. The customer journey (similar to that in the tourism sector) has become more complex and, in terms of time, longer. People want to be well-informed before visiting an exhibition or theater performance. They should also have the opportunity to share their cultural experience with others. Dialogue and exchange after the actual experience should also be planned – whether via forums, community platforms, or social media channels! The choice here should be carefully considered, especially because things are changing so quickly. Two years ago, almost no one in this country knew what to make of TikTok. Now it's one of THE content creation platforms par excellence. And yes, perhaps in two years nobody will need it anymore.
2) Courage to Embrace the New
Artists are certainly at the forefront when it comes to applying innovation and creativity in their creative process. It takes considerable courage to present new ideas or concepts to the public without knowing whether the work will receive the hoped-for recognition. Especially since it can take years, sometimes even decades, for one's artistic work to receive the recognition it might deserve (if it ever does).
From a subjective point of view, art and cultural institutions seem to operate somewhat more conservatively than the artists whose art they present. This may be partly due to the fact that, as commercially run businesses, they are also bound by accounting obligations (income vs. expenses). And, of course, a corresponding duty of care must be observed. It is also understandable that they rely on exhibition formats that have already proven successful in the past or continue using them as such. This brings us to a point where I may indulge in a little self-promotion. Together with the Krems Art Mile, we, the eVRyLab team at IMC Krems, have been working on an interactive format for museum visitors. Within the framework of the state-funded project "Scan2VR," we were able to offer visitors a unique museum experience in VR. Using the myExhibition application, users could design their own personal museum tour and experience it simultaneously in virtual reality. Incredibly easy, so to speak. This enhanced museum visit was very well received by all participants, and we were able to develop a new digital—in this case, virtual—channel that we plan to further develop in the future. To address a common question right away—no, such projects are not yet being monetized (as far as we know), but this project has laid the foundation for future concepts that should ultimately enable a new revenue stream for arts and culture providers.
3) Next Steps
At virtually every level, art and culture thrive on creativity and exploration. This doesn't change with an increasingly digital world. On the contrary, we should take advantage of the diverse opportunities offered by AR/VR, blockchain, and other technologies, and explore and discover further avenues of expression and communication. In fact, there are no limits. While much pioneering work still needs to be done, promising formats can already be tested and tried out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained... or something like that ;)