Dennis Hollingsworth

Blogging and the Arts

Tom Moody will be one of the panelists in this event:

Rhizome.org to host Blogging and the Arts panel

Public Program:
Blogging and the Arts
Tuesday, November 23, 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

Location:
New Museum of Contemporary Art / Chelsea
556 West 22nd Street

*** Rhizome.org Director of Technology Francis Hwang will lead a panel discussion entitled Blogging and the Arts. The panel includes artist Kabir Carter, photoblogger and journalist David F. Gallagher, artist and critic Tom Moody, and artist T.Whid. The discussion will address questions such as whether blogs will change the nature of discourse in the fine arts field, and ways that artists and critics are integrating this new form of communications into their own work. ***

It'd be interesting to drop in and see how they treat the subject.

Clicking on Moody's links, I find a list of questions about blogging:

? After having done research on the artblog phenomena for a couple of months now, I?m surprised to find that not many artists use this media. Personally I would find it an ideal space for artistic exhibition, exploration and exchange. Do you have an explanation to this?

Few artists really explore and exchange, most focus on career strategy. (Maybe this is overstated,but right now it sounds about right.) Look at the direction of the inquiry of this blogging conference: "How can we use blogging in the artworld?" That's a bit artificial, isn't it?

I hope it doesn't play out that way at the panel discussion.

? What made you start blogging?

I have a history of trying out protoblogs. In college, I put a book together that resembles a blog in many ways. I titled it "Ruminations". Later and more recently (2000) I pinned up passing thoughts on my studio wall and called it my butterfly collection. I took them down after a time and developed the trains a bit further. Weblogs seemed to be a G-dsend.

? What keeps you blogging?

Compulsion?

? Do you perceive your blog primarily as a personal or as a professional project?

More of the latter, but the former leaks in. The boundary is fuzzy.

I like to tell people that work and play are one for me. I'm not sure how much of that is artiface and how much is spot-on true.

? Does your blog affect your work process as an artist?

Yes.

? Do you know of other artists blogging (besides M.River)?

Not many. The great T. Moody, and links found through his site.

? Do you know of artists reading your blog?

A few. When I was a pup, I remember thinking of the artworld as a vibrant community of curious and talkative people. That's more or less true, most times less true and sometimes more true. Blogging seems to deliver the goods.

? Do you feel part of the blogosphere? I mean do you feel part of a community of (art)bloggers?

The art blogosphere is not yet that developed (as compared to the political blogosphere). The term "community" is premature.

? Have you met any problems being a blogger?

Not much yet (knocking on wood). I imagine the bigger problems have to do with boundaries and to maintain the public/private line.

I keep reminding people that any transparency is an illusion. I try not to serve up depression, anxiety for example. I keep things positve. Data about friends and family are filtered for relevance to the artwork (more or less). Financial stuff doesn't belong in a blog, too many people could get hurt.

A blog for me is a virtual studio visit and as such, it should be conversational, polite, discrete and directed toward the work at hand. Any digression is at the discretion of the host.

I've also referred to the blog as a bibliography, a means of documenting the life of mind that created the artwork.

I am not averse to thinking of blogs as artwork in themselves. In doing so, I would resist the compulsion to market and sell it. (Watch, I'll be wrangling with subscriptions and paypal links in a year! Heh.) I like that anyone can dial in and have their piece of the pie. I have had other spinoff ideas though.