Proceedings of the 17th International Academic Conference, Vienna

ARTS JOURNALISM 2.0: MEDIA AND ARTS-LITERACY

HANKA SLADKOVA

Abstract:

If media reflect and create the reality we believe to be living, visual arts no longer seem to be part of this reality. Role, form and content of texts interpreting, evaluating and describing arts are unclear and vaguely defined. So are the values, audiences, platforms and authors that have changed significantly over the last couple decades. The contemporary art is quite difficult, no longer visually “pleasant” (often not visual at all), missing most of the attributes we tend to connect it with: it is un-aesthetic, un-decorative, un-plastic, un-material, un-pictorial, un-displayed, un-documented, no longer using the visual means or media… Given the evolution of visual arts, how has arts-writing reflected the changes its subject has been going through? Is reading about art helping us read art? Are media enabling audiences to notice visual arts or are “pictures” no longer in the picture? Should we re-define the arts journalism / arts criticism or does it still function the way it is supposed to? And if not, who is to be blamed? How do we keep our arts sensitivity and arts literacy if arts reflection is no longer part of the media content and even if it is, its quality is limiting its impact? The Czech arts and arts writing have been seemingly undergoing particular changes as part of the country’s politics and society transformation after the 1989. Comparing the situation of arts journalism in Czech Republic and other countries, surprisingly they all match quite similar pattern. Is this just a phase or is this the arts journalism 2.0?

Keywords: arts journalism, arts literacy, media, arts reflection, visual arts, arts writting, contemporary art

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2015.017.086

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