In each of these case studies above, we have seen how recent recombinant collaborations between companies, artists and consumers have brought us new ways of experiencing art via new media technologies. However the absence of participation by ‘traditional’ cultural organizations is glaring. Through New Media Art, museums have an opportunity to leverage their access to the artists and technicians paving the way in this field, to discover ways to advance their brand in innovative ways, and advance the genre of New Media Art in the process. While several museums, including the Met, MoMA and the Louvre are utilizing social media to connect with consumers, the New Museum (through its affiliation with Rhizome) provides us with a sense of what collaboration between a new media artist and a traditional museum could look like.
Since 2000, the artist and political activist, Paul Chan, has been exhibiting and preserving his work on the site nationalphillistine.com. Chan’s awareness of the socio-cultural impact of new technologies has inspired him to share his works on the web in the form of documents and MP3 available for viewing and download, as well as files containing the alternative designs and fonts he explored. In 2005, the New Museum exhibited Chan’s series titled, ‘7 Lights,’ curated by Massimiliano Gioni, which combined seven video installations with a series of charcoal preparatory drawings. In partnership with the museum, Chan published an online version of the show, including a soundtrack for the exhibition, and source files of all animations, free for download, thereby by rejecting what Bourriaud would deem the “monoculture of the medium.”(Quaranta, 2011)
Fig 8.0 – 7 Lights, Paul Chan, at the New Museum
This collaboration in the exposition and dissemination of art via new media, accomplishes many of the things that make new media so appealing including: increased access, innovation and potential for buzz. Chan’s work highlights the parallels between the way we are experiencing art and the way we are experiencing media. Namely, neither are being experienced in a clear-cut or linear fashion. Both exhibit the dissolution of preexisting parameters, “whether that be the frame, material or tools used to create and experience the work.” (Quaranta, 2011) Finally, both require active participation rather than passive observation, thereby placing responsibility in the consumer to build their own experience with the work. In essence, there exists collaboration between the producer and the consumer, characteristic of the networked global economy, in which collaborations drive success.
When we place Chan’s collaboration with the New Museum, in contrast with the Louvre’s unwillingness to participate in the Google Art Project, we find two institutions placed in sharp relief, with the former seeming innovative participatory, and the later seeming staid and stubborn. Perhaps the sense of tradition that is coupled with the Louvre works to the benefit of that institution in particular, but it would certainly benefit other, lesser-known organizations to explore opportunities for artistic collaboration and serve as patrons of innovation, and use technology to augment the museum experience, both online and off, with opportunities for interactivity.
Another example is the Seven on Seven event presented by AOL, which will pair seven leading artist with seven game-changing technologists. Working in teams of two, these artists and technicians will develop a new cultural product—whether that be an application, social media artwork, product, or something completely innovative—all in just one day. The finished projects will be unveiled at the New Museum on May 14, 2011. (New Museum, 2011) Here we a fantastic example of the type of hybrid events that are possible through collaboration, and the power of brand associations. Each of the brands (AOL and the New Museum) stand to benefit, through financial backing, creative innovation or both. (It of note that the event is sponsored by The Standard Hotel, which was also host to the Marco Brambillo installation mentioned previously.) Such brand alliances are powerful contributors to the technological and artistic landscape. Furthermore, the activities and products that are developed out of these partnerships are being leveraged to enhance the reputation and brand awareness of these companies.
This paper has addressed how new media and new media art are creating fresh opportunities for arts organizations, but how can this contribute to the way that museums engage with consumers? To answer this question, it is necessary to revisit social media and the notion of the third place. As we have previously seen, it is the desired outcome of social media to create a community, or contribute to an environment that inspires dialogue and a sense of cmmunity. This is achieved through conversation among piers and the sharing of information among likeminded individuals. Simply put, the power of word of mouth is paramount. A new study by LaPlaca Cohen (CultureTrak, 2011) shows that four out of ten respondents to their study act on recommendations for cultural events received through social media. Further to that, recommendations made by piers are five times more significant. (CultureTrak, 2011) So for museums to fully leverage collaborations and newfound partnerships between technicians and artists in new media and new media art, it is important to incorporate activities that will inspire conversation and credbiity. In two words: content and value. While consumer-generated content drives the social media superhighways, there are ways to inspire consumers to share their words, images, videos, texts, applications, etc. And that is to create opportunities for interactivity and participation.
LaPlaca Cohen’s 2011 study also reported that while affiliation with an organization is an important motivator behind a consumer’s participation with that brand, along with value and content, the notions of flexibility and convenience have found new prominence. Considering this, museums should look to create events, happening, activities and opportunities for engagement that are technologically-based, easy to access, simple to use, and which contribute to the consumers sense of valuable content contribution and importance. This is best achieved through social media campaigns such as the, “You’re Art Here” contest created by H&M. whereby the clothing brand invited NYC's residents to upload art via Twitter and photos through Flickr to be considered as a design on an H&M t-shirt to appear in stores worldwide. The 25 pieces with the most votes were showcased to a panel of judges who selected 5 winning art pieces to be installed in the H&M store window on 42nd St and 5th Ave in New York City, where it was on display for the millions of pedestrians passing by the store each day. (Whispr, 2011) While this created an impressive number of impressions, the campaign went viral by encouraging contestants to share their art with friends and family via Facebook, Twitter and Email, and asking them to vote. In doing so, personal networks were employed in support of peers, which then introduced new consumers and demographics to the H&M product line.
When this campaign is contrasted with the Met’s ‘Its time we met’ campaign, it reveals the ways museums could expand their social media strategies. Yes, the Met invited consumers to contribute photos of their experiences. Yes, this is participative. But this is still demonstrative of the one-to-one conversations that were taking place in traditional media. (Albeit the direction of the conversation has been reversed so that consumers were speaking to the organization, rather than just the other way around). A successful social media campaign inspires consumer-generated content, as well as the sharing of that content among a network. This is most often inspired by competition, but can also be accomplished by promising public recognition or appreciation. For example, rather than just ask visitors to upload pictures of their experience, why not ask them to contribute their reinterpretation of art works? Then perhaps feature the winning piece in one of the galleries of the museum on a limited basis? Or feature a rotating exhibition of art created by local residents or museum members? Taking this a step further to incorporate new media art, why not pair professional artists with museum members to collaborate on new works? Or invite new media artists to create works that can be adapted by consumers and featured online and in the museum.
The reason New Media Art is appropriate to this line of thinking is that contemporary works in this genre employ electronics, kinetics, sound, and pixels to create art about the complex relationship between technology and our changing concepts of nature and self. For instance, the performance piece “Permutations,” created by a group of graduate students at the University of Santa Cruz (UCSC), was inspired by a discourse over the what is considered ‘digital tools’ and how they could be recombined or reconfigured to give rise to something more. (Rappaport, 2011)
Fig 8.1 DANM MFA exhibition of ‘Permutations’ at UCSC's new Digital Arts Research Center
Another work, ‘Urban Mood,’ by Mahir M. Yavuz, which was exhibited at the 2010 Amber Festival, exhibited a large cube slowly changing colors. While the piece at first seemed to be a visually pleasing digital art piece, a conversation with the artist revealed that the color changes were dictated by remote commands from a computer which was inputting data from text messages by people in the city exhibiting the work. Each text contained a word conveying the mood of the participant, which was then coded by the computer and visually depicted. Whatever mood was dominant at the time became reflected by the cube so that spectators observed blue if texts said sad, red if they said angry, yellow for happy, and so on. The idea was that through this visual schematic, observers were given a sense of the mood of the participating city (in this case, Istanbul). The second objective of the piece was to highlight:
The role of emerging audiovisual and interactive technologies and their influence over community interactions as well as support of creative interventions in public spaces situated between real and virtual environments…to stimulate debates and creative feedback on the contemporary dilemmas of metropolitan life. (Global Gateway, 2010)
This deliberate reflection on the ‘dilemmas’ of contemporary life is extremely characteristic of interactive new media art, with artists creating experiential works in direct reference to societal conditions. As curator Soraya Murray said, “Much of [new media art] is oriented toward the experiential. It encourages participants to have a hands-on experience in relationship to social and ethical concerns--or even in relation to simply being in the world. The work asks, ‘how can we think differently about this, or come at it from a totally different angle?’” So where the piece ‘Permutations’ causes its participants to probe fundamental questions and examine the border and edges of new media art practices, such pieces placed in a museum environment (real or virtual), could lead museum participants to reassess the role of the museum and cause them to consider how they might engage with it in everyday life.
To no great surprise, given the self-referential nature of new media art, the tools of interactive new media art—including computers, mobile devices and tablet computers—are the very means by which we consume media. By creating opportunities for interaction within applications offered via mobile devices or tablet computers, museums have the ability to bridge the gap between the consumers’ experience of the museum in a real and virtual sense by allowing the participants to access and contribute to the third place, anytime and anywhere. No longer does the cultural experience begin in a physical institution, and communicate with a top-down approach; it begins on the screen and its messaging permeates through the networked information environment, so that engagement with the brand does not cease when exiting the physical institution, or closing a browser, the experience continues in the palm of the hand, on the go. As such, it carries with it a grassroots potential that could (and should) find representation within the museum walls, thereby lending relevancy to, and creating interest in, what those walls contain.
For instance, if ‘Urban Mood’ were adapted for installation in a museum, it would perhaps persuade those who had seen the piece to later participate or discuss it with friends intending to visit the museum, thus inspiring interest and participation. An even more ambitious project would be to place a ‘mood cube’ (for lack of a better term), in every museum in a city, region, or even at different museums around the world, so that museum goers could observe the mood expressed by people in other locations, exhibiting a common interest and shared experience. Alternately, participating museums could consider placing these works in public spaces, but having them represent the moods of museum-goers within their walls to spark interest and conversation. But to close the loop, and thus contribute to the third place (as should always remain the objective), the museum could feature a digital representation of the work on their homepage, linking real world activity, consumer participation and online representation in a cohesive project.
Should museums begin to embrace such innovative, technologically driven and highly participatory behavior, it would truly serve as a marker of modernity and cultural relevancy. However, such a large-scale installation, and the supporting technologies it would require, is typically dependent on corporate sponsorship. Fortunately, the value of sponsorships has increased with the popularity of social media, for more and more companies are discovering that affiliations with certain highly respected or trusted brands, is as akin to word-of-mouth recommendations from a friend. (LaPlaca Cohen, 2011) However, this notion places new emphasis on the need for museums to be more selective and pay close attention to which corporations they link their brand.
Funding
As we have seen, many programs, affiliations and projects in the digital space are made possible only through corporate partnerships or sponsorships. While there are many risks in relying on corporate funding, one benefit is that it provides the funding necessary to incorporate new media technologies—most commonly defined as ‘computer-based’ or “digital media’—which are creating new opportunities for interactivity. This is especially true in light of the rising media costs for both development and implementation. Despite a growing reliance on corporate support, it is important to develop programs that have both philanthropic as well as brand-focused benefits.
Fig 8.2 – 2007 Survey on Coproate Sponsorship. LaPlaca Cohen
While affiliations are beneficial to an organization, sponsorships are crucial to its success. The “majority of Frequent Attendees are influenced by cultural sponsorship” (as shown by the table to the left by LaPlaca Cohen, 2010). Not surprisingly, among those who are most supportive of corporate involvement are the wealthiest consumers whose average household income exceeds $150K. (LaPlaca Cohen, 2010: Sponsorships, 12) However, before entering into a corporate partnership, a museum should ask what that corporation brings to the table and what level of engagement they are looking for in a partner. Brands such as Deutsche Bank, Cartier and Hugo Boss often use art sponsorship to “emotionalize the brand.” (LaPlaca Cohen, 2009). In addition, sponsorships often entail some combination of audience access (provided by the museum) and financial support (provided by the corporate sponsor).
Aside from attracting loyal customers as potential visitors, the benefits of sponsorship include fostering special opportunities through financially supporting events, programs, connecting key business leaders, and relieving the institution of its financial burdens. These activities, in turn, work to attract philanthropic ‘VIPs’ by “providing means and space for special events and networking opportunities” and align the institution with other corporate partners. (LaPlaca Cohen, 2010) Sponsorships also generate goodwill among audiences who view the arts as important and in need of financial support. (LaPlaca Cohen, 2010) This sort of sponsorship activity also generally attracts the attention of the media and can lead to valuable media impressions for both the sponsor and the sponsored organization.
Furthermore, corporate sponsorships indicate that an organization is “worth” supporting and gives the institution a sense of legitimacy and conveys “familiarity or loyalty by association with a recognized brand,” (LaPlaca Cohen, 2010: Sponsorships) while the sponsor gains by being perceived as an organization that values culture, creativity and innovation. In other words, “the prestige of the arts venue and respect for the art converts a sense of quality, trust and lasting value on to the sponsor. (LaPlaca Cohen, 2010: Sponsorships) The museum also stands to gain from the expertise of the business leaders representing corporate sponsors, who can confer valuable business advice from an outside perspective. (LaPlaca Cohen, 2010) Finally, corporate sponsorships work to support the local economy due to the museum’s increased community involvement, which subsequently contributes to the organization’s stability and financial viability through sustained museum attendance and increased membership dues.
Models of sponsorship include: sponsorship of an event, program or exhibition (such as BMW’s sponsorship of the Guggenheim’s “The Art of the Motorcycle” exhibition, UBS’s sponsorship of the Miami Art Basel, or the Gap’s sponsorship of the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute Gala); one-time building or expansion (such as the Fudacion Iberdrola’s sponsorship of the Prado Museum’s restoration, however usually made by private donors); product tie-in marketing initiatives (such as Cain brewery becoming the official beer of the Tate galleries); an existing, on-going series (Boeing’s support of the NexGen Arts program at LACMA or Unilever’s sponsorship of large-scale works in Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern); a commissioned series (such as Korean Air’s sponsorship of the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, to include Korean language in the Museum’s audio tour guide services); a commissioned art or award (such as Deutsche Bank’s “Artist of the Year” award presented at the Frieze Art Fair in London, or the Hugo Boss Prize awarded at the Guggenheim New York); an on-going underwriting to subsidize access or admission (such as Target Free Friday nights at MoMa, sponsored by Target); or stand-alone sponsorship independent of the arts organization (such as Macy’s sponsorship of the Ed Ruscha and Photography exhibition, organized by the Whitney and currently touring the US, or Bloomberg’s sponsorship of audio tours at museums across the country). (LaPlaca Cohen, 2010)
There are also art events which are sponsored in no relation to an organization, such as Chanal’s Mobile Art project and six-city tour, Louis Vuitton’s artist collaborations to produce limited-edition goods, the Maison Hermes in Tokyo, or the Foundation Cartier in Paris.
Before entering into a corporate sponsorship, it is advisable that a museum assesses its expertise, resources (people and funding) and goals (will you focus on brand image or audience access?) in order to pick the sponsorship model and partner that will be appropriate to the organization. It is also important to identify a logical and compelling ‘fit’ between the brand and the arts organization, agree on expectations of the partnership, define the audience, and leverage partnerships to customize events and programs for the most desirable audiences. (LaPlaca Cohen, 2010: Sponsorships) Identifying the right model is typically the most difficult and important aspect of a corporate sponsorship, but it is helpful to think in terms of your organization’s needs. For example, if a museum is considering a collaboration with digital artists, it would make sense to pursue funding from technology companies. Collaboration, the root of open source innovation, will appeal to such companies. As previously discussed, a partnership with a technology company also lends credibility to the museum by portraying it as cutting-edge and forward-looking.
In some instances, developing a partnership with a corporation whose values do not contribute to the museum’s brand can come at great risk and lead to ethical dilemmas. This was the case with the Tate Modern and BP, where the sponsorship ceased to be mutually beneficial due to a crisis situation created by the BP oil spill. As we have seen, if the museum does not pull the plug, the public will act, as they did when they poured oil all over the floor of the Tate’s Turbine Hall in protest.[1]
Fig 8.3 – Turbine Hall, the Tate Modern, London
In other scenarios, there can be backlash when it seems a sponsor is too controlling or exhibits a ‘monied interest.’ In either case, a sponsorship in crisis threatens the authenticity and credibility of the museum. For example, the relationship between a corporate financial sponsor and a curatorial decision is made glaringly evident due to the museum’s tribute to the work of fashion designer Giorgio Armani, on the heels of a $15 million pledge to the museum from Armani. This act directly contributed to the redrafting of ethical guidelines by the Association of Art Museum Directors.
Implementation
When developing a campaign, it is important to consider brand affiliations as part of the overall strategy, since “it is responsibility of the board of trustees to develop and maintain the brand, image and mission of the museum in every area of endeavor.” (Wallace, 2006: 17) Board workshops/retreats are helpful in ensuring that everyone on the board is clear about the museums’ mission and brand. This can be achieved by a work session in which the answers to the following questions are decided: What is our brand? How is it defined? Who are competitors and what is their brand? Are sales messages clear and consistent? Do events reflect the organization’s mission? Are we prepared to answer questions from the press in a consistent voice? Does every board meeting reflect and reinforce our mission? (Wallace, 2006: 22)
Once answers to these questions are agreed upon, a set of brand guidelines should be put in place for monitoring images, videos and links for anything obscene, inappropriate or off-brand on all social media sites; brand guidelines for the visual identity (image suite: logo, font, colors, typeface, etc.); and content, including comments, Facebook wall posts, Tweets and Flickr comments (negative comments allowed so long as they are not slanderous, defamatory, untruthful, irrelevant or obscene). Additionally, it is recommended that a branding and strategy implementation committee be put in place to ensure everyone in the organization follow the brand guidelines. It is also important to agree on all engagement tactics prior to the commencement of a new brand campaign, or it could lead to embarrassing discrepancies, such as when Doug Jaeger, President of the Happy Corporation Global, who was handling the new campaign for MoMA, hired PosterBoy (a prevalent street artist) to deface the ads that were just posted throughout the city. Jaeger went one step further to hire models for a photo shoot in front of the ads in the hopes of selling these images for profit. Unfortunately, MoMA was neither made aware of or approved the plan, and so fired Jaeger in an effort to maintain control of their communications to the public. The drawback in this was that the stunt effectively gained the attention of the media and made the MoMA brand seem cool and relevant, while the museum’s response made the organization seem aged and conservative. Had the two collaborated on this initiative, it could have been a successful tactic for an even more successful campaign.[2]
To fully leverage emerging social media tools and techniques, it requires that you put together a smart, up-front strategy, beginning with familiarizing oneself with best practices in the media landscape. Sites such as Custom Facebook Page[3] allow visitors to browse some of the most creative uses of Facebook. Also trade publications such as Brandweek, or blogs such as Mashable, Cool Hunter and Notcot, provide examples of the most cutting edge developments in art, technology and media, from around the globe. If the organization has an international audience, one should also consider each campaign from a technological, financial and cultural standpoint. Technologically, several servers may be required to handle the traffic to a site, which also has financial implications. Human resources also have to be taken into account, for every social networking site utilized will need to be maintained and regularly updated. Private communities will also need to be managed carefully. In addition, it may benefit the company to hire an experienced blogger or former journalist to create viral content.
Furthermore, global audiences need to be taken into account, as developing nations continue to show high rates of adoption especially in Asian markets. (Piskorski, 2010) This means that websites used in social media campaigns should be optimized for search for various URL extensions (.com, .fr, .uk, .ch, etc.) and translated into the language of relevant markets. In China, where Facebook is not available, alternatives sites such as RenRen should be explored (likewise, marketers should investigate using Mixi in Japan, Bebo in Europe, Orkit in Brazil). As with major brand or advertising campaigns, social media content should be reviewed by a localization expert to make sure that nothing will offend target audiences overseas.
Finally, a word to the wise: before allowing board members to celebrate a victory through establishing a brand and consistent messaging, they need to consider that the media landscape is changing and evolving at rates that exceed the pace of museums. Thus it is important to consider marketing plans incorporating social media strategies as long-term commitments, for which continual resources will need to be applied so that the online and offline communities can be sustained and energized year after year. This includes training existing staff, as well as ensuring that the next generation of top management “personifies the new approach.” (Sandell, 2007: 29) Finally, it is important to measure the impact of each campaign using benchmark statistics of daily updates, blog posts and other mentions of the brand (each tracked by volume and sentiment). With these statistics in hand, marketers will be armed with the data needed to continue funding marketing plans incorporating new media and social media, and thus have the opportunity to find innovative ways to promote the brand.
[1] http://www.youandifilms.com/2010/09/crude-2010-oil-painting-protest-over-bp-sponsorship-in-tate-modern-turbine-hall-liberate-tate-calls-for-footprint-of-art-museum-to-be-free-from-big-oil
