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So the paperless society is upon us. Information is the currency of the
future. Instant global communication, interactive media and virtual
realities.... But where does the experience of art, of physical
representation and direct contact with it in 'real world' exhibitions fit
into the digital age?
Already many arts organisations are considering the implications of the
information revolution and are making changes accordingly. Roughly 30% of
all UK galleries now give an email address as a means of contact, and
many of these also have a web site for their organisation. But
traditional attitudes dominate the industry. Often poorly funded and
lacking the neccessary support afforded by large commericial
corporations, many arts organisations have been slow to jump on the
Internet bandwagon. Keen to pursuade them otherwise is Nancy Proctor,
creator and curator of The Gallery Channel
[www.pinkink.net/gallerychannel] and joint founder of Pink Ink., a
leading Internet consultancy specialising in providing IT solutions for
arts organisations.
Billed as the most comprehensive on-line guide to current exhibitions in
Britain, The Gallery Channel is updated every week on Thursdays. With
none of the traditional space constraints of printed 'what's on' guides,
it provides exhaustive listings, illustrated press releases, digital
pictures and virtual walk-throughs for current exhibitions as well as
archives of past exhibitions to anyone with Internet access.
Involved in contemporary art for most of her life, Proctor is an ardent
supporter of experimental and artist-led projects. Listings are provided
free to galleries and artists, ensuring The Gallery Channel is not
limited to publicising big name galleries and exhibitions. Nor does The
Gallery Channel promote just contemporary art exhibitions, though Proctor
admits a certain bias: "We do put more effort into recruiting listings
from the new and unknown rather than the 'household name' galleries and
artists, mainly because these are so much more difficult for art-goers to
find out about. To be honest, you'd have to be living under a rock not to
know about the Monet exhibition, and you can't pick up an art magazine
this month that doesn't review the Pollock show; but who's going to know
that one of the most exciting exhibitions on at the moment is happening
in a Medical Museum in Leeds, other than the Yorkshire art stalewarts?
And this sort of cutting-edge artist-led initiatives rarely get reviewed
or have the funding to produce catalogues, so if we don't cover them,
they simply disappear from Art History's archives once they're over."
Launched on October 1, 1998 with only four shows, The Gallery Channel has
grown exponentially . The site now represents well over 300 UK galleries
and has listed some 1,500 exhibitions. Listings are organised by
exhibition name, gallery and artist, both alphabetically by name and by
town, so no matter what you remember about the show, chances are you'll
find it on The Gallery Channel. Presented initially in a
quick-to-download text-only format, the listings pages are equally easy
to consult if you're in a hurry, or to browse if you're not quite sure
what sort of exhibition you're in the mood for. Further information on
most shows, including press releases, digital pictures and virtual
walk-throughs, is available from the listings pages with a single mouse
click.
Proctor is eager to exploit the fact that London and the UK draws large
number of tourists from around the world - people who are prime targets
for a what's on service like The Gallery Channel. She believes the
Internet is an ideal medium for this: "Open 24 hours a day, 7 days per
week, the Internet has an international audience and as such can target
the foreign visitor as easily as the local." In the near future she wants
to make the site available through web kiosks in airports, hotels,
tourist information centres - places where tourists might be looking for
something to do in the UK. She also sees the potential for The Gallery
Channel to expand into digital TV as the technological boundaries between
channel-hopping and web-surfing in our homes increasingly blur; in fact,
she named The Gallery Channel with this future in mind.
Proctor maintains that The Gallery Channel aims to cater to the broadest
art audience conceivable, from the casual tourist to cutting-edge artists
& critics - a formidable task in itself.
´The Internet has proven itself most successful in targeting relatively
small, specialist communities, which, when united on a global scale,
become large enough to be a market worth addressing and advertising to.
The art world is one of these specialist communities, but with major
cross-over potential to the mainstream. So in some ways The Gallery
Channel is analogous to a sports website: following triathalons might be
a relatively specialist hobby, but the number of triathalon enthusiasts
world wide can be formidable. Plus, sometimes football fans watch
triathalons out of curiosity or just for a change!´
Proctor believes that, if embraced, digital technology could
revolutionise the art world. Not only does the digital nature of The
Gallery Channel ensure ample space to list the unlimited numbers of
exhibitions, but the speed and dynamic nature of digital publishing means
that the on-line documentation of a show can be published within hours of
an exhibition opening and can change throughout and beyond the life of
the exhibition, should information change or new material emerge. Yet she
is quick to point out that the digital representation of a 'real world'
exhibition can in no way replace the actual experience of that space and
its artworks; rather, she sees on-line coverage as an inducement to see
exhibitions 'in the flesh' and a consolation for those who simply cannot
attend a show in person. ´We've found that perhaps The Gallery Channel's
most popular feature is its archives, which are used not only by
researchers, but by anyone who couldn't afford the time or travel costs
to see a show in person.´
However, the conservatism of art world and its relative poverty are
nevertheless proving to be speed bumps in the road to The Gallery Channel
and Pink Ink.'s success. Despite this, Proctor remains positive: ´With
each week we see more galleries and arts organisations finding their way
into the on-line world. More public galleries are now putting major funds
towards their on-line presence as it's the most logical answer to the
public funding body's primary requirement: access! Of course, it's
considerably more expensive to give everyone Internet access than free
admission to the Tate; we are unfortunately still talking about a public
that is largely middle class and formally educated.´
And what about on-line galleries and digital artworks on-line? ´The
Gallery Channel focusses on "real-world" exhibitions because again, they
are most in need of this sort of access. We do list on-line exhibitions,
however, as long as they have a changing or temporary nature. Just as we
don't list permanent exhibitions in the major museums, we don't list
sites that are essentially an artist's "catalogue raisonné". The reason
for this is very simple: a website that doesn't change frequently is a
dead-site, and we don't want The Gallery Channel becoming cluttered with
links to a lot of sites that haven't been updated since 1997.´
Proctor has ambitious plans for The Gallery Channel and is seeking major
sponsorship to facilitate the growth she has planned. On a basic level,
she is adamant that the site keep growing. ´We want our coverage to be
greatly increased, both visually and critically - I'd like to see more
virtual exhibitions, more reviews, more comments from visitors to the
site´.
To this end Proctor is eager to form partnerships with regional arts and
events publications, giving them a high-profile on-line presence hosted
by Pink ink. in exchange for links from The Gallery Channel to their
exhibitions reviews. The site already features articles from Yorkshire's
Artscene Magazine. ´Local arts journalists offer an "insider"s view" of
current exhibitions and are able to explore their impact on people's
everyday lives in a way that is usually impossible for the international
arts correspondent,´ explains Proctor. She adds that her aim is also to
present exhibition reviews in multiple languages to make The Gallery
Channel a truly international resource.
To fully exploit the potential of The Gallery Channel as a website
Proctor is also planning a list-serve and chat room for people to
exchange information and opinions on shows, as well as to network. This
by its nature, will primarily appeal to and serve artists and art world
people. For more casual art-goers The Gallery Channel already offers a
free weekly UK art news service distributed by e-mail and available on
the 'Stop Press' page of the site.
To subscribe to The Gallery Channel's news service, send your e-mail
address to tgc@pinkink.net with 'SUBSCRIBE' in the subject line of your
message, or visit The Gallery Channel on-line at
www.pinkink.net/gallerychannel
Get the latest UK art world news by e-mail FREE from The Gallery Channel
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