IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section B

Abstract

The paper examined the opportunities and challenges brought by new media for artists, curators and cultural organizations in a post-pandemic context of Hong Kong. Many cultural organizations leveraged emerging forms of online arts to broaden the online arts market (Gurry, 2020). Artists and curators however argued that income from online production has remained limited, because audiences assume that online content should be free (UNESCO, 2020). Based on a grounded theory approach, a total of 24 interviews were conducted which included (1) senior management of cultural organization (e.g. division head of West Kowloon Cultural District), (2) arts marketers (e.g. marketing director of M+ museum), (3) exhibition curators (e.g. Curator at K11 Art Foundation), (4) creative workers producing online performances (e.g. dancer of City Contemporary Dance Company) and (5) independent artists. Findings showed that new media was initially considered as a temporary resort to engage audiences. However, more artists revealed the potential of artificial intelligence and mixed reality arts as an emerging genre of arts on participatory social media, metaverse, and interactive livestreaming. Curators (but relatively few performing artists) considered online media a contested site for experimentation of artistic production that touched upon the adaptation and resistance of technology in a (dis)connected world of solitude. The study is the first research mapping the landscape of online arts production in post-pandemic Hong Kong. The findings provide future implications on the ways online arts infrastructure, creative media platforms and online intellectual property literacy can be developed to support the cultural and creative industries.