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- “The famous media commentator Marshal McLuhan commented that, ‘The medium is the message’ (1964), by which he meant that the designer’s choice of the pipeline that feeds us visual culture is in itself full of meaning for the people receiving it.”Downs (2012) pg.191.An important aspect of creative practice involves talking to an audience. Whether it’s a book, product packaging, a song or a sculpture, creative work is rarely created for only one person. This makes it important to understand the medium you’re using to transmit the communication – and to appreciate what it means to have an audience and what message you are trying to communicate. Create a mind map of the possible ways to disseminate your practice to an audience. Reflect on the following questions and refine your awareness of the audience relative to your practice.
- Is there a particular platform or location that is most effective? Are there conventional methods for the type of work you do? Do you make work with a specific audience in mind or a wide demographic? Is it important to reach out to everyone or limit your ambitions?
- “The famous media commentator Marshal McLuhan commented that, ‘The medium is the message’ (1964), by which he meant that the designer’s choice of the pipeline that feeds us visual culture is in itself full of meaning for the people receiving it.”Downs (2012) pg.191.An important aspect of creative practice involves talking to an audience. Whether it’s a book, product packaging, a song or a sculpture, creative work is rarely created for only one person. This makes it important to understand the medium you’re using to transmit the communication – and to appreciate what it means to have an audience and what message you are trying to communicate. Create a mind map of the possible ways to disseminate your practice to an audience. Reflect on the following questions and refine your awareness of the audience relative to your practice.
- <<creative work is rarely created for only one person>>
When someone admires an artist’s work, they become privy to a magic process. They get a glimpse of the wonder that goes behind it. Seeing how they turn their imagination into something tangible to evoke emotions and inspire people is fantastic. It’s like peeking into a world where creativity knows no bounds. The artist’s work takes value from the audience. Indeed, art is often created to connect with an audience and elicit some response or emotional reaction. With an audience to appreciate and engage with the work, it might retain some of its meaning and impact. When displaying artwork, the effectiveness of a particular platform or location may vary depending on the type of art and the target audience. For example, a contemporary art piece may be more effective in a modern museum or gallery. At the same time, a traditional painting may be more effective in a historical building or a classic art museum.
Similarly, the choice of the online platform for showcasing artwork may depend on the target audience and the purpose of the exhibition. For instance, social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook can reach a wider audience. In contrast, art-focused platforms like Saatchi Art or Artfinder may be more effective for attracting severe art collectors. Ultimately, the effectiveness of a platform or location depends on how well it aligns with the artist’s or curator’s goals.
While it is true that communicating your piece of art is crucial, keeping your target audience in mind is also essential. Having a specific demographic in mind can help you tailor your message and style to better resonate with them and increase their chances of connecting with your work. However, you can still expand beyond a specific audience. Your art can still have a universal appeal, and it’s up to you to find ways to showcase its beauty and meaning to a broader spectrum of people. Ultimately, the key is to balance creating something that speaks to your target audience while authenticating your artistic vision.
Is it important to reach your art out to everyone or limit your ambitions?
It depends on my goals and my artistic vision at that time. Some artists may aim to create art with a universal appeal that can resonate with a broader audience. Others may have a specific target audience, and their work may be geared towards that demographic. Both approaches have their merits and can lead to success, depending on the artist’s objectives. Ultimately, the most important thing is for the artist to stay true to their vision and create art that speaks to them and their audience, whether that audience is niche or universal. Communication is the paramount target. Therefore, the artefact becomes the medium and the magnifying glass of peeking into the artist’s soul.
- Contextual Point“…an artistic orientation towards the social…to overturn the traditional relationship between the art object, and artist and the audience. To put it simply: the artist is conceived less as an individual producer of discrete objects than as a collaborator and producer of situations; the work of art as a finite, portable, commodifiable product is reconceived as an ongoing or long-term project with an unclear beginning and end; while the audience, previously conceived as a ‘viewer’ or ‘beholder’, is not repositioned as a co-producer or participant.”Artificial Hells, Introduction, pg. 2.Claire Bishop, Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship (2012) Verso Books.
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