Page 18 - The Black Box Book

INTRODUCTION
JANA HORÁKOVÁ
https://doi.org/10.5817/CZ.MUNI.M280-0225-2022-2
“Does it make sense to theorize the present when it seems to be
changing so fast?” (Manovich, 2001, p. 34)
This publication represents one of the first attempts to analyze and reflect
on the extraordinary period of the global Covid-19 pandemic, whose im-
pact on the art world can be regarded as a shock that requires reflection
as a condition for the conscious integration of this experience along with
some crisis solutions into the curatorial practice of the post-pandemic era.
In this book, a group of authors maps and critically examines the trans-
formation of exhibition strategies of memory institutions and galleries.
Thus, it focuses on the period around 2020 and the implementation of
anti-pandemic measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. During this
period, there was a general shift towards the use of online communication
platforms for art presentation, which, in conjunction with the long-term
process of digitization of art collections and the development of art prac-
tice and culture using digital media, led to the testing of new curatorial
approaches, often in a confrontation between the gallery practice of
brick-and-mortar exhibition spaces and the online curatorial projects that
were in development up to that time.
During the quarantine, the internet environment was utilized to
an unprecedented degree to display not only digital art but also the op-
erations of traditional art institutions that were forced to transfer online.
The World Wide Web and digital media were thus thrust into the spotlight
overnight, drawing the attention of art world actors, art consumers, and
the general public. As a result, traditional brick-and-mortar galleries and
experimental digital art endeavours met in a common virtual space. For the
first time, their curatorial projects were exhibited in a setting that ensured
a level playing field for all participants. This gave a unique chance to examine
the parallels, contrasts, and complementarities of online curating and
offline exhibiting techniques brought online.
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This publication captures and reflects on these encounters.
The authors argue that the transition from the physical to the online world
is not merely a translation or simulation of a physical gallery space but
that online curating and creative practice in the digital media environment
represents a distinct, evolving, and media-specific practice that has been
establishing itself as a distinct discipline for many years. In the realm
of digital curation, the authors of this publication have added cases of
the application of artificial intelligence (machine learning) in the processing
of digitized art collections in the position of curator. In fact, the experi-
mental use of this new technology in online curatorial practice coincides
with the pandemic and is consequently one of the defining characteristics
of this period.
As we have observed, no one has yet devoted a monograph to a sys-
tematic description and assessment of the transformation of the art world
during the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, a myriad of texts with
a journalistic tenor explored topics such as art education online (Hládeková,
2020) or the crisis of art and the status of the artist during the general
mobilization to fight the pandemic (Jakalová, 2020), or the nature of
the disease or of viruses in art. (Dumitriu, 2020) It is only in recent months
that scholarly studies devoted to the state of art practice and artists in
the pandemic era have begun to appear, yet the issue orbiting around
the transformation of curatorial practice has not appeared in the form
of an independent monograph. A remarkable reflection on contemporary
Czech art, including the pandemic experience, was made by Václav Magid
in his contribution to the publication Jinde a Jindy (Elsewhere and at
Other Time) in which he primarily traced the relations of the artistic field
to the phenomenon of the present and the risks associated with an era
dominated by a politics of identity. (Magid, 2021)
A short note on the massive transformation of curatorial work from
traditional art institutions to the web due to global pandemics is offered
in The Broken Timeline (Dekker, 2021). It is reflected more narrowly in
selected chapters of the book Barranha, H. & Henriques, J. S. (eds.)
(2021). Among the studies that are to be found on the EBSCO database,
the closest to our point of view is the study (Maciuk, K. & Jakubiak, M.
& Sylaiou, S. & Falk, J. H., 2022), in which the authors published data
on the attendance of online activities of surveyed museum institutions
and framed the interpretation of these figures with commentary on
the tools chosen and the ability of the staff of these institutions to use
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