In the essay “Art After Web 2.0″, Lev Manovich talks about how people’s life has been changed by the participatory or social media on the web. At the beginning of the essay, Manovich talks about the definition of the social media. He talks about the factors which make social media different than the other media. It is significant to see the increasing of the communication through web, but it does not mean that all the user has become the producer. It’s only few percentage of people is actually producing through web. Furthermore, he talks about the effects of Web 2.0 on traditional culture, and the effects of social media on professional art practice.
I find out one point which Manovich made is very interesting. He gives the definition of “tactics” and “strategies”. Tactics is more flexible; strategies in more stable. He thinks that “A tactic ‘expects to have to work on things in order to make them its own, or to make them ‘habitable’”. For instance, the road has been designed by the government, but we can decide how we use the road. The student at Emily Carr University can decide how to fit in the school. In the essay, Manovich said:”given that a significant percentage of user-generated content either follows templates and conventions established by the professional entertainment industry or directly reuses professionally produced content”. People start to use social media as a platform to built their own identity and lives.
I also want to talks about Manovich’s ideas about the “conversation” exchange. Manovich thinks that the contemporary art is conversation between different schools and artists. The social media make the whole exchange process faster than before. In other world, social media actually benefit the professional art practice. He talks about the new form of the contemporary art which refers to the remix. The idea of “remix” does not say it is not creative or original. In the essay, Manovich use AMV as an example to prove that the “remix” is the action of creating something new based on the original. Therefore, I start to think about my own art practice. I am currently study the application called “Processing”. There are many open sources available on the website. I find out it is a great way to learn from the others. As long as there is nothing going to be look like the original, then we can call the “remixing” process as an action of creativity. The process of “remix” involved designer’s thoughtful thinking as well. In a word, social media provide more choices for artist to making art pieces.
