New media art, participation, social engagement and public funding

Chatzichristodoulou, Maria

Abstract

This article investigates the current condition of new media art in Britain, examining how cuts to arts funding have affected the art form's infrastructure and capacity for survival and growth. It considers media art in relation to other contemporary art practices, particularly in relation to its inherent capacity for enhanced and sustained user participation, and asks why it is that, though government agendas favour participatory art as ‘socially useful', media art appears to have been hit harder than other art forms. The article puts forward four reasons that could explain this paradox, and argues the importance of the survival of new media art, not as isolated practices invited to exist within mainstream contexts, but as a distinct art form.

Citation

Chatzichristodoulou, M. (2013). New media art, participation, social engagement and public funding. Visual culture in Britain, 14(3), 301-318. https://doi.org/10.1080/14714787.2013.827486

• Online Publication Date: Sep 5, 2013
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Journal: Visual culture in Britain
• Print ISSN: 1471-4787
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 301-318
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14714787.2013.827486
• Keywords: Participatory art; Socially engaged art; New media art; Social media; Arts funding
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/368906
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14714787.2013.827486
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Visual culture in Britain on 5th September 2013, available online: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14714787.2013.827486
• Contract Date: Nov 13, 2014