July 8, 2020

ICOM Art Professionals and the

Voices

Frenzy of Digitisation

ELLI LEVENTAKI
MSc art historian and curator
Keywords : Digitization; Art professionals; Crisis; Precarity; Labour.

During these challenging times, it was a pleasant surprise to see museums, institutions,
festivals and all kinds of art spaces remaining active, by figuring out alternatives for
showcasing, promoting and sharing content using digital tools. However, amidst popular
demand for remote access to art, many cultural institutions were abruptly forced to speed
up their digitisation procedures or come up with imaginative online solutions, thus hoping
to keep up with the rest of the world and maintain their audience’s interest.

Perhaps the most characteristic example was the Getty Museum Challenge, which went
viral by inviting people to recreate famous artworks at home, a practice that has since been
adopted by many museums around the world (Barnes 2020). Apart from using their social
media platforms, art spaces also provided virtual tours of their venues, or freshened up
their YouTube channels, by uploading brand-new videos. An example in Greece is the
Onassis Foundation channel, which continued uploading new content throughout the
quarantine.

Example of the Getty Museum Challenge, available on the Getty Museum’s Instagram
page. © Getty Museum

IMPACT OF DIGITISATION ON ART PROFESSIONALS WORLDWIDE

Although these developments have been undeniably necessary and valuable updates for
the future of the art field, which would otherwise have taken much longer to be carried out,
it is important to also interpret them in a labour-oriented context. The current digitisation
frenzy is already affecting art professionals worldwide, who are either pressured to come
up with digital resources in record time, or to acquire further qualifications in order to cope
with the increased demand.
At the same time, a significant number of their peers are being laid off, as even large
institutions like MoMA, New York, find it hard to secure funding sources and ensure
sustainability (Selvin 2020). As far as the situation in Europe is concerned, a recent survey
conducted by the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO), revealed that a
majority (73%) of museums reported having to reduce their expenses by reducing costs
related to staff.

THE GREEK CASE

In Greece in particular, the cultural sector is already experiencing a severe hit, which is
also associated with reduced tourism. For many art spaces, galleries and even small
museums, their very existence is currently at stake, as there are doubts as to whether some
will be able to re-open in the post-lockdown phase. Meanwhile, Greek art professionals are
asserting their labour rights through newly established networks, like Support Art Workers
and Cultural Workers Alliance Greece, in order to demand countermeasures for their work
loss by the state. The groups are self-organised by the art community and emerged as a
reflex response to the government’s lack of provision for the cultural sector, in order to
collectively claim their rights. Most of them have seen their upcoming projects cancelled
one after another, while others have been working from home, without knowing if their
work status will change, or whether they will be asked to undertake purely digital tasks
when this is over.

Performance protest by the Support Art Workers group, on 7 May in Athens, Greece.
©Support Art Workers

Without losing sight of the objective, which is audience outreach, this hyper-digitisation
trend is increasing the precarity of work conditions for art employees around the world
and will most definitely have long-term effects on the nature of the services provided
overall.
Acclaimed art historian and museologist, prof. M. Scaltsa, recently pointed out that digital
programmes for culture focus 90% on digitisation itself and only 10% on the essence of
what is being digitally conveyed (Scaltsa 2020), foreshadowing an ominous future for all
professionals in arts and humanities. Hence, by limiting the perception of culture to its
digital reproductions, a series of professional categories, such as educators, researchers,
conservators and facilitators, will inevitably face extinction, and the quality of cultural
production will eventually drop.

So, while appreciating the value of digital content, let’s argue for a balance between the
volume of digitisation procedures in the art field and the required art-related labour for
their implementation, since creating and transmitting art requires much more effort and
commitment than what is reflected on a single digital asset or an online piece of
information.

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

Barnes, S. 2020. ‘People Recreate Works of Art With Objects Found at Home During Self-
Quarantine’ My Modern Met

Scaltsa, M. 2020. ‘Globalization, museology and culture’ Avgi

Selvin, C. 2020. ‘MoMA Slashes Budget, Reduces Staff Ahead of Reopening: Report’
ARTnews

Instagram of the Getty Museum

The full NEMO survey

The Onassis Foundation channel

Protest-Representation of the group Support ART Workers, on 7th May in Athens, Greece

The main page of the Support Art Workers initiative on Facebook

The Cultural Workers Alliance Greece group on Facebook