The sixth anniversary of Facebook comes as the total user base is reaching nearly 400 million. Facebook is fast becoming the web.
On Facebook Jerry Saltz’s friends are close to 5,000 in number. His Facebook “Seeing Out Loud” cyber neighborhood is almost 2,800.
Given his status in the “art world”, I would have expected a network greater than that. Or is that all of an audience there is?
For some other Facebook comparisons MoMA is at 250k, the Met 110k (absurdly low) the New Museum an anemic 13k and Saltz’s New York Magazine 6.5k.
The connection people have toward “fine art” in any real contemporary sense seems cool to non-existent. And that is a shame. Remaining insular and clubby has operational value but it is counter intuitive to awareness and the cultivation of collectors and new benefactors.
It can’t be a long term benefit to anyone that contemporary art only surfaces in the general public’s mind around sales price or church/religious bashing or the two headed PR monster of homophobia/homo-eroticism.
Am I wrong about this? How do we get to a new accessibility?
