Exploring the Intersection of Digital Media and Visual Arts: Innovations in Contemporary Art Curation

Abstract

Background: Everybody knows how the use of new media tools in the arts has changed not only the new forms of production but also the new trends in curation and exhibition. New media technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have opened up opportunities to further explore the conventions of the traditional art categories of artistic artwork and create new possibilities for interactive and generative art forms. Caregivers have to find new ways of curating these new forms of art, which are digital installations that come with immense solutions for exhibiting, educating, and conserving them. However, the aggregation of digital art presents issues linked to the artwork's technical aspects and the world's cultural shift regarding the audience. Objective: The central research question, to which answers are sought in this paper, is the following: How does digital media affect contemporary art curation, especially regarding new curatorial approaches, audience involvement, and digital artwork conservation? The study also explores relative concepts such as hybrid physical and digital exploration, completely virtual exhibitions and ways through which the confluence of blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can be used to store and provide provenance to digital compositions. Methods: This work uses a qualitative research approach, case-study analysis of digital and virtual artwork and curators, and semi-structured interviews with digital artists. The methods included in the data analysis are thematic and comparative analysis of the results of curatorial activity and audience interest in exhibitions. The case studies were mainly concerned with hybrid exhibitions, virtual and augmented exhibition making, and the application of NFTs in art exhibitions. At the same time, the interviews offered angles of the difficulties and solutions curators encountered in incorporating new media in exhibitions. Results: The results reveal optimism for new media since it is making audience engagement more lively due to various technologies. Such hybrid models are also beneficial, allowing one to communicate with guests who visit the exhibition physically and those viewers who only attend its online equivalent. Virtual exhibitions offer greater ease of access to worldwide viewers, while non-fungible tokens allow the original owners of the digital artwork to have long-term control over them. The authors establish that contemporary curators are implementing diverse approaches to incorporate technology into museums; however, several questions imply limitations: how to maintain digital artefacts’ sustainability and how to preserve them as technologies change. Conclusion: New media appears to influence contemporary visual art's creation and presentation and present beneficial possibilities for artists and curators. The study focuses on benefits that can be potentially achieved from increased use of digital technologies in improving audience experience, accessibility of artworks and finding new approaches to protecting digital art. However, technology, as an ever-changing factor, continues to pose future problems in the preservation and accessibility of published material. Subsequent investigations will tackle questions of continuity and preservation of the new media artwork and the broader question of rights and wrongs in curatorial practices facilitated by the latest technologies.