I’ve been collecting art I love my entire life. I live in a small mountain town without a lot of access to galleries. I was thrilled to discover Etsy and Instagram with an almost endless array of modern artists. Since I’m an art collector, I buy and treasure art from these platforms. Both platforms give artists the world in which to market their work. Instagram has gone recently more to reels which show artists actually doing their processes. That is fascinating. I’ve found the algorithms that offer art to me are often spot on and I’m exposed to artists I might not otherwise discover. This is just another perspective on the issue at hand.
“our era of algorithmic feeds might herald the actual death of the collector, because the algorithm itself is the collector, curator, and arbiter of culture. Not only does that represent a loss of agency and control, it’s also a loss of feeling”
So interesting and true.
My lostness comes from the sense that our cultural collections are not wholly our own anymore. In the era of algorithmic feeds, it’s as if the bookshelves have started changing shape on their own in real time, shuffling some material to the front and downplaying the rest like a sleight-of-hand magician trying to make you pick a specific card — even as they let you believe it’s your own choice. And this lack of agency is undermining our connections to the culture that we love.
Outstanding!
An essay of Incredible Insight in the spirit of Nick Hornby.
I’ve been collecting art I love my entire life. I live in a small mountain town without a lot of access to galleries. I was thrilled to discover Etsy and Instagram with an almost endless array of modern artists. Since I’m an art collector, I buy and treasure art from these platforms. Both platforms give artists the world in which to market their work. Instagram has gone recently more to reels which show artists actually doing their processes. That is fascinating. I’ve found the algorithms that offer art to me are often spot on and I’m exposed to artists I might not otherwise discover. This is just another perspective on the issue at hand.
“our era of algorithmic feeds might herald the actual death of the collector, because the algorithm itself is the collector, curator, and arbiter of culture. Not only does that represent a loss of agency and control, it’s also a loss of feeling” So interesting and true.
Great Great This is what really thinking about things sounds like.
You highlighted my highlight.
😉
Kyle nails this paragraph.