The End of the Art Connoisseur? Experts and Knowledge Production in the Visual Arts in the Digital Age

Abstract

In this digital age, declarations surface of the death of the expert and the democratization of information. Crowd wisdom is seen as the new guide in constructing and evaluating knowledge. In the context of the art world, this tension between the amateurs and the experts becomes particularly pronounced as popular meets high culture. Questions arise such as: what is the role of the expert in the evaluation of art in contemporary times? Do social media dismantle age-old hierarchies and established priesthoods in the art world? And can we assume that mass participation in valuation results in better judgments? This article addresses such popular notions of participation and expertise concerning social media in the art world through a historical lens by re-examining and positioning art experts from past to present. Particularly, characteristics of intermediaries in the art market are examined closely regarding their strategies in knowledge production and the establishment of expertise. This historical situatedness enables us to move beyond the hype of new media expectations, generating more appropriate avenues of investigation to better grasp possible changes amongst actors within the contemporary art world. This examination is not just theoretically relevant but practically so, given current pressures on art institutions to embrace and reach out to new audiences online.

Art Markets and Digital Histories

“…Though here too, new hybrid art history-economics methodologies are deployed based on empirical historical evidence in the aggregate, or more creative approaches to dealing with imperfect data, with or without regression analyses. It remains, however, a critical question as to whether or not we can move beyond the hype of new media expectations and generate more appropriate avenues of investigation to better grasp possible changes amongst actors within the contemporary art world (Arora and Vermeylen 2013).…”

Cinehacking Cape Town - Embracing Informality in Pursuit of High Quality Media

“…In some areas of HCI (e.g. computing), amateurs are increasingly being acknowledged as unsung ÔexpertsÕ [20,2], whose creative subversions of the norm are seen as valuable contributions to a discipline. Ames et al critique ÔprofessionalizationÕ of amateurs [1] and instead call for new types of tools and literacies to support DIY ÔmakersÕ.…”

Museum 2.0: A study into the culture of expertise within the museum blogosphere

“…They are identified as experts because they hold a lot of experience, are certified in their field, are identified by their peers as such, and are able to reach consensus in this field in the production of new knowledge (Shanteau, et al, 2002). Furthermore, their institutional linkage largely adds to their expert status (Arora and Vermeylen, 2013). The available media technologies, such as catalogues or the signs near the object on exhibition, are important power tools in this respect as they present curators with the means to contextualize objects and communicate this knowledge to the visitors, and can thus be consciously or unconsciously manipulated in order to establish and protect their expert position (Silverstone, 1994).…”