Let’s face it: we are in an era where everything seems to be going through an algorithm.
Works of art to admire online are suggested to us based on our clicks, virtual tours promise to let us ‘experience’ a museum from the comfort of our sofa, and even artistic creation is in danger of being delegated to artificial intelligence. But do we really want a future of art like this? Where museums are only containers of digital experiences and exhibitions resemble more a video game than a moment of contemplation?
THE FUTURE OF ART IS NOT VIRTUAL BUT HUMAN, EXCITING AND FULL OF BEAUTY
The future of art, museums and culture is not made of screens and pixels, but of people creating, observing and being moved. Just as an electrician who arrives on time can save your day and solve the problem of a momentary blackout at home, so an artist who touches your heart can save your soul.
Art is not an algorithm but a blow to the stomach
When you visit an exhibition, what you seek is not an experience programmed by software. You seek the astonishment, the unexpected, that work that looks at you and asks you for something you didn’t even know you had inside.
And this our dear algorithms can never replicate. Because art is not a mathematical formula, it is intuition, mistake, chaos. Think of great artists such as Jackson Pollock or Leonardo da Vinci: if someone tried to explain their works using data and statistics, they would succeed in describing their success in economic terms but would fail in their aim of telling the story of the beauty of their masterpieces.
Art is irrational and that is its power.
The artists of the future: less tech, more heart
In the future there will always be a need for those who can move with a pencil stroke, an imperfect sculpture, an impromptu performance in the street. Of course, artists will not live in a bubble isolated from technology. Just as the plumber of tomorrow will have to know how to fix a smart toilet, the artist of the future will have to be familiar with digital dynamics, but without becoming a slave to it.
We do not want artists who create to get ‘likes’, but to leave scars in history and in our hearts. We do not need museums that turn into digital amusement parks, but spaces where we can enter and feel, for a moment, out of time.
Museums of the future: fewer ‘Instagrammable’ exhibitions and more authentic experiences
How many times have you visited an exhibition and realised that most people were there just to take a picture? Nothing wrong with that, for goodness sake, but a museum should be much more than a backdrop for social media.
The museums of the future will have to find a new balance: on the one hand, exploit the potential of technology (interactive tours, multimedia content, and yes, even some ‘Instagrammable’ spaces), but on the other hand protect their beating heart.
We need exhibitions that not only tell, but make us think, that not only show, but make us feel.
Art jobs of the future: restorers, curators, ‘human’ guides
Think of the jobs that revolve around art.
There are those who restore old paintings, those who curate exhibitions, those who act as guides for curious tourists. These jobs will not disappear; on the contrary, they will become more and more central. Just like plumbers and electricians, art professionals will not be replaceable.
There is no algorithm that can understand the nuances of a15th century artfresco better than a restorer. There is no artificial intelligence that can tell the story of a sculpture with the same passion as a human guide.
Beware: these jobs will change, of course.
Restorers will use new technologies to monitor the degradation of works, curators will create more inclusive and interactive exhibitions, and guides will have more and more digital tools to enrich their tours. However, the focus will always be the same: human interaction.
Art will hold our future (if we know how to value it).
The real question is not ‘What future will art have?’, but ‘Will we be able to give it the value it deserves?’.
Because if we continue to think that art is just a product to be consumed quickly, we will lose something essential.
The museums, exhibitions and artists of the future will not succeed because they will be technologically advanced, but because they will be able to speak to our deepest emotions. So, let us return to valuing what is human, imperfect and powerful.
Let us return to believing that an exhibition can change our lives. Because the future of art is not an algorithm, it is a soul that shakes us.
And you, what is your vision of the future of art?