THE WATCHER WITH THE MAIL

TAKE 3

Loving Street Art Belgrade

While there is no substitute for looking at graffiti and street art in real life, it has become evident in recent years that new technologies can add an extra dimension to these art forms. At the end of 1990s, graffiti culture had already recognized the potential of the world wide web as a platform for this global movement to intertwine and cement its reign in urban settlements. One of the pioneering web sites, ArtCrimes.com, served as a gallery where one could see the artworks from all over the world. So, in the beginning, it was the culture itself that recognized the potential of what the digital revolution could bring. Since the mid-2000s and following the rise of street art, it has become obvious that not only graffiti culture and, consequently, street art, have had the need to document and share art on the streets, but that this has also become a favourite activity of those frequenting social networks. Next to cute cats, food porn and selfies, sharing photos of graffiti and street art has become extremely popular. However sociologists or psychologists interpret this phenomenon, it shows one thing clearly – people do notice and enjoy graffiti and street art. In this exhibition, let us explore the world of the digital content and a selection of the most popular artworks among social network users. One could ask why would this selection be relevant to the art world and what can this curatorial approach bring to the viewers? Well, the answer is simple – we wish to see if the audience picks just random ‘pretty’ things or whether there are more significant processes going on. Therefore, we are going to take the photos with the biggest number of views and likes on our organisations social media and organise them in groups so that they can be put in context and analysed. The outcome will be clear at the end of this virtual presentation. So, take one Level at a time, take the ‘wisdom potions’ on each Level and at the end of the exhibition you will have gained the ‘ultimate knowledge’. Enjoy! Ljiljana Radošević, curator.