Interview by Matthew Caines 

Tech talk: Edwin Coomasaru, director, International New Media Gallery

The director of the online exhibition platform on net art, the future of street-based galleries and curating with algorithms
  
  

Edwin Coomasaru
Edwin Coomasaru is director of the International New Media Gallery Photograph: INMG

Hi Edwin, can you tell me a bit about the International New Media Gallery?

Founded in 2012, the International New Media Gallery (INMG) is an online exhibition platform. Run by a team of volunteers, the INMG showcases the latest photography, moving image and digital art. A number of elements set the INMG apart from more traditional galleries but primarily we make contemporary art freely available on computers and mobile devices.

Why choose to take the gallery model online?

I founded the INMG to explore the potential of web-based technology to diversify and expand audiences for contemporary art. This meant rethinking the whole exhibition experience. Rather than using spaces with carefully coded rituals evoked by the grand neoclassical columns or pristine white walls that some find intimidating, why not give up some curatorial control and let each visitor decide in what kind of room or street they view the art?

Not that I’m naive about the impact of the internet on diversity; being online is no guarantee of visibility and the primary influencer of visitor demographics is education. This is why education is at the heart of the INMG: we publish extensive catalogues, free to download, and hold public talks with each exhibition. Presenting art alongside contextual information is important (even if it goes unread) to declare the right of uninformed visitors to be there. The educational aspect is also a learning resource for us, as curators and researchers.

What are the advantages of being online v bricks-and-mortar?

So many small- to medium-sized contemporary art galleries sit empty, with a tiny number of visitors that hardly justify the rent. With the INMG I wanted to curate exhibitions for an international audience at an extremely low cost.

We’re also interested in having a dialogue with our visitors and the web is good at facilitating spaces for that. Most institutions provide little opportunity for audiences to talk to the curators: no way of asking questions or challenging their decisions. The INMG has discussion pages where we respond to criticism or enter into debates about the work on display.

It’s also interesting (and important) to see artworks enter into flows of online circulation through social media feeds – to have a life outside of the “exhibition space” by appearing in different contexts and sparking conversations. Using the internet as a medium of display is also particularly apt for net art, a medium with a rather awkward history of display in traditional museums, which often choose to either ignore it or install chunky computer terminals.

Some critics see the rise of digital art and online viewing as a threat to street gallery and museum attendance – what’s your view on it?

The notion that online museums are a threat to offline ones is a complete red herring; most bricks-and-mortar institutions do more damage by fostering a sense of exclusivity. Getting more people into contemporary art through internet-based exhibitions will only expand audiences for traditional shows. The web poses less of a threat for galleries that exhibit unique place-specific objects like sculptures, paintings and installations.

I think street-based galleries will change, but fundamentally I don’t think it’s a question of being exclusively online or offline. The key approach is to use both. The internet is often mythologised as a disembodied “immaterial” space but as activist movements like Occupy demonstrated, the web can be used as a powerful tool for gathering people in geographical proximity. From the beginning, it’s been important for the INMG to host offline talks and discussions for each exhibition: to foster spaces to congregate and converse.

What are the drawbacks to working solely online?

Because of the chorus of voices online, sometimes it’s a fight to be heard. This is particularly the case these days as the internet has gone from something more “horizontal” to big businesses dominating the web and vying for the highest Google search rankings. We’re competing for people’s attention alongside giant international corporations, which isn’t easy, particularly on our budget.

Also, while online galleries are increasingly gaining momentum and popularity, there are still a number of people who have trouble getting their head around the concept. “Isn’t it just a website?” asked a friend of mine once. This will inevitably change as online exhibitions become more standard practice.

Does being online impact the way you curate exhibitions and work?

Working online is an opportunity to reevaluate and evolve curating as a practice. Historically, curating has been a very top-down process: specialists dictating to audiences from on high; museums writing community histories. This format is one of the many reasons entrenched inequalities build up in the arts. Making curating more collaborative and relinquishing some of our power is a chance to address this situation.

A year ago we established our Collective Curating programme. Anyone with an internet connection can suggest an exhibition theme and the shows are composed of crowdsourced material. Growing and evolving over time, the audience submits content, blurring the roles of curator, artist and visitor all at once.

Our current project, Between Self and Selfie, mixes vernacular photography with net art to explore the politics of self-representation online. While I’m not suggesting we completely do away with all aspects of the “expert” or professional curator, we can think about a model that is perhaps more democratic, not just accessible but built on public conversation and contestation.

Can you reveal any of the user stats for the INMG?

Our analytics counter has only been running consistently for the last year but we’ve had about 5,000 unique visitors that span across more than 112 countries and six continents. They are small figures for a website but not bad for an emerging gallery.

What’s next for the gallery in terms of technological or digital developments?

After hearing a talk by Boris Groys at The Institute of Contemporary Arts in May, I’m thinking about organising an exhibition “curated” by algorithms. As Google Search and Facebook’s newsfeed become ever more important for the way we access information, it seems very pressing to explore what material is privileged or ignored by such technologies – and whose agendas are served in the process.

I’m also interested in some of the work Furtherfield is doing at the moment with internet-based, collaborative game projects. If we had the funds, I’d like to develop an online platform for the INMG where multiple users can simultaneously upload, recycle and remix still and moving images, creating temporary aesthetic arrangements that are continually shaped and destroyed as they evolve.

This interview was co-commissioned with Arts Industry magazine

Edwin Coomasaru is director of the International New Media Gallery, which you can follow on Twitter @inmgallery

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