Invisible Audiences in the Pandemic
I love that moment near the end of an online cultural event where everyone starts dropping like flies, anxiously posting in the chat dialogue ‘sorry I have to go’ and ‘I have to run into another meeting, apologies for leaving early’. We all know that the real reason for leaving is often rooted in hunger, home distractions, frustration and fatigue.
The truth is, art has to fit around the home. Just as domestic space has merged into the 2020 workplace, it has also taken on the role of the gallery. Lockdown restrictions mean that audience members no longer benefit from the separation between home life, work and leisure time. Although these can all still be experienced, they often take place in the same location.
As a result, audiences have taken a new invisible form. In the transformation from the gallery walls to the visitor’s laptop screen, there is a loss of control over the audience’s environment. What can be gained from this shift, and what in turn do we lose?
As media academic John Sullivan reflects, the nature of audiences has been changing for centuries:
“The notion of the audience has shifted continually throughout human history in response to the social and cultural dynamics of human societies’ (1)
Ancient audiences like the unruly spectators of Greek amphitheatres once gathered collectively to witness a shared event. In oral traditions, great emphasis lay upon the messenger who would create intimate storytelling environments for quiet enraptured audiences. And television viewers could witness unfolding events from the solitude of their own home.
The birth of new media offered all sorts of new opportunities for cultural providers, both in the scale at which a story or message could be told, and in the proximity between them and the listener. In the events of Covid-19, mediated content has become the sole channel for connecting audiences with culture, creating an advent of new engagement practices and a steep learning curve in how these are approached. Can audiences be treated in the same manner as they were in physical space, or are there new environmental contenders that must be considered?
In an IRL (2) event it’s pretty rare for someone to leave before it’s finished. From artist talks, intimate music gigs, to performance art events, leaving early is just considered rude. It’s also frowned upon to leave a theatre show during an interval, despite the fact that this can be done more secretively. In galleries, once a visitor has entered the exhibition space, it is highly unlikely that they will immediately run out of the door they came in, even if what they see is stomach-churningly opposed to their taste. They will feel the spying eyes of the gallery staff, and the bodily commitment they have made to that space. To leave is to risk seeming uncultured, ignorant or cowardly!
In opposition, online art exhibitions and experiences don’t tend to have the same effect. This is due to the lack of social expectation for you to stay, and the fact that your mediation of the experience is private, the time of which is often dictated by you. The issue that this poses is it’s trickier to get your audience to stick around. A little trick which might help address this is signposting what is to come. Letting your visitor know what they can look forward to will keep them attentive and curious.
In a gallery you have the advantage of visual knowledge. Take the Bluecoat gallery as an example. Having worked there in the past, I know my way around this place with my eyes closed. I know how long it will take to visit the whole exhibition, and by peering down the corridor-like ‘Vide’ I can catch glimpses of the artworks I’ll encounter, building excitement throughout my journey.
In online exhibitions you don’t get this perspective which informs you what is to come next. If you don’t connect with the art in the first three minutes, it’s pretty unlikely that the rest of the artists will get to be seen. I struggle myself with maintaining the self-discipline which is integral for experiencing these online exhibitions to their full capacity. This is partly due to the nature of the web, where we have built a comfort in navigating its pages with speed and impatience. Recipes, film reviews, articles and products each compete for our attention as we trail through endless links, training us through a routine of clickbait behaviour.
Since the pandemic, culture has joined this competitive force without even knowing it. Analytics feed us information about page views, clicks and number of participants. But what do we know about the quality of this experience? Providing culture is not just about reaching the masses, but about connecting with audiences deeply about important issues, providing entertainment and enriching people’s lives. As audiences become invisible, how can we ensure that we still achieve these key components of culture, and how do we know these needs are met?
1) Sullivan, J (2013) Media Audiences: Effects, Users, Institutions, and Power. SAGE. p8
2) IRL - In real life
