Contemporary visual art as mass practice: Pleasure in digital 'religion' confession

Abstract

In the era of mass production and consumption, the emergence of new technologies and opportunities of quick and easy reproduction, Duchamp with his 'readymade' objects opens a new field of artistic activity which has allowed the artist not only to present industrial products as art, but also to keep their industrial, not an artistic look. This allows the creation of a new form of 'creation' and 'exhibition' - Internet which is, as a digital 'democratic' creation and other modern technology that goes with it, available to everyone, not artists only. Given that the artist is no longer the only one who possess the skill and technical knowledge, art is what artist create, share and exchange with other people in everyday life. Contemporary visual art as if became a mass practice. It seems that everyone is an artist today, since everyone creates everyday and exhibits its' creations on popular web sites. Is this what Boys predicted with his thought that everyone is an artist? Life exhibits itself, and everyday life becomes a work of art. Process of self-documentation and its presentation to the public in the form of confession on web sites - the digital 'religion' became a mass obsession, because it leads to a double pleasure, even though it leads to double frustration too. In addition to enjoying the cathartic exposure of their life and their minutes of fame, the Internet users also experience double frustration in the misappropriation as the byproduct of this exposure - re frustration that occurs when the 'audience' do not pay attention to the offered exposure. Contemporary visual arts and the Internet are increasingly becoming 'time based' - projects which key feature is long time duration, repetition and documentation (archiving) of life itself. Artists and other people in the race to document all aspects of life, in fear of time passing and loneliness, are desperately trying to achieve mass communication.