Transformation of Art Communications and the Art Market in the Context of Digital Culture

Abstract

Digital culture has moved people to a fundamentally new environment, which has its own cha­racteristics, patterns and practices. Studies show that the digitalization of society occurs exponentially from year to year. Society is increasingly interacting with digital, and its influence affects various aspects of modern culture. New cultural patterns of behavior are being formed, traditional communication practices are being modified. As any complex phenomenon, digital culture not only opens up new opportunities for society, but also poses new challenges. The search for an effective, ethical, comfortable interaction in the information environment has become one of the urgent tasks. The development of the art market has always largely depended on the quality and level of social and cultural communications. Today, when the mass media in the traditio­nal sense have lost their monopoly on the production and distribution of information, giving way to “mass self-communication”, the art communications, relationships between the artist and the public, and construction of artistic careers are also undergoing certain transformations, influenced by social media. In recent years, the development of network structures, the increasing capabilities of digital storage systems, cryptocurrencies and blockchain registries have significantly changed the established system of the art market. This article is devoted to changes in the cha­racteristics of the art market and its main subjects — artists, collectors, galleries — in the context of digital culture. These processes and paradigmatic shifts are considered both from the point of view of their technological features, and from the point of view of their influence on artistic culture and art communication in general. The article analyzes in detail what ne­gative and positive aspects the digital culture brings to the participants of the art market.