INTERVIEW REFLECTIONS

Based on the interview, what new insights or perspectives did you gain about the integration and impact of technology (and AI) in your chosen profession?

AI and virtual reality are tools used by most collectors, gallerists, and dealers. In many cases, AI has proven helpful for sales, collection management, predicting market forecasts, and client relations; it seems like most people use it to organize, understand, or gather data. In the last few years, mainly due to COVID, virtual exhibitions and artwork renderings at a given pace have also become a more common practice. However, many people are starting to use AI instead of having creatives on their team to make or come up with. a concept, so I understand the art world’s hesitancy to integrate AI into their daily operations.

Were there any surprises or notable trends that stood out to you?

Not really. I interviewed former internship supervisors so I understood how their businesses operate. Though it’s been a slow change for some, I am glad that people are becoming more open to using technology and that I can witness it develop.

What changes in technology and the use of AI are likely to become a future standard in the art world?

Virtual exhibitions will continue developing in the virtual reality space. In 2020, when arts institutions were forced to go virtual to continue having an audience, they created virtual showrooms and exhibitions, but they weren’t very smooth and didn’t feel real. Today, virtual exhibitions are generally smoother and allow you to walk through a museum as if you were there. Each time I see a virtual exhibition, it gets better and more realistic, so I think the next step will be virtual reality, especially since it is already being used to document large earthworks and sculptures.

web design & implementation

How did your vision for the website change from inception to completion?

When I began, I knew I wanted to use green and have minimalist qualities similar to gallery websites. Art has its own standard for captioning that art galleries and organizations commonly follow on their websites because that is how I’ve been required to caption images at previous internships. I thought I would caption my images in that way, but it didn’t work for two reasons- 1. some images didn’t have or need that information, and 2. it made the page look really cluttered. I opted to give image credits through short captions or a link to the original source when needed. While making the website, I also realized that some things I was doing weren’t translating well on the mobile display, so I had to readjust some things, like the chart, to my liking.

What challenges did you face during the implementation phase, and how did you overcome them?

I struggled to format the writing and keep the website engaging. I also had some challenges maintaining continuity regarding color themes, sizing, and spacing because I didn’t use a template theme and format. My experience working with websites has focused on images and short, informative writing. I wasn’t sure if there was a way to create graphs and charts on the website, so I played around with other website features, trying to make it work, but it was a struggle.

Were there any tools or techniques you found particularly useful?

I found the duplicate tool helpful when maintaining the theme/format. I didn’t like the templates provided, so I started with blank pages, and duplicates helped keep things the same. The ability to select and edit color palettes made it easy to come up with my own theme.

DATA CHART REFLECTION

What patterns or trends did you observe after compiling the data and presenting it in a chart/table format?

VR was considered an emerging technology, proving to be a tool in the art world by 2 out of 3 interviewees. None of the people I interviewed or their organizations use AI for the art side of their business, and one gallery used AI tools for marketing, social media, and client relation purposes. I was surprised that technology wasn’t being used to make searching through artwork databases easier; in my mind, the ability to ask AI to point out the works created in an impressionist style or with the color blue would be extremely helpful for someone trying to find a specific piece or pull a group of related pieces from a collection with thousands of artworks.

How does visualizing the data in this way enhance your understanding of the role of technology and AI in your chosen profession?

Visualizing the data made me realize that the arts have been relatively slow in integrating AI compared to other fields, but it has encouraged me to think about the way it could be helpful with cataloging and organizing an art collection, market research, advising and pricing,

Were there any data points that were particularly challenging to obtain or interpret? Why?

The people I interviewed were using AI primarily for language translation and marketing through built-in services but not for anything specific to the field—I’m interested in seeing how they’d answer the same question in a few years. I didn’t learn as much as I’d hoped about how it is currently being implemented because they aren’t using it, or the ways collectors, dealers, gallerists, and organizations could use AI are not well-known or accessible yet.

FINAL REFLECTION

Reflecting on my interviews, I've gained valuable insights into the evolving role of technology in the art world. Virtual exhibitions have significantly improved since the pandemic, transitioning from primary online displays to more immersive experiences, and more galleries are using digital rendering services to help their clients imagine the artwork in a specific space, suggesting a promising future for virtual reality in art. It's clear that while many professionals utilize AI for organizational and marketing purposes, there has yet to be a leap taken to use it creatively in art collections and database navigation despite its great potential. My website development journey revealed the importance of adaptability, as I needed to pivot my original vision to create a cleaner, more user-friendly design. Challenges in maintaining visual consistency taught me the value of experimenting with various tools to achieve my goals. The art industry stands at this crossroads of traditional methods of displaying, cataloging, and selling, and embracing the full spectrum of technological advancements could lead to a richer, more accessible art experience for all; I believe the future of art is intertwined with technology, and it is up to us to explore and harness that potential.