Today, many exhibitions (by curators rather than artists) model this new illegibility as a spectatorial condition. Documenta 11 (2002) was significant in many respects, not least of which was its inauguration of a tendency to include more work than the viewer could possibly see—in this case, six hundred hours of film and video. We don’t ask how big a show is anymore, but how long: A tiny gallery can contain days of art. The result is that we filter and graze, skim and forward.
The author’s point is an example of information overload that we experience, which then, trickles down to other areas such as visual art. Before the digital age, researching or creating a material takes an enormous amount of time. The process is gruesome and taxing. I believe that this process adds an artistic layer to the project. For example,collecting 300 postcards manually as opposed to buying them from Ebay are two different experiences. Buying the cards online creates a gap between the artist and their work. On the other hand, collecting the cards by traveling around the world gives the artist a deeper connection with the object itself. The cards are not just another commercialized item, but rather, a collection of stories and adventures.
Although the latter looks and feels more natural and authentic, this process is not always available to every artists due to budget or time constraints. It is true that the playing field for creating and researching has become a lot easier, the creative process is still different for everyone. I believe this is where ‘great’ artists separate themselves from the ‘good’ ones. Great artists will make use of what is available to them and at the same time develop an art different from others. For instance, almost everyone has access to a camera, yet not everyone is considered a photographer. What makes a photographer a photographer is that they are able to capture a beautiful scene by thinking outside the box.
Thinking outside the box is a very important skill in creating art in the digital age. The digital age provides tools which makes it easier for artist to create, which then, reduces the workload and increases the time for artists to think and improve their art. With that being said, artists should not produce quantity, but rather, quality. Digital audiences have a short attention span and I believe that six hundred hours of film and video is unnecessary to get our points across.