In the public video “Cultural Institutions” from the series Activism & Social Movements: Aesthetics, Art History, and Cultural Institutions, art exhibitions were displayed as physical locations–an installation, a museum, a building you walk into. However, this concept of a “physical” location has been challenged.
Of course, the internet is nothing new, and artists have already been rushing to utilize the new technologies available, trying new things every day. An art exhibition is “traditionally the space in which art objects…meet an audience. ” It is possible then to virtually engage with art objects, and it would be an experience. It would not be the same experience as a physical location, but the possibility exists that the experience could be different enough to be valid, even potentially sought after more than the original experience.
Especially with the addition of the rapidly developing technology of virtual reality, we now face the possibility of an entirely new method of experience. As for what this means for the art world and art exhibitions, we can only wait and find out.