Virtual Vogue: The Evolution of Digital Fashion Exhibitions

by 21048332

Cover Image Source: Exhibiting Fashion Website.

A critical analysis of Exhibiting Fashion in relation to the expansion of digitalised fashion exhibitions, in a post pandemic landscape.  

Based in the Centre for Fashion Curation at the London College of Fashion, Exhibiting Fashion is an online curation catalogue. The website documents and gathers information about global fashion experiences, fusing the adaptation of new technologies with fashion to showcase past and present exhibitions globally. Press releases, host venues, and information about the curator(s) and designer(s) of hundreds of international exhibitions are all provided by Exhibiting Fashion. All arranged by date, time and key meaning.

Source: London College of Fashion on YouTube

Exhibiting Fashion is just one of many online similar platforms which utilises new technology to bring a fresh perspective on fashion. Allowing a vast audience to indulge in a rich history of fashion, making what has previously been an exclusive opportunity, with a lack of access, into a more accessible one. 

The platform promotes individual research, workshops and publications, featuring a ‘Responses’ section in which reviews can be uploaded to the website. This user-creativity promotes vibrant viewpoints and innovation in the form of ‘prosumerism’ as spoken about by Toffler in 1980. Open participation within Exhibiting Fashion enables viewers to interact with significant cultural and social works within the Fashion Industry, . Challenging previous experiences of art and culture and encouraging the growth of additional creative spaces for social and cultural learning. This is massively important in educating audiences’ minds to the potential of digitalisation as a catalyst for making cultural sectors reachable, sustainable and inclusive.  

Following the pandemic, the Fashion industry leaned into the digitalisation of creative spaces. This need reflected the demand for digital art environments due to the in-place restrictions that stopped cultural experiences from taking place. These online adaptations allowed artists to gain exposure from a variety of audiences, making these experiences universal and ubiquitous. Additionally, facilitating the expansion and presence of the industry. This growth is acknowledged by Exhibiting Fashion stated that,  

”Exhibiting Fashion is a work in progress which will be regularly updated and expanded. It is a work in co-creation that welcomes, and depends on, your contributions of other fashion exhibitions from across the world’’  

Which raises the questions:  

• Are arts and culture exhibitions online the way forward?  
• Has digitalisation democratised culture and the arts?  

Due to the current co-existence between digital and physical spaces, it can be heavily argued that online exhibitions do not damage or eradicate the presence of the physical ones. And as stated by Rosalind Jana in British Vogue Magazine, the digitalisation of fashion and creativity post pandemic has ‘yielded a number of innovations and imaginative solutions – as well as an overwhelming sense of curiosity’. In this case, it is shown that the survival of online spaces like Exhibiting Fashion not only preserves the industry itself, but it is generates imaginative ways of displaying artistic user-creativity.  

In terms of sustainability, Kenneth Ize in a discussion with Marc Jacobs for Vogues Global Conversations series last year stated that ‘’Creativity never stops. No way. We need to find a way to do it.’’ (see below). They further discuss the adaptations regarding branding, fashion and the focus on the environment in response to the development of online spaces. Concluding that there has been a sharp increase in imaginative solutions, enabling audiences’ authentic artistic experiences, like Exhibiting Fashion.

Arguably, this digital remix culture, as explained by Lessig in 2008, has democratised culture and the arts by the unspecified ownership of user-generated content. The shift from consumer attitudes towards a co-creating value has blurred the boundaries between high and low art. Which, in many ways, is positive towards the preservation of art and cultural pieces that reflect social attitudes of the time and survive dark times in history like the pandemic itself.  

Source: British Vogue on YouTube

 In this way, digitalised platforms like Exhibiting Fashion, have created pathways for culture and art industries to survive changes in history. Therefore, as well as being incredibly successful, it is necessary to reflect a difference in thinking. Serving more than one purpose, originally to aid the existence of fashion, but now utilised to create a borderless attitude towards culture and art no matter what your identity.  

Tom Ford writes ‘the industry will change; but change also presents an opportunity to reset, restart and create a strong foundation for the future of American Fashion’. Ultimately, accepting this digitalisation is necessary in every way to preserve the creativity and imagination of gifted individuals, whose blooming talents should be shared with the world.   

#Saatchitakeover: Making the Most of Digital Disruption (C1834164)

As galleries all over the UK closed their doors because of Coronavirus, the art sector was forced to think outside the box when it came to keeping their work visible. The Saatchi Gallery in London was no exception and used this time to let their followers participate in their exhibitions. 

As part of their 35^th anniversary, the Saatchi Gallery launched #Saatchitakeover that meant that social media users across the world could submit their work to be exhibited online. 

It was announced on March 21^st 2020, that competitors had to: 

• Follow the weekly theme given by the gallery
• Stay at home to make their work 
• Post their work on social media, using the hashtag #Saatchitakeover 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Saatchi Gallery (@saatchi_gallery)

There were many interesting themes to keep us entertained during lockdown such as paper creations, shadows, and cartography (art using maps). 

The chosen works were published on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook on Saturdays. Also, the tagline for the #Saatchitakeover was ‘open to everyone, everywhere’, which suggests that Saatchi wanted a range of active participants.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Saatchi Gallery (@saatchi_gallery)

It is interesting to consider the fact that work by the public and work by established artists were posted side by side and this could be seen as blurring the lines between amateur and professional work. As someone who loves an underdog, I would hope that amateur work will earn more respect because of projects like #Saatchitakeover. 

Digital Disruption and the ‘Prosumer’ 

Typically, mission and vision statements in the arts sector mention an aim similar to ‘nurture a sense of belonging, cohesion, identity and pride’. It’s clear that the #Saatchitakeover goes together with this aim and creates a sense of community, something that is all the more needed in a time of digital disruption. 

The ‘prosumer’ is a term that combines the ‘producer’ and the ‘costumer’. The customer in this case isn’t what we would traditionally think of as a customer because viewing the online content on social media is free. Still, the traffic generated towards Saatchi Gallery’s social media pages as a result of the #Saatchitakeover, means that the gallery is more likely to receive donations and that the public are more likely to buy tickets to future exhibitions.  

By creating content for the #Saatchitakeover, the consumer also becomes a creator and so they can be considered ‘prosumers’ to a degree. 

Charlie Leadbeater points out that art can be traditionally thought of as a very solitude subject but he expects that in the century to come art will experiment more with the idea that art should ‘combine and connect’: 

‘The web will encourage a culture in which art creates relationships and promotes interaction, encourages people to be a part of the work, if only in a small way’ 

Obviously more people have access to the work through social media and discussions about the art are able to be had in the comment section by people from across the world, as demonstrated by the #Saatchitakeover. 

Photo by Omkar Patyane on Pexels.com

The value of this kind of participation in the art sector has been recognised long before the technology of social media was available to us. In the 1930s, Walter Benjamin wrote about how art was better the more it encouraged people to leave behind their passive role as spectator. 

As the #Saatchitakeeover tagline ‘open to everyone, everywhere’ suggests, we could see a lot more digital creativity, consumer participation and user-creativity in the art sector in the future. This could also lead to even better art than we have today. 

The digital museum- an effective replacement for reality? – (C1818752)

Coronavirus, a tale as old as time… well maybe it feels that way but once upon a time, we, as a society, could experience culture in their physical spaces with hundreds of others around us- unbelievable right? However, if we cast out minds back to the beginning of 2020 with COVID spreading rapidly, there was forced innovation to tackle the isolation we were all definitely feeling.

By engin akyurt (Via Upsplash)

Museums and heritage play a large role in the cultural industries and within people’s lives. By the end of 2020 we saw an 89% decrease in monthly museum visitors in comparison to the previous year– with millions locked away from this world. In recent years museums have been making a push towards digitalising museums and what this would look like; many have begun taking the steps to bring this to life, with the integration of virtual and augmented reality into their physical spaces and becoming main aspects of exhibitions. For example, we saw the Tim Peake’s Spacecraft and Virtual Reality experience in 2018, which was a pop-up event held in the National Museum Cardiff.

COVID-19 forced this indecisiveness of what a virtual gallery or museum online should entail, as a moment of pressure to ensure audiences were not locked away from these experiences and to create a sense of community with those who were physically locked away. This presented two main ideas:

1. Immersive media
2. User creativity

Immersive Media:

Immersive media is becoming an integral aspect of society, as Jenny Kidd, Cardiff University, often discusses, is the ability to create more ‘dynamic ways of communicating with the public’ through this.

By Giu Vicente (Via Upsplash)

So what is immersive media you ask? Well it’s probably very likely that you’ve encountered it at one stage, with it encompassing one of three ideas:

• Virtual reality
• Augmented reality
• 360 videos

Museums have used all three to substitute this loss for physical spaces, however disruptive technologies such as these have been a point of contention for a while, with a sense of unreadiness about how to implement these aspects into cultural spaces. However, COVID -19 saw many global museums push past this barrier through the showcase of virtual reality tours, such as the Google Arts and Culture, which is helpful as it allows people from around the world to engage with art outside of their reach.

User creativity:

The power of social media allowed us to see the engagement of museums with audiences online, when the physical realm was taken from us, encouraging user creativity to help with morale amongst communities. As Nobuko Kawashima, researcher, highlights User creativity has become a large aspect of Web 2.0, with the power of users to take part and feel more involved in the culture and the wider community- which further takes away from a completely top-down approach. Social media, specifically, encourages this as it allows your creations to be shared with millions and inspire others.

Museums have understood the potentials of engaging audiences online, and have promoted hashtags to use as crowdsourcing which will allow audiences to share their experiences or create art they feel is suitable but also is a brilliant way to create a community that spans world-wide. With encouragement for audiences to step into their creativity and participate in culture through the production of their own content. An example is the “Getty Museum Challenge” which encouraged audiences to recreate pieces of artwork from their gallery and publish them via social media platforms to allow others to see and comment.

Image of Getty Museum Challenge by u/lil-drummer-girl (via Reddit)

So, we now wonder… is the digital museum an effective replacement? Temporarily, it created a sufficient substitute for our isolated moments and highlighted its accessibility. Museums are not yet there, but the reaction of the pandemic has created a suitable push forward into how this could function.

(All images licenses under fair usage for educational purposes)

eSports Fuel? – Covid-19 Has Logged In

The Covid-19 pandemic has constrained many aspects of our lives, from group gatherings being banned to the closing of retail shops and restaurants, we have been forced to find solace in the inside of our homes. 

The constraints of the pandemic do not appear to have restricted the eSports sector, however. 

Source: Soumil Kumar on Pexels.com

eSports Pre-pandemic

Digital gaming is something that was already popular even before the pandemic, of which reports have shown that it is a sector that has been growing rapidly since 2003. The 2019 League of Legends (LoL) World Championship Final sold out at the Accor Hotels Arena in Paris and peaked at 44 million concurrent viewers. The prize money awarded to the winners, eSports team FunPlus Phoenix from China, amounted to more than $2.5 million, along with a Louis Vuitton designed trophy case.

Source: LoL Esports on Youtube.com

LoL is one of the biggest gaming franchises with eSports leagues, besides others like Fortnite and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). When the world locked down because of Covid-19, eSports live events had to be cancelled in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

But this did not stop eSports from going online.

The Pandemic Fuel

As everyone spent most, if not all, of their time at home during lockdown(s), it was not surprising that there was an increase in gaming as a source of entertainment as well as for socialisation. People were not only playing games, they were watching others play games and were streaming them too. Across all live-streaming platforms, 27.9 billion hours watched was recorded in 2020 alone, a staggering 78% rise since the start of the pandemic.

The demand for eSports content on live-streaming platforms like Twitch is shown through the implementation of its eSports directory, allowing easy access to various eSports related streams, streamers, and information. Since eSports matches were forced online, Twitch has been the go-to for eSports fans to watch livestreams of anticipated eSports competitions. For instance, hours watched on tournaments during lockdown were up by 114% compared to before the pandemic.

Source: Ron Lach on Pexels.com

Without a doubt, Twitch is becoming a major platform for eSports content and prosumerism. Live-streaming in itself is a form of user-creativity, user-generated-content (UGC), meaning that the prosumer in this case includes Twitch streamers, of which some are eSports affiliated. eSports professionals have turned to streaming from the comfort of their homes, and given Twitch’s eSports directory, their profiles are easily reachable to the masses. Total hours streamed on Twitch had increased 58.7% since April – June of 2019 to the same period of 2020, showing the significant rise of UGC through Twitch particularly around the time that the first lockdown occurred. 

Interestingly enough, Twitch also has its very own eSports-like league, Twitch Rivals, in which Twitch streamers can compete against or with eSports players in various games, ranging from the well-known CS:GO and LoL to newer titles like Valorant. Twitch Rivals is another example of Twitch continuing to fulfill the eSports demand, as well as allowing amateur gamers (Twitch streamers) to enter the world of eSports alongside eSports professionals.

Covid-19 Logging Out

Despite the growth of the eSports market during the Covid-19 lockdown(s), there are still things to consider for the future of eSports as restrictions ease. Although the pandemic has hindered some parts of eSports, mainly in-person events and tournaments, the eSports sector is expected to steadily grow post-pandemic. One report has forecasted that the eSports market will experience a growth rate of 24.4% from 2020 to 2027, reaching a revenue of $6.82 billion by 2027.

Unlike other creative sectors, the eSports industry appears to have only taken a small hit as a result of Covid-19. Assists from the livestreaming sector especially have helped eSports win its matches against the pandemic. 

Predictions for the future of eSports after the pandemic are optimistic, and while Covid-19 is starting to log out of people’s lives, players, including myself, are still logged in and ready to watch, stream, and play eSports.

*Ding Ding* The music industry in the ring with COVID-19 -C1834160

Featured image by Andreas160578

With Covid-19 putting normal life on hold, the music industry has faced enormous challenges around income, performance, and creativity. This post is going ringside, exploring the punches, jabs and hooks thrown by Covid, and what it means for creative industries in the future.

1)Loss of income

With the cancellation of concerts and festivals, musicians have lost up to a gargantuan 80% of their income during the pandemic. To make ends-meet, artists have been forced to find work outside creative industries and even pick up side hustles like tuition. These alternative forms of income have been lifelines for creatives and therefore have been a vital way to combat covid.

Unsurprisingly, Covid has spurred a streaming increase by over 10%, meaning digital disruption has given artists a helping hand. This fancy jargon simply means digital changes that can cause societal change, with streaming revolutionising consumption over the past 20 years. This streaming has now come back to help artists, with a small amount per stream going straight into artists’ pockets.

However, the biggest economic jab back at Covid has been the rise in vinyl sales. These sales have been more financially beneficial for the music industry as streaming only pays artists around 0.005p per stream, meaning that actually, digital disruption has not been as impactful as one might think.

Via Pixabay

Despite these helping hands, its clear that the music industry has struggled to fight against the enormous financial stress and struggle brought on by covid.

2) Unable to perform live

Another problem for artists has been not being able to perform live. There has been two reactions to this, both bringing good news for fans.

1. Prosumers choosing to focus on writing new music instead

Lots of prosumers- artists who produce and consume valuable musical content– have chosen to hunker down instead of creatively performing in lockdown, choosing to focus on writing new music.

2. Creative performances

Instead of choosing to wait it out, lots of artists have chosen to perform virtually, as seen with Declan McKenna’s performance from his home on Sunday Brunch. The video-game Fortnite even hosted a live virtual rap concert.

Via Giphy

So although prosumers have let Covid temporarily halt this element of the industry for them, the majority of musicians instead have very successfully fought back, overcoming covid obstacles to perform for fans.

3) Unable to create conventional music videos

With social distancing and lockdowns becoming commonplace, conventional music video production has been rocked in the jaw. Nevertheless, the music industry swung back very well, with user-creativity (the music industry’s amateur and professional members creative, valuable content) shining.

For example, 5 Seconds of Summer’s ‘Wildflower’ was done with a green screen, and Liam Payne and Alesso’s ‘Midnight’ was filmed on their roofs.

Equally, we’ve also seen creative amateur works, such as this version of Bohemian Rhapsody.

This user creativity is a clear example of the music industry swinging back against covid to a very successful degree.

Predictions for creative industries

Overall, it’s fair to say that the music industry has fought well against covid, especially with its user-creativity and performances. However, the economic issues are still very troubling. With the report into the economic effects of covid finding it hitting creative industries twice as hard (up to £29b lost), I feel that the industry is going to struggle to get back to its pre-covid levels. Unfortunately, I expect a loss of jobs and income, as well as a reduction in spending towards the creative industries as other sectors become prioritised.

So, despite valiant attempts to overcome Covid, it appears the last round is bleak for music and other creative industries.

(1830440) Pandemic players. Has the video-games industry has benefitted from the Covid-19 pandemic?

Flashback one year, the world was brought to a sudden halt as the impacts of the Covid-19 constrain the creative and cultural industries. But now that some normality is seemingly returning, I ask the questions… how did the creative industries cope, and what happens next?

For the video-games industry, the constraints of the pandemic have been surprisingly minimal. That is not to say they are not existent however, as constraints on production and development have persisted.

“Cyberpunk 2077” by faseextra is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

In many cases, development of creative products cannot continue without in-person interaction or use of expensive equipment and studio space. These restrictions consequently impact schedules causing delays and diminish creative products. For example, the new release of FPS game Valorant faced a compromised initial release timeline as collateral to the pandemic, and CK Projekt Reds largely anticipated release of Cyberpunk 2077 was riddled with bugs and glitches.

It is also the production of hardware facing constraints. Ceasing production as result of sourcing and manufacturing issues, many newly awaited consoles remained out of stock for large periods of the lock-downs. Pressure built on companies as result of the increased demand for gaming products to tackle lock-down boredom as many people have been encouraged to engage with video-games for the first time.

“Nintendo switch” by IainStars is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

According to research, there has been a 65% increase in video-game consumption over course of the pandemic. Digital disruption, allows the industry to remove physical constraints and utilise digital platforms to distribute products. Online gaming distributor Steam accumulated their record user count of over 20 million in March of 2020.

It is clear to see, the constrains of the pandemic have been responded to well by the industry. Actually, the digital disruption caused has in many aspects benefitted the industry and has allowed it to thrive. Growing consumption demands prompts economic growth, in fact it was a record year for online retailer game related spending, with revenue 30% above industry predictions in 2020. According to IDC data, global videogame revenue reached $179.7 billion in 2020, largely overshadowing the revenue of the movie industry.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on video game industry growth | CNBC Television (YouTube)

Digital platforms such as Twitch.tv, a live-streaming platform with the focus on broadcasting and viewing video-game content, have re-imagined aspects of the industry. In particular, the consumer and producer relationship has changed as Twitch provides a platform for pro-sumers and user creativity. Instead of merely consuming video-game products, players may have turned to creating and producing their own content during the pandemic lock-downs.

During the course of the pandemic, more content, 1.49 billion hours watched in April 2020 a 50% increase from March, has been consumed from millions of unique users, with a 10% increase in users resulting from the pandemic.

On Twitch, broadcasting is for anyone – but creators must stand out and constantly offer content in a dense and competitive market. It is not only gamers who can be pro-sumers on Twitch, many other cultural and creative practices such as artists are able to utilise the platform. The increase in pro-sumers on the platform is probably directly linked to the pandemic lock-downs, and whether the engagement of user creativity is maintained is yet to be seen.

“Jak strumieniować gry na Twitch.tv” by download.net.pl is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

So, what does happen next?

Professional analysts suggest that the economic trend will continue after the pandemic ends, although reduced numbers may occur, the long-term effect of the pandemic is added value into the industry with new fans and consumers as a result of lock-downs.  Alternatively, people may be less inclined to consume and produce, unless their engagement is more than a temporary distraction. Growth of the industry will of course continue, and therefore so will the creativity of players, producing endless streams of content.

END.    

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