Attention
This morning my cell phone rang. When I answered, a professional woman’s voice started to speak, saying, “We have important, personal business for—”
And then the professional voice broke down, to be replaced with a Speak & Spell-sounding voice grating out “Damien Jones.” The professional voice then resumed, telling me to call their business office about important, personal business for (back to Speak & Spell) “Damien Jones.”
I didn’t call. I didn’t even stay on the line to see what number I was supposed to call. The inhumanity of having a machine call me, coupled with the arrogance to not even provide a hint as to what the “business” is about, suggests that it is some telemarketer who got my name and number from some list and is cold-calling.
But of course, if I’m writing about this here, I must have a point that is somehow related to fractals. And I do. What was so undignifying about the whole incident is that when my phone rings, it’s a demand for attention, so I reasonably expect that whatever it is should be worth that attention. When instead it’s just some money-grubber’s attempt to get their hands into my wallet, it’s annoying because it’s just wasted time.
...this brings us to fractals. Lots of people (myself included) have galleries at community sites like Renderosity or deviantART. I’ve got a web site of my own, I don’t need Renderosity, so why would I bother to post there? I think it’s because I want some feedback, some attention. Posting something there is the equivalent of ringing the cell phone. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when very few people pick up. After all, I’m just wasting their time and they’re probably very annoyed with me for doing so. Maybe I should be more selective in what I put there.
It’s easy to bash Renderosity or dA for all the puffing, lightweight comments that get placed on images (or the myriad other serious problems these “community” sites suffer from) but I think this is only a gross manifestation of the same desire all of us have who post artwork anywhere, even on our own sites. We want attention. We want you to come and look. This is what artists do.
Maybe I was too hard on the telemarketers.
Probably not.
posted by Damien Jones at 10:28 AM
5 Comments:
I like your analogy, Damien.
In communities or forums like Renderosity, after a time, one begins to doubt the genuineness of the feedback. One wonders if the comments are phoned in, automated -- like a computer telemarketer.
Once such doubts surface, I suppose then an artist has two choices.
1) You hang on the line and keep your gallery open at the community. At least your work will be occasionally seen. A painting locked in a closet serves neither the artist nor the viewer. And maybe, even ideally, your standing gallery will serve other purposes: to inspire new artists, to provide an alternative aesthetic to the prevailing one(s) in the community, to simply give pleasure to strangers who wander in, and so on. It’s a trade-off you accept for having an audience or even the possibility of patrons.
2) You hang (it all) up and delete your gallery. The initial excitement of getting a call/comment is negated by the rote nature of the process or the questionable sincerity of the intent. You feel like you’ve been had. There’s a sense you’re being sold something -- whether it be a credit card or the presumed obligation of a return compliment. In the end, you wish no one had called or come by your gallery in the first place -- because, really, no one did. Silence and void become preferable to being patronized.
8/04/2006 11:54 AM
Let’s be clear—lest anyone think I’m being unfair to Renderosity—this sort of feedback rut can happen anywhere. Any community site, any small group. If you don’t get good feedback, you end up with things that please the public but are artistically weak. Bad feedback (by which I mean lacking quality, not lacking sycophancy) is worse than no feedback, because it’s not real, it’s not sincere. Giving someone a glowing review when they haven’t really earned it is like “letting” them win a race by slowing down at the end until they pass you. Once they discover you didn’t compete honestly, they will feel robbed of their victory… because they never really had a victory.
Right now, I’m still in camp #1. I keep a gallery on Renderosity with a few images in it, and I post to it occasionally. And it’s for the reasons you indicate: if everyone who feels the way I do just leaves in disgust, what is left? To a large number of people, the scene at Renderosity is all there is.
8/04/2006 2:03 PM
“Terry, I think you're being overly cynical.”
Perhaps. Or maybe I’m just describing an advanced state of alienation that some community users reach after a time.
Alienation is the accurate word, too. The process is not unlike the “alienation effect” that was central to the dramatic theory of German dramatist-director Bertolt Brecht. He used techniques designed to distance the audience and keep them from emotional involvement in a play through jarring reminders of the artificiality of the theatrical performance. Through such disassociation, Brecht hoped the audience could better comprehend political truth.
Of course, not everyone in art communities becomes alienated. Plenty of longstanding users take pleasure from such forums and thrive on the experience. And, yes, many members are obviously dedicated and genuine -- and often go out of their way to help others.
But, all the same, some participants become alienated. Perhaps they start to see a community as more focused on social interaction than on art. Perhaps they begin to question the sincerity of the feedback they are receiving. Perhaps they find the artistic worth of some images topping the charts of hot lists and page views and comment tallies to be questionable. Whatever the reason, once they’ve seen through the illusion of the community -- seen what goes on backstage, as it were -- then (as in Brecht) certain “truths” are perceived and alienation sets in.
Once something like this occurs, what is left but the two choices I outlined above?
8/05/2006 8:33 AM
My impression of Renderosity was too many people too wrapped up in themselves. To me, it wasn't really that much of a community. It did have one very funny moment, when Dr. Legume, of the Church of the Subgenius, had a gallery there. To put it mildly, his artistic sensibilities did not jibe with the majority's. And they didn't hesitate to tell him so. Naturally, he had his small group of admirers who seized on the chance to defend him and call the majority a bunch of hidebound idiots. Legume himself would sass back from time to time. The whole thing was a scream. He really was a kook though, and I think finally one of his Mr. Fluffers efforts crossed the line of acceptability and got him kicked out.
8/05/2006 11:04 AM
I was in the middle of some of that old controversy on Renderosity. It was a learning experience for me. I asked for critical comments and for a while a few people provided nothing but. Well, I asked for it, but it was not that much fun. I finally realized that I was missing the point. Community is the name of the game in that place. There is nothing immoral about hanging out in a community and it's not an artistic sellout. It's just a place to hang around.
At this point, I don't care. Umm - that's not completely true. I do like complements as much as anyone, but I am not addicted to them like I was and I don't define myself by them. If I get 50 gushers, great. If I get 10, cool. If I get something critical, you have my attention, but I may or may not aggree with you. I don't need to see your resume for you to be honest with me. In the world of subjective abstract art everyone has an opinion, even if it's a yawn, and I am free to agree or disagree.
8/09/2006 10:03 AM
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