Anton Vidokles Text Art Without Artists Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Anton Vidokles Text Art Without Artists - Essay Example According to the essay "Anton Vidokles text "Art Without Artists?" findings, the work of artists is fundamental in supporting the work of curators. In other words, the curatorial practice would not be as relevant and useful as it is today were it not for the effort of artists. Any artistic work that does not include the artist themselves is doomed to fail. According to V, the talents of the curator are not enough to make art a success. He says that there is need to distinguish between what he terms as â€Å"the artistic decision to include an activity within an artwork and the curatorial power to designate something as art through its inclusion in an exhibition†. In other words, V points out that an artist’s decision to have his production included in an exhibition is very different from the curator’s decision to exhibit a certain piece of art. According to Vidokle, curatorial power and artistic authorship can be differentiated through proper legislation. He give s the example of a clash between Brazilian curators and graffiti artists whereby the curators attempted to hold an art exhibition without the participation of artists. In this regard, the question is whether curators should use artistic space and resources to showcase their personal collections of artwork and other items. Vidokle says that the problem does not lie in the power of curators to open archives to the public or to the extent to which their exhibitions are interesting. Rather he says that the problem lies with the practice of most curators to dismiss or discredit the work of original artists. According to the author, it is wrong for the curators to use artistry and artists for self-gain. The article also looks at the job of the curator. He insists that curators are not free agents, but professionals who perform their duties on behalf of other parties. The jobs of curators normally come with power, security and a responsibility for several artistic activities. These powers, security and responsibilities may give the curator some sense of institutional authorship of artistic works, but Vidokle indicates that this does not necessarily translate to claim on individual works of art. Curators’ job is to advance the works of artists, not trying to own the artworks. Vidokle goes further to analyze the relationship between curators and artists. The author likens this relationship with the kind of relationship that exists between an organization’s management and its workforce. In this case, the workforce is represented by the artists while the management consists

The Importance of Press in a Democracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Importance of Press in a Democracy - Essay Example However, we may only have one side of the information if we only look at one news program or if we only depend on local information. The Role of the Media in a Democracy According to the Center for Democracy and Governance (1999) the role of the media in democracy has two roles. The first role is that it gives citizens enough information about a topic to help them make "responsible, informed choices" (p. 5) rather than allowing them to act through misinformation or through ignorance. The second role is that it provides a "checking function" (p. 5) that points to elected officials to make sure that they uphold the oath they took in their particular office and that they carry out the wishes of their constituents. When we as citizens look at the media, we do expect that it will give us the information that we need to make good decisions. As an example, the Obama presidential campaign showed us how the media can inform us of what to do. Obama used Facebook as his major media contact and still uses this outlet today. People were able to ask questions and to follow the campaign from beginning to end. Many people suggest that this is how he eventually won the presidency, and this shows that he understood the power of the media. In a democracy, people are not under the influence of the government like in other countries. As an example, there are some countries that only receive the information that their government wants them to access. In some Muslim countries, as an example, any information that shows women as liberated will be blocked whether it is on television or on the Internet (Deibert, 2011). In this situation, the government did not want people to follow the protests in the Middle East for fear that it would affect them in some way. This again shows the power of the media on the opposite side. That is, the media can be used to manipulate the ideas of a country or it can be used to hinder the thoughts of the individuals living in a country. We hope that in a de mocracy, this does not happen. The Center for Democracy and Governance also states that the media must understand who they are communicating to in order to get the right message to the right people. They suggest that the audience for media attention includes: 1. Consumers 2. Individual producers (reporters, editors, technicians, business managers) 3. Content provider companies (wire services, think tanks, NGOs) 4. Training institutes, universities 5. Independent regulators 6. Media monitors (political polling agencies, policy institutes, advocacy groups, governments, advertisers) 7. Professional organizations (journalism and business associations) 8. New technology gatekeepers (infrastructure developers, software creators, trainers, investors). (p. 7). When thinking about these audiences, it is clear to see that each one would have a different opinion to express on any given topic. The media is therefore important to each of these audiences in order to make sure that they also can c ommunicate effectively to their constituents. Perception of Media Central to the important of media in a democracy is the way that the media and its message are received by the audience. Often, we are told that the media is biased to one side or the other and this can stop people from believing the media ("Perception", 2011). When the public perceives that the media is not telling them the truth or that it is not putting for the effort to bring forth all of the facts, people tend to