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The Synergistic Movement of Crowdsourcing Art

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Crowdsource Art featured at TED 2014

“Crowdsourcing is creating something that’s greater than the sum of its parts.”

While the concept of crowdsourcing is not exactly new, the public knowledge of this movement s picking up notable speed among many all over the world.Crowdsourcing, not to be confused with crowdfunding (crowdfunding being the act of many people contributing funds to support an idea or project that needs funding to become a reality), is an art movement that is gaining public attention in big ways.

Crowdsourcing is a form of art creation that can only be accomplished by the collaboration of many; many people, with many talents, having many different visions, and often participating for many different purposes all with one singular goal; to connect, contribute, and create something meaningful. This in itself is a breathtaking notion. A notion that has many otherwise un-related groups of people coming together as one.  ARTnews said it beautifully in their most recent coverage on the crowdsourcing art movement,

“Crowdsourced art is about inclusiveness, turning formerly passive audiences into active creators and empowering people who aren’t normally part of the art world…thousands of free man-hours to artists…. enabling them to realize projects of stupendous magnitude.”

Crowdsourcing art is when an artist or group of artists enlist the help of others to work with them in completion of a piece of art or project. The beauty behind crowdsourcing is the truly unique quality that is generated by the variety of people working together on one project. Its uniqueness comes from the final artworks irreplicable components that were brought to life by the unpredictable nature of different audiences with different artistic abilities.

These artist-orchestrated projects can be seen all over the world in museums, galleries, public spaces, and online.  Recently, crowdsourcing art was commissioned for the popular TED conference to celebrate it’s 30th anniversary. TED is an extraordinary nonprofit devoted to sharing ideas worth spreading and the crowdsourced art was a perfect fit for this celebration.

It can be said that the  crowdsourced-art movement reflects a very basic and essential human need in people to connect with others and to do so in tangible, meaningful way.

*Artwork:
Crowdsourced Art from the TED 30th Anniversary:
Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks, 2014, by Aaron Koblin and Janet Echelman.
EMA PETER/COURTESY STUDIO ECHELMAN

Fascinating Art Aquarium Draws Atttention in Tokyo

Fine Art Maya News,

tokyo art aquarium newsThe latest craze to hit the art scene is drawing the attention of many and rightfully so.  An Art Aquarium in Tokyo, Japan has captured the attention of art lovers as well as Tokyo’s general population otherwise neutral to the art world . The Art Aquarium is called Hidetomo Kimura’s Art Aquarium. This art aquarium offers an highly unique  experience by mixing contemporary art, Japanese culture, and Tokyo, Japans popular nightlife scene.

Hidetomo Kimura’s Art Aquarium is a very popular annual exhibit that draws vastly different walks of life to the exhibition each year; over 300 million visitors already. Visitors to the display enjoy cocktails, view custom-designed fishtanks ignited with superb lighting effects which highlight the tanks filled with exotic goldfish. In the background, a DJ is on sight spinning tunes.

The Art Aquarium is located within Nihombashi Mitsui Hall and is put on by Artist and Producer, Kimura. Worth pointing out is that Kimura is also noted as being an“Aquartist”.  Kimura is highly regarded for his exhibit of over 5000 “bizarrely beautiful” fish all contently displaying in  fish tanks which are penetrated and highlighted by deployments of colorful light. During the start of the art aquarium show, Kimura states that, “Beyond the technology that catches people’s heart, there lies natural beauty this earth has created”; the Kingyo goldfish.

art aquarium in japan

So who are the stars of this exhibit? The fish are. In Japanese culture, the goldfish, Kingyo, has always been a very cherished form of art to the culture. Dating back to 1502 the Kingyo goldfish was imported in China and from there made it’s way into the Japanese culture. Initially the Kingyo was only available to the wealthy and elite who cherished the unique and strange features of the fish. Owners of the rare breed of goldfish would later go on to emphasize and ultimately exaggerate the goldfish’s features by breeding the fish to create even more pronounced characteristics. These characteristics are features such as the Kingyo’s bulging eyes, puffy cheeks and wrinkled foreheads.

The inspiration for this art display is derived from the deep traditional practices in the Japanese culture.

*Photos curtesy of: Sarah Cascone.