Can smartphones and tablets do to art, what radio did to music?

    Popular music exists. Popular culture exists. But there is not such thing as popular art. There was a movement called pop art, but I would argue that pop art was one of the key factors in the absence of popular art. It propelled the general idea that contemporary art is confusing and art is for artists, critics, curators and really rich people. Why is this so? Why is art hard for the general public? People create photographs far more often than they create music. More people have heard of Picasso than of Stravinsky. Yet for some reason, music is always around, and art is confusing.
    There was a time when music belonged to the aristocrats and the opera house, like art exists today in white cube galleries. It was the invention of radio and television, and many musicians working hard to create music that was enjoyable on radio and television. Now we have reality television shows such as American Idol, and people cheer for musicians and critique their vocal skills. There was a reality show on visual artists but it never reached the publicity of American Idol. The biggest problem is that their art was not enjoyable on television.

    Smartphones are helpful in art viewing. Many galleries and museums developed applications to update news on their upcoming exhibitions and events. However, it rarely does more than the e-mail subscription. Art Guide is a helpful app if you are in a foreign city over a weekend. But once again, these news update apps don’t do the same thing that the radio can do for music listeners. There isn’t enough of the individuality in taste to choose from, at least compared to radio stations.
    Adidas Urban Art is an interesting application, since it creates a new space in art viewing. Anyone can photograph a street art and post it with comments, and the app will map it within the city. Therefore, it turns the city into a gallery, and every user becomes the curator and the docent.
    Video artists are using iPhone as a recording tool more often, iPhone photography is an interesting genre, and David Hockney had a show called “iPhone Drawing” where he used iBrushes application to create a series. However, these smartphone art making focus more on the utility and portability of the device rather than the viewing experience. iPhone movies are still viewed in theatres, Hockney’s show was in a gallery in Paris.

    Musicians created music for radio. Then there was television channels such as MTV to promote popular music. Maybe smartphones and tablets can be the starting point for popular visual art, but it would require artists making art for portable viewing, and curators creating space for it.