"The Airbnb-ification of the arts." How social media algorithms are gently nudging the art world towards sterility, comfort, and predictability
"The Airbnb-ification of the arts." How social media algorithms are gently nudging the art world towards sterility, comfort, and predictability
How social media nudges the art world towards sterile predictability
This is an essay I wrote in 2022, inspired by Kyle Chaka's 2016 viral essay, "Welcome to Airspace". After seeing an excerpt from Kyle's new book on the front of /c/Technology, I thought y'all might be interested in reading this piece of mine, which is less about the design of physical spaces, and more about The Algorithm™'s influence on creative practice in general.
This is a conversation I can have a million times, so I hope you enjoy.
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"Before you dismiss me as a curmudgeonly millennial in nostalgia-colored glasses, realize that I am not implying that art that falls closer to the “challenging” side of the accessibility spectrum has gone away, or that it has a smaller market share (though it wouldn’t surprise me) only that it does not bleed into the mainstream as often as it once did."
This appears to be the thesis statement of the piece, but considering you've not defined what constitutes "mainstream" in any meaningful way or offered any evidence that the content of creative works entering this hypothetical "mainstream" are fundamentally more "safe" (another questionably valid construct) now than before 2008, all this whole thing really boils down to is anxiety over social media algorithms.
In order for your thesis to work, you're going to have to explain why "algorithms" (who's, exactly?) are going to lead artists to make worse stuff than what was approved by the average MBA nepotism hire that used to be responsible for gatekeeping what made it onto TV in the 90s. Because uh ... we've seen a lot of that guy and an algo's taste could hardly be worse. At least the algo can be influenced by what I like.
Also this image? Yeesh dude. A lot to unpack here. But suffice to say, people don't make deeply challenging art because they crave clicks. They make it because they have to. Because it speaks to their soul or gives voice to their trauma. That's not going to stop because they're aware that shitty hotel art made with goofy materials gets more views on the TikToks. The phrase "spiritual growth in society becomes stunted" isn't just jumping to conclusions; it's multi-stage rocket launching to conclusions.
Ps. AirBnB literally never existed to provide a "rich cultural experience." Come on.
Eh, what you've identified as the thesis is actually just a butt-covering footnote to prevent Reddit-style "ackchually" comments. When I wrote it I was still submitting posts to Reddit. I guess that's on me for assuming the central point was more obvious.
