Paper short abstract:

Digital tools and the Internet have brought something new to the world of art. Anyone with a device and a wifi connection can be a curator via websites and social media. What does this tell us about art and popular culture, and what we might call the curated self?

Paper long abstract:

In 1936, Walter Benjamin published a seminal essay detailing how new technologies were changing how, and by whom, art was produced and consumed. Until recently, however, public curation to large audiences remained primarily in the hands of museums and wealthy collectors. For most individuals, curation was largely contained to the display of photographs or other aesthetic objects within the home or on the person moving through the public sphere. Today, digital tools and the Internet have brought something new to the world of art. Anyone armed with a device and a Wi-Fi connection can assemble and organize a collection, drawing on images from popular culture as well as the whole history of art, and show it to others around the world. How can Benjamin's position be updated to accommodate these new possibilities? What do these changes tell us about art and popular culture, and what we might call the curated self?