Рыжкова Т.С.

Алтайский государственный университет, Россия

The Specific of Online Media’s Arts and Cultural Reviews

In traditional print media art reviews mainly take a shadow position. Newspapers are radically shortening their cultural supplements. But with the development of Internet and the convenience of electronic publishing art reviews received an additional recognition. The specific of e-publishing is well suited for that kind of texts. This article discusses the (new) standards of form and structure development of art reviews in electronic magazines and newspapers and its reflection on cultural journalism. The practical part is based on the analysis of e-published art reviews devoted to the exhibition “Gesichter der Renaissance” (Berlin, Bode-Museum, 25.08.2011- 20.11.2011).

From the very beginning critical reviews accompanied the development of critical vision and science. They turned out to be an integral part of journalistic writing. Some of the periodicals lead review columns, some of them specialize on critical reviewing. The crisis in the newspaper industry has resulted in newspapers trying to slash all costs that appear remotely unnecessary, and this means above all the cultural reviews. But Web 2.0 has well and truly redefined editorial outfits by establishing of new “institutions” of critical reviewing: forums, blogs and social networks, which have made once passive readers into active reviewers and critics. Today’s Web users are as cultured as feuilletonists; a cultural info-elite no longer enjoys a headstart on access to information [Medicus, 2007 http://www.goethe.de/wis/med/dos/jou/jiw/kult/en2304393.htm].

The benefits of e-reviewing were widely described by many authors (see Mey, 2004). Particularly open access, constant update and flexibility in form and text structure are pointed out. But the mainly proclaimed benefits are relatively unspecific comparing to the possible hypertext-structure of e-reviews that can merge various text segments and data. First of all the hypertext-structure helps the personal subdividing of information. The Internet is a “user-driven medium”: In terms of content, the consumer determines the “what”, while the editorial producers are at most left with the “how”. On top of that, the desire for content-on-demand is becoming more insistent all the time.

Additionally to the essential text construction and presentation the further hybridization through the linking of various texts, pictures, videos and information sources is possible. On the basis of one publication the readers can get access to the very different additional information. Links to different newsgroups, social networks, portals, research groups, glossaries, related news, reader comments etc. can contribute to more lively discussions. As an illustrative example of formal hybridization the precisely segmented film reviews in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kino/video-filmkritiken) can be mentioned. Alongside with traditional text reviews, pictures and reader comments it includes video reviews, where some movie scenes are accompanied by audio reviews.

In the following some more practical examples concerning the form of exhibition reviews in German electronic periodicals will be given, they reflect not only different views and visions but also different types of content construction. The analyzed reviews are devoted to the widely discussed exhibition “Gesichter der Renaissance” organized by The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York from 25 August to 20 November 2011. The large exhibition brought together at the Bode-Museum more than 150 major works of Italian portraiture by more than 40 masters of the early Renaissance. With more than 250 000 visitors, 2,412 booked tours and 26,000 copies of catalogue sold it turned out to be one of the biggest cultural events of the year supported by the main television and radio broadcasters as well as the publications in the main German print and online magazines and newspapers.

All in all the three main aspects were highlighted during the exhibition time as they are easy to see through the articles’ headlines.

1. The unique character of event: “Näher zu Gott” (Spiegel), “Die schönsten Gesichter kommen nach Berlin“ (Welt), „KunstSpektakuläre Renaissance-Shau in Berlin“ (Fokus), “Schöne Damen, mächtige Herren“ (Art-Kunstmagazin), „Aus der Wunderkammer des Gesichts“ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).

2. The masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci as a special guest: “Dame mit possierlichem Tier” (Tageszeitung), “Berlin zaubert DaVinci aus dem Hut” (Handelsblatt), „Das Schöne und das Beast“ (Stern).

3. The visitors urge: “Die Schlange am Graben. Enormer Ansturm auf die "Gesichter der Renaissance" (Der Tagesspiegel).

The question of form and structure of some articles is also worth to pay attention to.

The article presented by Marcus Woeller on the website of Tageszeitung (http://www.taz.de/!77086/) follows quite a typical scheme of art review composition including the lid with a describing scene, information about place and time, the main displays and authors, describing part and evaluation. Pictures slide-show, links to related news and evaluation scale as well as the opportunity to sponsor the article you like using PayPal system represent the additional elements of the content.

Another remarkable way of review construction offers the cultural journalist of the newspaper “Welt” Gabriela Walde (http://www.welt.de/kultur/article13564994/Was-IT-Girls-mit-den-Renaissance-Damen-verbindet.html). The article “Was IT-Girls mit den Renaissance-Damen verbindet” is based on the comparison of two generations and the ways of self-representing. The article starts with the thesis about the common features of Italian portraits and present IT-Girls images in ladies magazines. Some certain criteria and slide pictures are aimed to prove the author’s suggestion. The images of Italian Renaissance men and women are there along with the photos of celebrities like Julie Deply, Cory Kennedy and David Beckham. Links to social networks, related news, museum’s website, RSS as well as reader recommendations and comments complete the article’s structure.

The German art magazine “art-Das Kunstmagazin“ focuses more on historical-cultural point and description of painting style (http://www.art-magazin.de/kunst/44949/gesichter_der_renaissance_berlin). At the same time more attention is paid to the organizers of this cultural event as well as to the process of organizing. In conclusion there is a reference to the special print version of magazine about Italian Renaissance and the link for booking.

These are just some of the possibilities of constructing cultural e-review with the use of various additional sources. However, it is impossible to ignore the gradual decline in the reputation of criticism. The present public opinion is that it is more about amusing the readership than about criticism. It is about launching of friends, about gaining the acknowledgement of peers one wishes to impress in the other feature sections, and about mutual status bolstering in the media sector. In short, it is a question of networking in the media industry with the aim of advancing one’s own career [Tenta, 2009 http://www.goethe.de/kue/lit/aug/en5011931.htm].

There is also a tendency in criticism towards service journalism – “feel-good”, designed to accompany and reinforce marketing activities, without any critical distance and without any critical judgement. Amateur and professional critics on the Internet tend to lack the authority of good print critics. Their impartiality cannot be verified, especially given the arbitrary outbursts of enthusiasm on the part of amateur experts who, under the guise of a supposed democratization of criticism, are in reality de-professionalizing the art

[Tenta, 2009 http://www.goethe.de/kue/lit/aug/en5011931.htm].

The content is published through the internet, which despite past predictions has not replaced the print media. Rather, it’s more fair to agree that the internet has become an independent medium in its own right.

In the meantime it is now possible to train to become an arts and cultural journalist due to some postgraduate programs in Europe. However, it is not quite clear, just how future-oriented this profession might be. Many cultural journalists in our day see themselves as lone-wolf authors who use their medium as a platform for their individual interests. As critical intellectuals, they should take a stance on important issues of cultural morality. And that’s where cultural journalists are closest to their reading and listening public, all of whom are ardent consumers of culture.

Literature:

1. Medicus, Thomas, The German Feuilleton is Not a Rocking-Chair, URL: http://www.goethe.de/wis/med/dos/jou/jiw/kult/en2304393.htm [Access: 01.03.2012]

2. Mey, Günther, Elektronisches Publizieren – eine Chance für die Textsorte Rezension? Anmerkungen zur Nutzung des Internet als "scholarly review resource", URL: http://hsr-trans.zhsf.uni-koeln.de/hsrretro/docs/artikel/hsr/hsr2004_604.pdf [Access: 3.03.2012]

3. Porombka, Stefan, Kritiken schreiben, Ein Trainingshandbuch, Konstanz: UVK-Verlag, 2006.

4. Schalkowski, Edmund, Kommentar, Glosse, Kritik, Konstanz: UVK-Verlag, 2011.

5. Tenta, Sabine, Literary Criticism as Service Journalism? An Interview with Sigfrid Löffler, URL: http://www.goethe.de/kue/lit/aug/en5011931.htm [Access: 3.03.2012]

6. Tilmann, Christina, Bildende Kunst, klassisch, in: Rezension und Kritik, hg. v. Edmund Schalkowski, Konstanz: UVK-Verlag, 2005, S. 135-150.

7. Cultural Journalism Online – German-Canadian Panel Discussion at the Goethe-Institut Toronto, URL: http://www.goethe.de/wis/med/dos/jou/jiw/kult/en2577723.htm [Access: 15.03.2012]