the art of curating art on social media

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Literature review: Context

The experiences we may have with ‘space’ when engaging with technology has, since 1969 when the Internet was born (Castells, 2010),  evolved from a state of machines connected and networked through cables and wires, to a hyper-connected state in which users move around and where temporal and spatial boundaries are fuzzy and fluid. 
21st century mobility is characterised by material and immaterial complexity. This complexity is rooted through various collections of expertise (via engineering, IT, architecture) and interdependency as well as a need to function and interface much more efficiently (Sheller and Urry, 2006b). 

One such example of complex interdependency is accessing social media through smartphones in order to view, collect and curate favourite artworks. These artworks are experienced through digital artefacts that are either authored by means of original digital photographic uploads or through the appropriation of images already available online. The smartphone has become a ‘poignant’ symbol, representing on the one hand a media and technology convergence and on the other hand a growing divergence at a socio-cultural level (Watkins et al 2012).  Lev Manovich observes that:
(...) as the distribution of all forms of culture becomes increasingly computer-based, we are increasingly “interfacing” with computer screens for a variety of cultural artefacts such as texts, photographs, films, music, virtual environments. (Manovich, 2001, p.78)
Increased technological connectedness lies at the basis of giving users the ability to have a digital ‘grab-and-go’ allowing the user to take photos whilst on the move and uploading these online. Furthermore, once added online, Kallinikos et al (2010) note that new functional profiles distinguish digital objects from their organic source. First of all digital objects are editable making them pliable. They are also interactive, offering pathways for exploring. Thirdly digital objects are reprogrammable, allowing for 'a deeper interpenetration of code, systems and artifacts and growing interconnectedness' (Kallinikos et al, 2010, retrieved online). And finally, digital objects are distributed, making them borderless.

The uploading and downloading of digital artefacts can be seen in the context of the movement and mobility of images and data. If you take the case of encountering graffiti for example, this will also require a physical activity of walking, tuning and synchronising into the technologically connected, pervasive Wi-Fi enabled environment that is usually but not always urban. This kind of complex activity fits neatly into ‘Mobilities’ research which considers the complex relational dynamics of the combined movements of people, objects and information (Sheller 2011).

In this literature review I consider how ‘Mobilities’ research can provide theoretical and methodological support for social media art curating.  Mobility research has since the millennium seen a wider scholarly focus, encompassing writings on transportation, tourism, migration studies and geography, or the ‘physical metabolism’, broadened by the ‘informational’ metabolism which increasingly supports the digital, the ubiquitous and the pervasive (Büscher et. al. 2011a, D’Andrea et. al. 2011, Frith 2012, Merriman 2014, Sheller 2011, Sheller and Urry 2011, Sheller and Urry 2006a and b, Söderström and Crot 2010,  Urry 2007 ).  This greatly expanded interest is generally considered in the social sciences as ‘The New Mobilities Paradigm’ and brought on in 2006 the first edition of the journal ‘Mobilities’ by editors Kevin Hannam, Mimi Sheller and John Urry. This and articles in other journals gave rise to documenting tried and novel mobile methods practices, feeding into the ‘Mobilities Turn’ (Sheller and Urry, 2006a).[1] 

In their seminal paper entitled ‘The New Mobilities Paradigm’ Sheller and Urry suggest that:
 (…) we do not insist on a new `grand narrative' of mobility, fluidity, or liquidity. The new mobilities paradigm suggests a set of questions, theories, and methodologies rather than a totalising or reductive description of the contemporary world. (Sheller and Urry, 2006a, p 210)

Having surveyed a large selection of articles, I believe that the best way to take stock of some of the theories and questions that have been raised is by employing a ‘compound eye’, that is, by taking a multi-scopic look, via many different angles, which does not necessarily create a smooth field of vision, but one that contributes a composite understanding in the context of this dissertation.  The ‘Mobilities’ writings do not build up towards a theoretical perspective on their own, but viewed as a whole, a picture emerges that offers depth and an interdisciplinary bridge. It also offers a methodological framework which has a firm grip on innovative practice. 
My view is supported by the critique of ‘The new mobilities paradigm’ by Ola Söderström and Laurence Crot who argue:
‘that [firstly] in order to be constructed as a full-fledged theory, mobility studies need to engage in an ontological discussion regarding the similarities and differences between various mobilities; second, that a more substantial conceptual reflection needs to be led with regard to the mutual constitution of mobility and society.’ (Söderström and Crot, 2010, p 1)

This project offers a conceptual and methodological contribution, in particular with regards to an understanding of ‘assemblage’ within the overall area of Mobilities research. I will reflect on Deleuze and Guatarri's assemblage, followed by one of the key concepts in mobility - mobility/mooring - underpinning the broader context of assemblages. A final reflection is with regards to  the mobile practice of flâneur, as part of a mobilities method, in support of social media curating.

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[1] An illustration of the exponentially expanded scholarly interest is the arrival in 2014 of the ‘Routledge Handbook of Mobilities’ which offers a detailed historic and timely overview of the various outputs involved, spanning the many disciplines in the social sciences which have benefited from the ‘Mobilities’ approach.