The claim is that the NFT has removed the gatekeeper feature in photography. Anyone can pick up a camera, earn a few NFTs and make money. But what does this really mean?
I think for this argument to work, we need to do three things. We need to define what gatekeeping is, how it traditionally applies to photography (in this case, fine art photography), and then see how it works with NFT.
Gatekeeper
Gatekeeping is one of those buzzwords that keeps popping up and everyone hates it. However, it might not be so bad. Door management is about preventing access to benefits (in this context, career-related benefits). Maybe it’s better if I explain this with an example.
If you want to be a thoracic surgeon, you can’t wake up tomorrow and be one. There is a gatekeeper. There are several levels of education, which are kept private; you have to do well in high school to get into college and then into medical school. Every step of the way, there are gatekeepers who make sure you meet a certain standard of knowledge, usually through tests. Once you’ve passed your degrees and certificates and gotten through the education system, you’ll have to do a residency where you learn on the job until you progress in your career. Again, there will be gatekeepers along the way.
By flipping this example over, if you need open heart surgery tomorrow (for whatever reason), you may want to make sure you’re seeing a surgeon who has taken all the steps right. , is kept secret. way.
Guarding the gate in art
With art photography, it works a little differently. You don’t have to go to school or university to study photography to be a photographer (at least not in Australia). But in reality, there are still career gatekeepers, such as critics, curators, and gallery owners.
So you can get your first show off at smaller local galleries. From here, you can get your work into larger state or even national galleries. Finally, if you go far enough, you can exhibit your work in larger international galleries.
Again, smaller galleries can be state or city galleries showcasing local artists. They may have a gallery space but not a huge budget to pay you to produce the work or even enough to pay the artist fees. They may have open calls or programs scheduled up to a year in advance. A mid-range gallery might attract national artists but doesn’t really have the budget to display work from international creators. These people may have fewer open calls to show work, or may be more competitive, or may run more curated shows only by invitation. Usually, they are programmed one to two years in advance. And then the biggest galleries and museums can showcase the really big names both at home and abroad – work can be valued in the millions of dollars, for example. These programs are usually invite-only and are held several years in advance.
You have to show in smaller venues to start showing in larger and larger venues. The way to get noticed is to have very original work and a unique perspective, but also to be persistent. You won’t really meet bigger curators and such until you’ve been photographing for a while and they’ve seen progress in your career.
NFTs and Gatekeeping
That is the general gist of guarding. I’m not saying it’s good or bad; I think it’s more about how it’s implemented.
The point is, the NFT promises democratization; it’s democratic – anyone can join. There are extremely impressive success stories of people making a lot of money on these platforms. But then you have to ask: for each success story, how many others have not received the same recognition?
And while the traditional art system in galleries is getting bigger and bigger, there must at least be checks in place so that the gatekeepers at least have a system for doing it (there’s a history of it). photography and research spanning more than 200 years and a line of art history stretching back beyond that), the NFT is not really the same thing. That means, with NFTs, because anyone can do it, the people up there may not necessarily have the same kind of homogenous education. Someone who is a collector might collect randomly rather than take work of some artistic value.
I guess in real terms, there’s a lot of the same thing. How do you sell another beautiful landscape photo like 50 other landscape photos?
It’s great to be different and try new things. But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you have to. But if everyone messes up by creating the same images, maybe having a management system isn’t so bad? At least I know I can walk into the local galleries in town and get emotional or feel something because I know that there will be a certain level of originality or quality that has been moderated.
Image credit: Installation view, ‘Black and white portrait,’ City Hall Gallery, 2022. Artwork by Ali Choudhry. [Photography by (ImagePlay)]
