En regard de la convention d’originalité propre à l’art contemporain, l’extraordinaire imprécision des critères visant à déterminer la qualité et la légitimité des œuvres d’art et du statut de l’artiste qui les crée nécessite l’intervention d’intermédiaires dont le mandat est de découvrir et de promouvoir de nouveaux talents. Dans ce contexte, les artistes en quête de reconnaissance doivent se plier aux règles et aux conventions établies au préalable par ces intermédiaires puisque leur légitimité dépend de leur validation commune. Cependant, avec l’arrivée d’Instagram et l’investissement massif des artistes visuels qui utilisent la plateforme pour promouvoir leurs œuvres et leurs expositions, un certain discours émerge des mondes de l’art et prétend que, de plus en plus, les artistes s’autonomisent des déterminants de la légitimité et parviennent à contourner les réseaux traditionnels de légitimation des œuvres d’art, et ce, en vendant directement aux publics. La présente recherche a toutefois montré que la réalité est en fait beaucoup plus complexe que cela. L’objectif de ce mémoire consiste donc à mettre à l’épreuve cette hypothèse largement promue dans les mondes de l’art et de mesurer l’impact réel de l’utilisation d’Instagram sur les dynamiques de pouvoir et les rapports à la légitimité. Pour ce faire, 12 artistes visuels qui utilisent Instagram régulièrement dans le cadre de leur pratique artistique ont été interrogés. Dans un premier temps, l’utilisation de l’application par les artistes visuels a été décrite et documentée dans le but d’offrir un premier aperçu de cette nouvelle pratique. Ensuite, l’analyse et la mise en tension de certains processus a permis de dévoiler la complexité des dynamiques qui y sont véritablement à l’œuvre. Les résultats de la recherche montrent que l’utilisation d’Instagram contribue à inscrire les artistes dans des logiques capitalistes néolibérales et dans un esprit de marchandisation du soi du fait d’une nouvelle injonction à la vente de soi et de l’accentuation des concurrences interindividuelles. Cependant, les résultats attestent aussi d’un fort attachement envers des idéaux anticonformistes et anticapitalistes qui restreignent en retour l’investissement des artistes sur la plateforme. La recherche permet donc de documenter et d’analyser les nuances qu’entraînent la rencontre de ces idéologies opposées sur la plateforme. Ce mémoire constitue une première analyse critique de l’utilisation d’Instagram par les artistes visuels contemporains. / Within the convention of originality specific to contemporary art, the criteria used to determine the quality and legitimacy of works of art and the status of the artist are extremely vague. This is why it requires the intervention of intermediaries whose purpose is to discover and promote new talents. In this context, artists who seek recognition must comply with the rules and conventions established beforehand by these intermediaries as their legitimacy depends on their common validation. However, with the arrival of Instagram and the massive increase of visual artists using the platform to promote their works and exhibitions, a discourse is emerging from the art worlds which claims that, more and more, artists are becoming less dependant on the determinants of legitimacy as they are able to bypass the traditional networks of art intermediaries. However, this research has rather shown that the reality is much more complex. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to challenge this hypothesis largely circulating in the art worlds and to observe whether the dynamics of power and legitimacy are actually changing. To do so, 12 visual artists who frequently use Instagram as part of their artistic practice were interviewed. First, the thesis describes the use of the application by visual artists in order to offer a first glimpse at this new practice. Then, the analysis and questioning of some processes reveal the complexity of the dynamics that are really at work. The results of this research show that the use of Instagram constraint artists to deal with neoliberal capitalist ideologies. It also contributes to subscribe them into a state of commodification of the self due to the new injunction of self promotion and increased competition between visual artists on the platform. However, the results also attest of a strong attachment to anti-conformist and anti-capitalist ideals which curbs the way artists use the platform. Therefore, the thesis paints a more nuanced portrait resulting from the meeting of the two opposite ideologies on the platform. This thesis constitutes a first critical analysis of the use of Instagram by contemporary visual artists.

This dissertation analysed the information needs and information-seeking behaviour of visual artists. An empirical survey was conducted on a sample of the more informationliterate visual artists in South Africa. A model of the information environment of South African visual artists was developed. This model provides a basis for another model which represents the optimal service that should be rendered to meet the needs of this user group. It was found that the general information needs of South African artists are fairly adequately met, but that there are several shortfalls, especially in serving their more complex information needs. The most important problems are the lack of training in the use of information sources and services, inadequate marketing of services and inadequate coverage of South African art. It was also found that greater coordination between service providers is urgently required, especially in the provision of information about South African art. / M. (Information Science)

The goal of this dissertation is to document and present exhibition concepts of new or re- established galleries and exhibition halls united in the Union of Czechoslovak Visual Artists in Prague in 1964-1969. A partial goal is to find and clarify principal legal, political and cultural events in the background of which such exhibition and artistic life unfolded. The thesis covers the period between two conventions of the Union of Czechoslovak Visual Artists, i.e. the period from December 1964 until the end of 1969 with certain intermissions. In terms of the selection, it deals with "smaller" galleries that influenced the most the level of presentation of visual arts at exhibitions in Prague in the period under consideration. For this reason, attention is paid to the Václav Špála Gallery, Nová síň Gallery, Galerie Na Karlově náměstí, and the Vincenc Kramář Gallery. The basic topics of the dissertation are concentrated in two spheres that pervade one another. The first sphere is dedicated to fundamental social and political prerequisites for the establishment of "smaller" galleries as well as, in brief, the history of the formation of the Union of Czechoslovak Visual Artists. In particular, it deals with the then applicable legislation concerning the given field of cultural life of society. It takes...

This dissertation analysed the information needs and information-seeking behaviour of visual artists. An empirical survey was conducted on a sample of the more informationliterate visual artists in South Africa. A model of the information environment of South African visual artists was developed. This model provides a basis for another model which represents the optimal service that should be rendered to meet the needs of this user group. It was found that the general information needs of South African artists are fairly adequately met, but that there are several shortfalls, especially in serving their more complex information needs. The most important problems are the lack of training in the use of information sources and services, inadequate marketing of services and inadequate coverage of South African art. It was also found that greater coordination between service providers is urgently required, especially in the provision of information about South African art. / M. (Information Science)