Taking the magazine online

Even in the cacophony of mass media formats, the magazine has long stood out as a receptacle for niches, taste groups and sociocultural communities. Research by the Magazine Publishers of Australia points to magazines' broad audience reach, targeted address and, interestingly, that "magazines prompt online action".

Canvas Collective's layout, mode of address and general ideology are based around this long-valued media format. What we aim to do is translate the magazine for an online audience.

That project has been undertaken in all varieties of magazine media, from Rolling Stone to indie fashion mag Frankie. Our point of difference is to create a community-based hub, so that user-generated content, social media and collaboration play a significant role. Where the content is 'pushed' to our audience, that is, commissioned and produced by our own team of journalists, it will be tailored to the locations and tastes of our target audience - young, amateur artists and the art-interested.

Moreover, our layout plans are directly inspired by the 'classic' feature-based magazine cover style. A small amount of featured images and their related stories will constitute our landing page, rather than a blog-like index of long text. In that sense, we like to think of the landing page of Canvas Collective as a gallery wall.

Paintings at the Neue Pinakothek, Munich (Photo: Frank Kovalchek)

Having said this, a major priority is to avoid that sense of seeing art as a non-interactive subject. There is more to visual art, and to the users of our website, than viewing a work hanged on a wall. That's why Canvas Collective is less Google Art Project and more CanvasPaint.

When artists and art fans want to get involved in the conversation around art, or even take up a brush themselves, we aim to be their destination of choice.

Democratic art

One of my favourite art galleries in Sydney is the tiny Gallery8 in Millers Point. It showcases unique contemporary art from around Australia, and is run entirely by artists, for artists. Although the standard white walls of Gallery8 make it no different to any other gallery in layout, the sense that the showcased art is done so with the artists’ best interests at heart (implied in ‘artist-run’) makes viewing the artwork seem almost an act of democracy – in the same way reading articles of citizen journalism feels.

Artists do not always have the opportunity to exhibit their work, whether due to cost, curation or lack of space. The online space, which is often spoken of as a liberating technology, gives artists the same opportunities as citizen journalists. Although some galleries, including the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Modern Art display some of their showcased collections online, our feature will seek to explore how artists whose work is not featured in a physical gallery use the online space, in terms of showcasing their work and connecting with other artists.

The web feature would act as a case study on how artists are using the online space. The web feature might also act as a hub for the artists and our target audience mimics Gallery8’s audience – of the artists, by the artists, for the artists.

Image source: Gallery Eight