Recently, I saw a wonderful lecture presented by the Asian/Asian American Cultural Affairs office at Columbia College Chicago. The lecture featured Giant Robot Co-Editor, Eric Nakamura, filmmaker Tadashi Nakamura, and musician Goh Nakamura. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend my Reviewing the Arts class for this lecture. So I believe that it is important with me to share my experience at this lecture to explain my absence.
As an Asian American artist, I found that it was very important to finally meet Asian Americans working within the art world. Especially successful artists. The theme of the lecture was "Byte This!", a discussion of art in the digital world. The first person to talk was Eric Nakamura. In his part, he discussed Giant Robot's growth from a paper "zine" to a popular print magazine, store, online site, and even restaurant. He discussed that in the digital world, a company is able to broadcast their services quickly. He showed examples of the Facebook fan page, Twitter, and Blogspot of Giant Robot. It was obvious to see that the digital world has not only made the distribution of his company more efficient, but it has also helped him keep in touch with readers, fans, and people interested in supporting print magazine companies.
Similarly, Tadashi Nakamura discussed his use of social networking sites to provide his fans and supporters with up-to-date information and even streaming his videos for people to view for free. As Tadashi said in the lecture "If you make an amazing video and no one sees it, well then there was no point in making the video." I agree with Tadashi because as a fan of his work, I have been able to watch his videos, learn from his social commentary and then share his work with my friends. I believe that even though the movies are free, they are effecting more people and spreading social change by allowing them to be viewed online.
Finally, Goh Nakamura spoke. He seemed to be a little less effected by the digital world, but he did discuss how his rise to fame came from YouTube. Through YouTube he discussed that he was able to be seen by more people, therefore allowing his album to be downloaded by more people all over the world. There was a funny side to this man that made his lecture the most enjoyable. He seemed simple and his story was very personal. There was no big leap from nothing to something like there was with Giant Robot. Goh made it seem like through YouTube his success just "happened," in which I believe is the story of many successful musicians and artists today. Take Justin Bieber from my previous blog, he was found by Usher through his YouTube performances. WAHLAH.
Overrall, the lecture was very motivating. I believe that there will always be constant critique of the digital world but instead of fighting against it, we should embrace it. The Nakamura lecture definitely showed me that there is beauty to social networking sites and blogspots but the lecture also helped me see that there is a place for Asian Americans within the art world and digital world.
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One of the hardest new developments for artists -- of all forms -- has been coming to terms with owning the plan for their own marketing. Marketing budgets have been on the downtrend for the last five years. At least with the advent of social media, an artist can participate in marketing without too much hassle. Sure, you have to learn each system -- which doesn't take more than an afternoon -- and you have to stay on top of them -- which is more time consuming. But, the price can't be beat -- free. It will be interesting to see if new cottage industries spring up around social media marketing. I'm still finding that most artists don't want the hassle. But at least for the moment, we're at the point of "if you don't do it...no one else will." It also allows artists to control their messaging -- which is a blessing and a curse. You have to learn to be objective with yourself -- never an easy thing.
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