Hybrid Art Spaces: Exploring the relationship between social media and art venues in Singapore

Abstract

Over the past decades, we saw a proliferation of data that was generated in cities and, at the same time, a growing complexity of urban planning tasks. The advent of social media — including a variety of geographic, temporal and so- cial metadata, has created an abundant (big) data source waiting to be explored and put to use for planning. This dissertation aims to add to the discourse on smart cities and human-centred planning, or so-called “responsive cities”. Art and culture, in this context, are seen as essential to understanding and design- ing vibrant, liveable and sustainable cities. This dissertation also explores the use of social media-generated data that contains spatial and temporal metadata for spatial planning, and proposes concepts and tool to use them. Instagram and social media are deeply influencing the way audiences and de- signers think about art venues. A place that is shared on Instagram is no longer a chance by-product of a photogenic design, but a primary concern that drives the ambitions of clients and designers. When the accessibility to and visibility of certain works of art depend on their social media visibility — which drives the flow of audience — the need to include the dimension of social media in cultural planning and design is not only beneficial, but also crucial. Within this context, I explore emerging art production and consumption in connection to the use of social media, and in relation to locations of art produc- tion and consumption in global cities, focusing on the case study of Singapore. The research will consider different scales and has the following objectives: ● Study how to support cultural planning with social media-based metrics ● Investigate the relation between art and social media in urban space ● Assess the effects and the efficacy of existing and future responsive practices in cultural planning The dissertation is based on empirical observations, with emphasis on the case study of Singapore, which is a global city with a relatively recent, emerging art scene and market. I have used a mixed and multi-scalar methodology. The innovations of the dissertation include: ● a new definition of hybrid art spaces; ● a methodology to map art-related topics in space to support cultural planning with different types of metrics; ● multiple analysis methods and metrics to explore the relationship between art venues and social media data; and ● the design of tools for cultural planning stakeholders to engage with social media in art spaces in a meaningful way. The data and analysis results are represented visually in maps, webpages and drawings, which I have used to inform semi-structured interviews with ex- perts. These interviews act both as a comment on and as a validation of the different tools, and serve as a basis to promote responsive cultural planning practices. Social media are considered both the object of study, as their use is changing art production and consumption in cities, and the methodological tool for the study, as social media data will be the basis for analyses to inform and support decisions about planning culture in cities.