Category: Networking

What’s the anatomy of art networking?

In its broadest term, networking is about forming and maintaining relationships that are mutually beneficial – about building rapport. These benefits can have all sorts of characteristics, and depend on your personal interests and value systems: you might care about deep conversations and real emotional connections, or focus on the generation of sales and the expansion of your economic support network. Most frequently, art networking is used to increase one’s possibilities by increasing one’s visibilities, with each feeding the other.

When networking, your main currency is yourself – a self that features at least two sides: internal and external attributions. 

  • Internal attributions are those that you can influence: the attention you give, your curiosity and sensitivity, as well as your awareness of other people’s intentions (the psychological term is “self perception”).
  • External attributions are those that others have about you: how people see you (your standing, alleged fame and importance), whether they appreciate your work, or whether they want to be associated with you (the psychological term is “social perception”) .

Networking is about how you interact with the world, and how the world interacts with you – it’s always a dialog. Although you might pursue specific goals when networking, the outcome of interacting with the world often can’t be anticipated: your intention of talking to Person A, might instead lead to an introduction to and collaboration with Person B. A random encounter on the street (with someone you first met at an opening the night before) leads to a studio visit, and sets the stage for an exhibition or sale: a huge part of networking seems to be random – the better you can surf the waves of randomness, the more unexpectedly exciting the results can be.

Being out there

The prerequisite for networking is to engage with the world – specifically by engaging with other people. You can’t network while producing your work, reading a book or writing an artist statement. Instead, networking requires you to encounter people, which can happen both in the physical and the virtual world: exhibition openings and other art events are just as relevant as social media channels: meaningful connections can emerge anywhere where people connect.

Although networking is a tool to foster any sort of relationship, your relationships ideally serve a purpose – the most common of which is to find support for your cause. Artists obviously have endless amounts of causes: exhibiting or selling their artworks, finding gallery representation or collaborators, renting a studio, commissioning a text about their work, etc. Of course, your causes aren’t inherently interesting to others; a naive way to approach the world would expect others to be interested in you and your work, and thus to be eager to help you – ideally for free. A less naive approach is to expect others to not really know about you, but to sometimes be curious to help you (if the payment or reciprocity is right). The most realistic approach is to understand that support always depends on a variety of factors, including mutual knowledge and liking, individual curiosities, time schedules and economic situations. Networking can’t influence all of these factors – but it can foster a deeper commitment and willingness to help each other, and thus be the basis for collaborations.

Networking vs. making friends

Since networking is based on establishing meaningful connections for mutual support, it’s inherently similar to friendship – after all, what are friends for if not to support each other. The distance between the two can be hard to spot: the strongest career supporters in your network can be the result of a friendship going back to your childhood days, just as your today’s collaborators can become your tomorrow’s best friends. While networking aims to establish business connections, the individuals behind these connections might end up being closer to you than your actual friends; their awareness and curiosity, mixed with the time spent in a collaborative work setting can often result in a deeper connection than some friendships offer. Networking collaborations can emerge just as organic as friendships – and can obviously turn into them. There are benefits to thinking of other people as potential partners-in-crimes, instead of as further nodes in your network; your network might be that much stronger as a result.

Each interaction with the world includes a networking opportunity: posting your artworks or thoughts on social media, attending industry events, organizing an exhibition. This isn’t limited to your professional field, but can include situations happening in your personal life; you can meet future collaborators when commuting, going out or pursuing your hobbies. Where artists traditionally have bad work-life-balances, this can further weaken the borders between their work and personal lives; if opportunities lie everywhere, when do you stop looking for them? When does your working day end?

The open-endedness of networking

Sustainable networking doesn’t just require reciprocity, but also mindfulness: you need to know when to stop. Yes, the art world is fluid, with people frequently changing jobs and functions; in theory, everyone can always help you further: artistically, emotionally, economically, structurally – just as you can (in theory) always help improve someone else’s situation. Yet trying to win everyone’s attention will only result in ambiguity and a lack of direction. The world offers endless possibilities, but you can’t pursue them all. There needs to be focus to your efforts. You need to establish and maintain a proper balance between your work and networking efforts: mindfully increasing your network allows you to foster a strong circle of collaborators – instead of loose connections without depth or commitment.

Challenges of art networking

While networking is a standard interaction in most fields, artists can have ambiguous feelings about it. In an industry based on the alleged purity of the artist’s idealism, advancing one’s career can be seen as impure. The reality is that artists either have preexisting networks to rely on (through family connections), or need to build them on their own; without it, their work’s visibility will be severely limited.

What do I do at art events – specifically at gallery or art fair openings?

The fine arts industry offers all sorts of event types: gallery brunches, artist talks and preview dinners; work screenings, press conferences and afterparties; finissages, closed collector events etc. Exhibition openings and art fairs are the industries’ flagship events, and can feel intimidating because of their open social architecture. Whether they happen at galleries, art fairs, non-profits, museums or elsewhere, they don’t specify or demand a specific way of interaction. Primarily, openings exist for the public to be able to experience an artist’s manifested vision, their universe. Yet openings are just as much about the hosting institution, which the public gets to see in its newest form, its latest incarnation – which can be especially true in the case of curated group shows: who gets exhibited by which curator, and what does it imply about the current state of the venue?

Art events are social gatherings, and thus inherently feature randomly shifting opportunities.

While art events are usually based on the idea of experiencing art, they always also include social interactions at their core. This highlights the reality of the art world, which combines the idealism of artistic expression, with the realities of curiosity, networking and the art market. Newbies will quickly realize how rare it is for visitors to actually care about the exhibited work. People can be superficial, unfriendly or rude, which can overwhelm inexperienced or sensitive younglings. Might it be healthier to disregard openings altogether? After all, the studio offers a focused comfort zone with the possibility to pursue art making: where studios seem to incorporate pure idealism, art events can at worst feel to simply incorporate the bad breath of alcohol and capitalism. 

Both statements are based in clichés though: essentially, both domains offer their own challenges. To progress, you need to both work and network, in order to steadily establish both your oeuvre and your visibility. Depending on your character and fears, your inexperience and insecurities can cloud your judgement: if you don’t know anyone in a scene, it will be unclear what to do, and how to ever belong. But as always, there’s value in expanding into the unknown.

Understand openings as free networking events that you can ride like waves, and experiment to find your place within them.

Understand openings as free networking events that you can ride like waves, and experiment to find your place within them: witness and note which people actually consider the exhibited art, who knows whom, and how crowds will form groups of attitude and mutual consent. See openings as opportunities to learn about your industry (about its various interaction modes, languages and key players), and appropriate them to become another part of your networking strategy. See them as what they are: events where people get to meet each other, unique because of their open social architecture that allows people to arrive randomly, unexpectedly, and without commitment. Use them to get to know your peers, who might turn out to become business acquaintances, artist collaborators, friends or lovers – and to ultimately find your flow of moving from one opening to the next: randomly, unexpectedly, and with the commitment you see fit. See them as opportunities to transcend your comfort zone and your knowledge of art, and to expand your social circle.

To reduce the threshold of attending to art events, consider forming a group of like-minded peers. This lets you schedule the event upfront, and will result in everyone being more motivated to attend. It also reduces the risk of being unaware of important events, since your peer group creates a heightened awareness of them. You can meet in someone’s studio or for a drink, then head to the event together, and end the evening discussing your experiences.

Here are various things to do at art openings (or other art events):

  • Experience the artworks, and expand your knowledge about them: With art right in front of you, of course you’ll want to see whether there’s anything to learn from the exhibited pieces. What do you feel? What do you experience? Has the work been done sloppily or is it well-crafted? Is the artist known or emerging? Do you know how the gallery got to collaborate with them? What are your thoughts about the specific way the works have been installed? What would you have done differently, and why? An event’s exhibited artworks represent the core connection to your own artistic practice, independently of whether you understand or enjoy it.

  • Study the handouts: Every exhibition will have handouts with prices, the artist’s CV and a text about the show. Read these to expand your knowledge about both art and gallery: what do you think about it? Is it written clearly and concisely? Are there new words or phrases you can remember and incorporate for your artist statement? Does the text use ideas that you can adapt? Do you know the person who wrote the text? If you enjoy the text, remember who wrote it – you might one day ask them to write about your own work.

  • Scout and Connect: Try to scout the attendants to understand who they are, what role they have, and whether they might be interesting to you. This can include fellow artists, collectors, critics, the gallery team (owner, gallery director, staff), the general public, etc. Try to understand who attracts you for their sensitivity or verbal finesse, who’s there only to get seen, who’s needy and pushy. Scouting isn’t about getting to know the right person, but to understand each person’s relevance to the art world, and to discover your potential mutual relevance. By increasing your knowledge about the scene’s players, you’ll also increase awareness of how you might eventually fit in.
    Art events always also attract stereotypes: rich collectors, arrogant art students, know-it-all art critics and curators; but what about the others, the individuals that don’t fulfill a cliché? Find them, and see what happens once you connect.

  • Converse (“network”): Try to understand who’s interesting to you, and start a conversation with them – knowing that as a newbie, you’ll ​be invisible to most others for a while. That’s OK, since you don’t want anything from anyone: you’re not looking for an exhibition, a review, a solo show: you’re just here to understand and get to know others: to network. You can do that by talking about anything that’s interesting to both of you: the exhibited art and artist(s), the gallery; personal projects and challenges, etc. Be authentic and enjoy the other person’s presence. If you feel that they don’t enjoy yours, simply move on.

    Stay sensitive of others stealing your focus and time: some people will push themselves between you and the event (sometimes even physically), and won’t stop monologizing about themselves. For whatever reason, they use you – they might be intoxicated, narcissistic, or just plain weird. Remember that you’re under no obligation to stick with them, and will sometimes have to excuse yourself in order to pursue your actual mission of getting to know and actually engage with people.

    In case of interesting discussions, consider asking for contact information. This enables you to stay in touch via mail, or by simply forwarding your most recent newsletter. This gives the recipient the chance to see your work, and to subscribe to your newsletter.

  • Aim for the kill: If you want to approach someone who doesn’t know you, take a step back and calmly judge the situation: would you bother them by introducing yourself (they might be in an important conversation, could be intoxicated or simply busy)? Is there someone who could introduce you easily? Approach them sensitively and smartly, considering these circumstances: tell them who you are and that you appreciate their work, and whether they’d have a spare minute. Be humble and authentic, and stay open to the possibility of them not having time or energy for you – if this happens, ask them whether you could mail your request. Ask for their business card, and hand them yours.

  • Stay: This last point might be quintessential: don’t leave. Art events are social gatherings, and thus inherently feature randomly shifting opportunities. Instead of leaving once you experienced the exhibited art, stay and see what happens. This usually creates stronger opportunities that heading back home, and establishes yourself (to yourself) as someone who cares about both artworks and networking. You’ll notice new people arriving over time, and further opportunities with them. If the gallery is embedded in a local gallery network, consider visiting their neighbors as well.