Laura Gonzalez
We know that AOL’s latest bid for online media success involves a redesigned website, local news sites, and its acquisition of the Huffington Post, but the roles of artists and designers in the new AOL have been less widely reported. Wide-ranging investments in the arts are part of the company’s strategy, from Rainbow City at the High Line to online artist portfolios and curatorial experiments in the venture capital office.
“Whenever you see AOL, you see a great piece of art behind it,” explains Nikki Macaluso, the program manager for AOL Artists, a relatively new branch dedicated to developing the company’s brand identity. The program commissions work from contemporary artists and designers that users can then use to customize AOL’s webpage. So far, they have worked with over 87 artists, mostly young and emerging talents from various parts of the world, and have commissioned over 217 artworks.
As far as the collaboration process goes, the AOL Artists team has sought to make it as straightforward as possible without interfering with the artist’s creative process. They commission works in practically any medium, from paintings, to sculptures, photography, and graphic design. Macaluso explains that, “We reach out to artists not because we have a specific thing in mind that we want them to create, but because we love their work and we think what they do could be great with the AOL brand.” The artists are basically told to create something with white space around it and some level of contrast, so that the AOL logo can be superimposed without detracting too much from the artwork itself.
Megan Whitmarsh, Yeti Explosion. Courtesy of the artist and AOL Artists.
All of the artworks and designs they commission can be found on the AOL Artists website, although many of them do have a physical life of their own. Macaluso states that, “in early 2010 we realized that we needed to provide our users with an outlet to see that these are artists that are behind the brand, that it’s not just a designer up on the 5th floor.” The website, apart from exposing a mass audience to AOL’s commissioned collection, is also a portfolio page for the participating artists, where their bios are featured alongside examples of their other works, even if these are unrelated to AOL. Artists can link to anything through their pages – their personal websites, agencies, etc. – turning the page into a networking base for the artists’ benefit. The website is also a recruiting tool: interested artists, or “creatives,” as Macaluso refers to them, can fill out a form and submit examples of their work. These submissions are then incorporated into a database, from which the AOL Artists team selects individuals to collaborate with in the future.
As part of its gradual expansion, the AOL Artists program has also begun to delve into the realm of public art. From June to July this summer, AOL Artists sponsored Rainbow City, a massive installation in New York City’s High Line Park featuring brightly colored inflatables by Miami-based artist collective Friends With You. This project in particular served to illustrate AOL’s new model – innovative and visually accessible design that draws a wide audience. As Macaluso states, “Rainbow City is appealing to such a mass market because it’s kids and adults. It really was about exposing new audiences to great art.”
Friends With You, Rainbow City, installation view, 2011. Courtesy of the AOL Artists and the The High Line.
Just a few blocks from AOL Headquarters, the corporation’s venture capital branch, AOL Ventures, resides in an open, brick-lined space with Romanesque arches and funky furniture. AOL Ventures might initially seem like an unlikely place for an arts program of any kind, since it mainly focuses on investing in early-stage web businesses. How art fits into AOL Ventures has entirely to do with its director Mike Brown Jr., who has been an avid collector for years. Once his department moved into its new headquarters, he sought to use the space as a curatorial experiment of sorts.
In spite of the large Apple monitors that display colorful, complicated-looking graphics, the whole place has a studio feel, augmented by bean bag chairs, a red telephone booth, and a traffic light that the analysts are turning into some sort of data management thing. Brown is clear about the fact that designing the office has been a group effort that ties back into their business purpose: they specialize in developing and investing in innovative internet-based start-up companies. Brown says, “Everything in here is very emergent, new, kind of radical. I’m trying to infuse that into the culture.” The arts and design endeavors are, he says, “Something that merged with our own creativity.”
As part of the curating process, he sought the help of Christina Ray, founder of Christina Ray Gallery and Conflux Festival. Brown and Ray had met years before when he purchased work from her at Art Basel. “I was very attracted to her artists, the people that she represents," Brown explains. “She is a trusted resource.” He also had existing relationships with a few of the artists he included in the project, like Brian Leo and Mark Price. In general, Brown went for an up-and-coming group of artists, much like AOL Artists does in their offices a few blocks away. “I wanted an emerging class of artists,” says Brown. “Our entire culture has to do with newness.”
Brian Leo, Gold Crane, mixed media on canvas, 2011. Courtesy of the artist and Christina Ray.
