What the Buzz: Art Buzzword Guide

Feature image: teamLab, Flowers and People, Cannot be Controlled but Live Together – Transcending Boundaries, A Whole Year per Hour, 2017. Sound: Hideaki Takahashi. Installation view of 'Every Wall is a Door,' Superblue Miami, 2021. © teamLab. Courtesy of Pace Gallery, New York City, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Palm Beach, Palo Alto, and Seoul via Art Basel

Today, we’re talking buzzwords–and yes, even “buzzword” is a buzzword by now. But in the arts, people can’t get enough of them. There’s “AI,” “NFTs,” “immersive art,” “emerging artists,” “cutting-edge,” “transformative,” and “narrative,” to name a few.

So what do buzzwords do for us, and why do we rely on them so heavily when talking about or writing about art? And sure, we at ArtRKL are guilty of using them, too. So, what’s the deal with buzzwords? Why can’t any of us seem to stop using them?

The immediate and easy answer is that buzzwords allow us to connect quickly and easily with intended audiences. Connect an artist with a buyer, connect a viewer with a work of art, or connect an artist with a new fan on Instagram. Buzzwords allow us to explain broad concepts in short terms, and–of course–they’re key to search engine optimization in today’s digital age. 

But buzzwords aren’t just shortcuts for communication–they actually influence how we think about art itself. Labeling art as something like “interdisciplinary” or “cutting-edge” files it away to a specific category while influencing how others perceive it. We often see this in wall didactics written by curators regurgitating their interpretation of work, with something like ten years of art historical research influencing them. 

It’s hard to find a wall label without buzzwords today. Take this wall label from SMoCA’s article “Talking Shop, Didactics,” for example.

Spotted in this label: Buzzwords. “Climate change,” “dynamic,” “transformed,” “interactive,” and “generative.”

But why wouldn’t we use words people know and can connect with? They help us place works of art in a relatable context. 

Well. It’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, these buzzwords help curators connect with viewers, almost creating an icebreaker or formal introduction between the viewer and the artwork. On the other hand, they can reduce our experience by oversimplifying the art, feeding into our already short attention spans–not to mention the atmosphere of perfectly white walls and mind-numbing library-esque silences. 

Labels can shape our perception before we’ve even had the chance to truly understand or engage with the work ourselves. When we’re told something is innovative, we’re going to believe it. Simple as that. While they provide important details like the medium and year, they’re often so packed with jargon the connection to the art can feel stilted. 

So, really, it’s a delicate balance–sometimes buzzwords help, and sometimes they hurt.

They help, though, when we’re discovering new artists online. Search engine optimization and hashtags can be incredibly useful tools. In this context, buzzwords aren’t just for convenience, they help artists get noticed. However, the same wall-label shortcomings apply here. These words risk oversimplifying artwork and striping away the nuances that make it unique and exist as an important tool for artists in a crowded digital space.

At this point, we’ve seen how buzzwords can both provide meaningful context and in some ways, not. But what do the abovementioned words mean, really?

Does anyone really know what this one means? NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) are digital assets of a work of art. You buy the title of a work of art, and it’s yours. They were, and still are, apparently, very much on the rise. 

We’re all about experiencing the art rather than just seeing it these days. Immersive art goes beyond traditional viewing by surrounding the audience with visual, auditory, tactile, or even olfactory elements, blurring the line between art and environment. This type of art often uses technology, large-scale installations, or multi-sensory techniques to create a space where viewers can explore, interact, and connect with the work on a deeper, more personal level. Immersive art is popular because people feel involved in it. The viewer becomes the art—an easy sell. 

This one is fascinating. For the longest time, outsider and underground artists were almost entirely dismissed in the arts, but now? Thanks to the power of the buzzword influence, you get bonus points if you’re a self-taught, up-and-coming artist. 

If you’re an art magazine and you haven’t written at least a handful of articles about artificial intelligence in art, are you even really an art blog? AI in art is a hot item topic as of late and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. AI is now able to create images based on a quick description–and many questions remain about the use of AI in the arts. Is AI stealing from artists? How will artists claim their work online with AI present? Is AI creative?

This one goes with our trend-obsessed culture. Cutting-edge plays into the latest, newest, most advanced kind of art. If it’s never been seen before, it becomes all that more interesting. Obviously.

This one exists as a way to influence how the viewer feels or sees the world. “Transformative” refers to works that significantly alter or reinterpret existing concepts, styles, or materials, creating something distinctly new and innovative. The art is transformative, and so is this buzzy word. 

The artist’s narrative is so highly coveted, that the art world simply can’t get enough. The narrative is what the (sometimes misleading) wall label attempts to portray –but can easily become overcrowded with words that clutter the intended narrative.

With buzzing words all around us, how can we think deeper and look beyond what is handed to us to understand art more deeply? Well, maybe things don’t have to be so deep. Maybe buzzwords are exactly what we need, and have always had, to see art in the present-day context. There have been, and certainly always will be, jargon applicable only to the relevant time it exists within, so there, maybe we’ve solved it. Maybe we can take jargon-filled wall labels or buzzworded hashtags with a grain of salt, knowing to some extent, we need them, and to another, we just don’t. 

It may be impossible to entirely break from the use of buzzwords in the arts, and really, we may not want to. Perhaps we can challenge ourselves to think more deeply about the work we connect with, “emerging” as “transformative” and “immersive” art thinkers with “cutting-edge” “narratives.”

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