You know how LinkedIn is such a super positive place? For counterbalance, I'm there merely for whining. My latests whines have been about light festivals' websites – or lack thereof. To not bring you any joy, here are my pet peeves regarding light festival websites, combined.
Number 1: Who’s the curator?
Even if there wouldn’t be a designated curator per se, there’s always someone or some people who decide which artworks are shown in the festival, and if there’s any professionalism involved, also why they are shown. Not telling their names on festival's website might give the idea that there is not really idea behind the event, or that you have no respect for it.
Also, I really like to meet with the curators of the festivals I visit, please don’t make finding their names difficult!
Number 2: When is the festival?
“We’ll be back next year!” is a cheerful but not too informative greeting on a website. Even if the exact dates of the next edition wouldn’t be decided, an approximate timeframe and maybe even the number of days the festival is supposed to last gives a good enough idea. In the sad occasion of the edition being the last, that is also a good thing for the audience to know.
I mean, surely I’m not the only one who plans their travels according to light art events? And yes, I just updated our own little festival’s website, since this info was indeed missing.
Number 3: Where is the festival?
“In the beautiful area of Xhwffuhfw” might give an idea for a resident of the city of Udfjfjvnn, but not for a visitor looking for a nice hotel close to the boogie and wondering how many nights they would need to stay to see the whole thing properly. And which shoes to pack. The specific route maps are not needed for this, but an approximate area map and an estimate of the walking needed would be helpful. As soon as it’s decided, that is, I’m not a monster. Maps of previous years, even if they are not exactly accurate anymore, give an idea, too.
Not many other people book their accommodation a year ahead, I guess, but some (=me) do. It’s not that I’m addicted to traveling or anything, it’s just cheaper that way. Yes. Really. That's all there is to that.
Number 4: OMG at least tell who the artists are!
This is a rarity, but all the more annoying peeve. It does is seem like an impossibility, I mean who in their right mind could leave out the names of the artists of a festival? But I swear I’ve been to a light art event where the artists were unmentioned not only on the website, but also on-site. Just the sponsors were deemed important enough to be printed on the info plaques by the artworks. Still shivering in horror. Anyway, it is proper to mention the artist whenever there is a photo of an artwork published, even if it’s not the presentation page of the said artist / artwork.
And now I have to check everything I’ve ever posted to be a person of my word. Oh well.
Number 5: Lost history.
I do realise that curators with bad memory are not the main target group of light festival webpages. But there are artists linking to pages from their CV’s, audience members wanting to relive past editions and researchers on so many levels, who’d really appreciate that the previous editions would stay online. And yes, there are the curators with bad memory. We all appreciate webpages with Archive section, where we can dive into past editions, filling our minds and spreadsheets with details of festivals past.
Number 6: Have a website!
Or at least a permanent address.
Especially festivals that are run by larger organisations have a tendency of burying the festival info somewhere into the abyss of the organisation's event calendar’s subcategories’ underbelly. Like a dragonfly, the info pops up for a short period of time as the festival approaches and then withers away, hibernating un-searchable, until the next year it resurrects as a new page with a new address.
How annoying for people looking for info during the page hibernation or are trying to keep up with their bookmarks. Or have a map of festivals they are trying to keep updated. No, there’s nothing weird in having that kind of map.
No comments:
Post a Comment