Network culture and two vectors of development of visual arts

In the article, from the standpoint of the theory of network culture and the concept of «symbolic capital» by P. Bourdieu, the processes taking place in visual art practice under the influence of the development of the Internet are considered. Contemporary art practices and digital art explore the same symbolic capital from different conceptual positions. For contemporary artistic practice, the critical theory and idea of D. Kossuth about the search for the boundaries of art as such, the study of the socio-cultural reality of the here-and-now, and the formulation of the principles of identity remain the main ones. In digital practices, the focus is on the search for an individual style through the study of the structural features of the artistic language itself, autonomy from verbal commentary. The presence of these vectors is also associated with the redistribution of power capital under the influence of the development of network culture and the Internet, when the museum and gallery sphere is not able to control all the processes taking place in art practice. Not one of the participants in artistic communication possesses the integrity of power. Networks today have become a platform with their own power and authority. At the same time, rules from offline flow into the virtual environment and new restrictions are created, related both to the ontological features of digital logic and to the work of online communities.