Digital arts and culture in Australia: Promissory discourses and uncertain realities in pandemic times

Abstract

This article critically interrogates the promissory discourse underpinning the cultural sectors’ ‘digital pivot’ in the wake of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021; namely, that artistic and creative work could be done lucratively online, offer equal opportunities for all, and assure ongoing audience consumption. Drawing on empirical data from two research projects with arts and culture workers in Australia during COVID-19 restrictions, we investigate the intersection of this promissory discourse with individual and institutional practices of digital disengagement. We contend that, rather than a panacea to lost work and income and the assurance of continued cultural consumption, digital disengagement meant that the pivot prohibited, multiplied, and negated artistic and cultural labour. By considering disengagement that was imposed upon, resourcing contingent, and that actively pushed back, this article complicates our understanding of digitalised arts and cultural labour.