#artistic web

[genwhizztech]

Peroids of Webdesign In 1996, Microsoft released its first competitive browser, which was complete with its own features and tags.

[uebyn]

A Unique Art Form.

The Artistic Web should offer us something new, something unique to it. And it should make people think, If I want this particular kind of art, then I can only get it on the Web.

* * *

I'd first like to start off with a word modern web developers have been shunning for a while now: Flash.

Skip Intro?

Flash is now taunted everywhere. It is, slowly but surely, losing ground and will likely be completely erased from the Web down the road. But Flash had a golden age, a time when "Skip Intro" is the norm, and Flash animations impressed big time. During that period of time, I - along with many others - was so fascinated by the amazing work out there built on Flash that I searched endlessly for Flash projects online, read up books on Flash, and of course, learned to use Flash. There were even competitions held on a regular basis, to applaud the creative use of Flash. 

The point I want to make here is this: at that point in time, Flash was a unique platform and media in itself which showcased creativity that couldn't be found anywhere else but on the Web. And if and when I wanted a dose of interactive multimedia, there was nowhere else I could get it - not in theaters, not on the streets, not in bookstores, not even on my Windows control panel.

I had to get it on the Web.

In that sense, I think, Flash is the original "art of the Web". Of course, webpages per se were a unique form of presentation and found only online, but there were many projects built on Flash that I can and will classify as art. And when people wanted high quality interactive media art, they had to get it on the Web, via Flash.

The Future of an Artistic Web.

Now, I think that's where the Artistic Web should be heading. Sure, we can have fiction on physical books or Kindle, but we should also have a unique form of fiction that, if we want to consume, can only find online. We can also watch movies on a Youtube app or in the theater, but there must also be a form of movie that offers artistic options present only on the Web.

In short, the Artistic Web should offer us something new, something unique to it. It should be more than a conceptual pun, and it should make people think, "If I want this particular kind of art, then I can only get it on the Web." And when that happens, then I think we can finally, truly call the Web "artistic". Then, and only then, can we concede that the Web has created these unique art forms.  

In short:  

Build an art that is unique to the Web.

Of course, you may be totally satisfied with the current state of your art form, and you may not see a need to change things. But like I've said, we - the artists of this era - stand to change the face of art now. And if you happen to be interested in doing that, I encourage you to start right now.

(If you think I'm a moron because you have already started this light years ago, do tweet me and share your art. I'll be most interested in your views/work.) 

[uebyn]

The Artistic Web, Take 2.

If you’re an artist living in this era, then you stand a chance to change things, to shape the future of your art. It is up to you to start imagining and executing, and to show them the future of art.

* * *

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on an Artistic Web, and specifically highlighted the role of web fiction in leading the Web towards a more artistic (as opposed to commercial or social) future.

Now that I reread the post, I can only think of two words:

Tunnel vision.

While there is no doubt that web fiction can help consolidate the idea of an art form unique to the Web, I was clearly delusional when I specifically pinpointed web fiction as the sole candidate to take the lead.

Coz' when you think about it, there is a good number of other candidates available: poetry, music, movies, just to name a few. Imagine a form of poetry that is unique to the Web, to the Internet. That you can only consume in its entirety on your desktop or mobile. It may be poetry armed with images, or integrated with a community of readers. Or it could be audio poetry, read to you directly by the poet, and which you can pause and replay at will on your machine.

Or imagine a movie, played seamlessly on your browser, that reacts to your mouse or touch movements. A clip that, when fed with the right instructions, follows up with alternative endings or misce en scene, to give you a taste of the artistic possibilities underlying the mind of the director.

The possibilities are endless, and it's entirely up to the poet, the director, the artist, to determine what format best suits our creative vision.

Redefining Your Art Form.

In short, if you're an artist living in this era, then you stand a chance to change things, to shape the future of your art. And because art that is unique to the Web is still far and few, it is up to us, the artists, to start imagining and executing, and to show them the future of art.

Now, if you think an art of the web is already defined, and that art is called Internet Art or Post-Internet Art, then you're not letting your imagination run wild. Or perhaps you're not an artist. Then it's fine. But if you're an artist, I invite you to think hard. Think about the endless possibilities offered by the Web to your art, think of a fundamental change in your art format, one that is revolutionary because of this revolutionary technology that has transformed much of humanity, and that is bound to change the face of art.

As a writer of stories, I already have in mind a couple of principles I believe apply to my art, and I'll share them through this blog, and through my works. In the meantime, I'll love to hear from you if you have your own take on how your art may be redefined by the Web.

Hope to hear from you soon.

[uebyn]

The Artistic Web.

We need to work on making web fiction a form of art. We will need to start off with making it a unique art form, one that surprises and impresses people, that can only be consumed on the Web. 

* * *

A conversation I had on Twitter led me to write this post. Basically, it's a quick dialogue with @mind4ub and @TheEmily Stowe about the future of web fiction, provoked by New York Time's post on Wattpad.

Web Fiction is the Future. It is Exciting. It is Social... Yawn.

The Wattpad article by New York Times seems to have caught the attention of many, particularly through the fact that it has the potential to reach a huge number of readers. Yawn. 

For years now - more than a decade I bet - authors have been excited by the prospect of web fiction. From blog fiction to web fiction to seralized fiction, from Novelr to Web Fiction Guide, a (relatively) quiet community of authors have been taking the plunge and actively taking their chances on the future of online fiction. Just because there are now a million readers reading a popular work on Wattpad, people are getting excited? Really?

Please. It's Not All About the Numbers. Or the Money.

I don't know how many times I have said this, but art is not about money, neither is it about numbers.

Three years ago, before I switched my focus to my full-time job, I wrote an article on the presentational possibilities of web/online fiction, amidst all that excitement about ebooks. Three years later, now, I still hear more people getting excited about technology per se rather than the artistic possibilities offered by technology.

Sigh.

The Web is Commercial. It's Social. It's Time for It to be Artistic.

I know for sure that I'm not the only person who sees the artistic possibilities afforded art by the Web. (Try googling "Internet art".) Yet most people have been concerned only with the money behind it, and more recently, the social aspect of it.

It's about time we help them see the Web in a new light.

Maybe I'm delusional, but there definitely is a place for art on the Web. But it is not going to happen until the artists - we - act on our beliefs. We need to show the world what we can do with the Web, to show the world the future of Art, on the Web. Technology has changed a lot of things, but so far its influence on Art has been minimal. The best I can say now is that technology has provided a vehicle for more efficient delivery of art online, but we're only at the tip of the iceberg - the better works of Internet Art (Net Art) has provided us a glimpse of how technology can alter the very nature of art.

We Need an Art for the Masses.

In my very, very humble opinion, the reason why Internet Art didn't take off, in spite of its many talented individuals, is that it wasn't accessible. The general public felt distanced by Internet Art, and they believed Internet Art is for a selected few only. When that happens, when there's a lack of widespread acceptance, then very naturally, it fails to influence.  

Can Web Fiction Lead Art into Wider Acceptance? 

Yes, I think so, for these reasons:

1. Like the Web, fiction's foundation is text. Structure-wise, it is the most natural category of art we should consider migrating, or rather, adapting to the Web. (As opposed to say, sculpture or theater.)

2. Like the New York Times article suggests, there are a good number of people who are open to the idea of consuming fiction on the Web. We should, therefore, only need a little nudge to get these same people to consume web fiction as art online.  

3. There is a good number of aspiring authors out there who are not only able to write fiction, but are equipped with technological skills. These are often the web fiction writers (as opposed to writers who self-publish on Kindle et al), and they are the people who can help lead the adaptation of fiction to the Web.  

Web Fiction as Art. 

But for that to happen, we need to work on making web fiction a form of art. The way I see it, we will need to start off with making web fiction a unique art form, one that surprises and impresses people, that can only be consumed on the Web. (Or on apps.) Once we forge this unique identity, people will be more prone to accepting the idea of the Web being capable of producing art, and we may then finally be on the way to A More Artistic Web. 

(I know, that sounds a little vague. I will follow up with a few more posts that outline what I believe we should do with the idea of web fiction as art.)