Digital Art History - Blog #3
Internet Art
Articles:
Introduction to Net Art (1994-1999)
Fluidities and Oppositions among Curators, Filter Feeders, and Future Artists
Net Results
Net Art Examples:
adaweb
Digital Studies: Being in Cyberspace
beyond interface
turbulence
net_condition
Desktop Is
Whitney Biennial 2000 & 2002
tate modern
SFMOMA’s e.space
Rhizome’s ARTBASE
Art Entertainment Network
010101
Histories of Internet Art: Fictions and Factions (HIAFF)
Internet art is considered to be the ultimate form of modernism according to Introduction to Net.Art: 1994-1999. It is a form of hybridization that combines the usage of internet and data to make immaterial art. Net art is something that is often only temporary. It allows for freedom and independence from the rules of institutions. Net art gives rise to communities and encourages collaboration in the arts. It can be anything and almost everything. Often times, it comes in the form of taking information and data from the internet to create something new. “The internet is a research tool and a place for new cultures to emerge”, says Cory Arcangel from Net Results. It is a form of play and experimentation. This includes It is the way of the future for the artist.
To exhibit net art, one has infinite options. An artist could produce and publish their works online. This could include hypertext links that take a person to different pages where people have free access from all over the world. The pieces could include opportunities for collaboration where the viewer can interact and become an artist. They can contribute to the art by telling their own story that relates to the topics the original artist laid before them. Or an artist could use the computer for research and then create “performances, songs, photos, texts, or installations directly derived from the materials on the internet”, says Marisa Olson in Net Results. In other words, the internet could be used to make physical pieces of work which are still considered net art. Another option is to curate and exhibit many works of art on one site. This helps spread an artist’s ideas and works all over the world where people have access to the internet. This keeps a record of the art and helps with archiving. It could possibly make temporary net art exist longer.
In fact, exhibiting net art online has many similarities with traditional gallery and museum culture. Images are both displayed for the viewer to experience. Ideas and “non-linear thinking” is encouraged according to Anne-Marie Schleiner in Fluidities and Oppositions among Curators, Filter Feeders and Future Artists. There is a “process-driven” evolution that leads to “compulsive creativity”. There is a “fetishization of aesthetics”. Museums and online net art collections lead to “compulsive collecting” and “restructuring information”.
However, there are many challenges for the net artist and their archived collections. As time progresses, hypertexts and links break and stop working. The sites become outdated and do not function as they used to. This creates a problem for the net artist where they must constantly update and fix links. Taking a look at the net art titled Digital Studies: Being in Cyberspace, one can see how the art suffers because the links do not work anymore. The viewer cannot understand what is happening since the pieces are no longer linked properly. The archive is therefore useless and shows us just how temporary digital and net art can be.
Last, another challenge that exists for the net artist includes monetizing their work. Is it even possible? Many of the first net artists created art for purposes of enjoyment and freedom from institutions including the restrictions of the art market. The purpose of their art was to create whatever they wanted without boundaries. They do not think about how to make money off of their work. Their incentive is to engage all types of viewers and to “[vanish] boundaries between private and public” which exist in traditional museum and gallery settings (Introduction to Net.art (1994-100). The net artist thrives to give access for free to all classes and types of people. It is a method for all people to borrow ideas and re-create new ones. Net art is the experimentation and natural creativity that a person possesses in relationship to not having monetary encouragements. This brings the purest type of art, ideas and creativity to the public. Net art is the art of pure freedom. Although it is possible to make money through net art. One such way could be through submission fees to have one’s work shown in a specific archive or gallery collection online. However, making money like this is not the priority for net art. In fact, it is the last reason for making net art.