John Greenwood
California State
University
Channel Islands
Capstone Project
Fall 2005
PAGE 7

 
       Introduction       
    The New Media    
       Internet 101       
   New Media Artist   
         NET.ART         
 The Original Replica 
     NET.ART, Inc.     
     Interactive Art      
   Art Technologies   
  Selling Art Online   
       Conclusion       
      Bibliography      
 

 

 

 

 

Photo of Alexei Shulgin, early Russian NET.ART artist.
Photo courtesy of Telepolis

 

 

 


An animated GIF logo as an example of commercial Internet art.
Artwork courtesy of
Photon.Net

 

 

 


Letter art logo as
an example of commercial Internet art.
Artwork courtesy of
Yahoo.com

 

 

 


 

NET.ART, INCORPORATED

In 1995 Slovenian artist Vuk Cosic recieved a scrambled email. The only phrase on it that was readable said "net.art". Cosic began using this phrase when he discussed online art and the term NET.ART was born (Greene, p. 162). This new style of art that was designed for the Internet now had a name. Early internet artists thrived on the communication and collaborative possibilities that the web offered. for the first time artists from both sides of the iron curtin were able to share ideas openly and easily. This exchange of philosophy and culture attracted a variety of techies, activists, avant-garde artists and a variety of dreamers and thinkers. Eastern block artists were especially enthusiastic about the freedoms of the Internet and many of them played critical roles in the development of NET.ART.

These first NET.ART artists established online communities where they could share ideas. Early web sites and mailing lists such as Rhizome.org, Nettime and Irational.org. These web sites allowed these artists to express their ideas to like minded individuals independent of the existing artistic community. The web site Syndicate was a cultural and artistic site from the USSR (Greene p. 163). As the Internet developed the demand for NET.ART grew. the conventional art institutions were slow to recognize NET.ART as an art form, but as it grew in popularity with the Internet the artistic community began to take notice.

By 1997 the Internet was growing at faster than anyone ever thought posssible. As the Internet audience grew so did the NET.ART community. New technologies attracted more and more artists to the Internet. NNET.ART was quickly becoming a recognized art form. Although somewhat begrudgingly at first, the high profile institutions of the art word have begun to embrace Internet art. Major art exhibits like the Whitney Biennial and the Venice Biennale display NET.ART and many major museums have held showings for net.art as well as establishing online programs. The Dia Center for the Arts in New York sponsors ongoing projects of art for the Internet. When NET.ART is displayed on the Internet is is viewed in its intended environment and is therefore seen as the artist originally intended. However, when a museum displays net.art in the setting of a physical exhibit, a new set problems are presented to the artist and the curator. Museums have attempted to display NET.ART by installing multiple computer terminals in their galleries. This did not work well since it intimidated the patrons that were not computer literate, and even the computer savvy patrons were not comfortable browsing ore engaging in interactive art with others looking over their shoulders. Projection displays have also been use to exhibit NET.ART. While this enlarges the artwork it also tends to adulterate its visual quality. This also made interactive art difficult as only one person could use the controls of an image that sometimes dominated an entire room (Stallabrass, p. 120). NET.ART has been presented in a variety of video installations with only marginal results.

These marginally successful attempts to display NET.ART in museum galleries left most viewers with a viewing experience that was less than satisfactory. It also left museum curators and directors apprehensive and somewhat bemused about displaying NET.ART in their galleries. To compound the problems most artists that contributed to the shows were dissatisfied with the ways their art was being displayed. Some museums began to commission traditional artists to create Internet art, while some institutions sought out Internet artists to create installations that were made for the gallery. At the same time many Internet artists were looking for sponsors that would be interested in similar endeavors. It appeared that NET.ART was beginning to conform to many of the parameters of conventional art. Natalie Bookchin and Alexei Shulgin recognized this in 1999 when they published Introduction to net.art (1994-1999). This website is an outline of rules and ideas that are intended as a guideline for the NET.ART artist. In this writing they noted:

1. NET.ART is undertaking major transformations as a result of its newfound status and institutional recognition.


2. Thus NET.ART is metamorphisizing into an autonomous discipline with all its accouterments: theorists, curators, museum departments, specialists, and boards of directors.   

This short list was followed by a brief list of things that would lead to the demise and materialization of NET.ART. These included “…the production of objects, display in gallery, archiving and preservation…” (Bookchin).

NET.ART was maturing. It had grown past the simplicity of its infancy. It was no longer an underground art form that was the bastion of the unknown artist and social dissident. It was now important for artists to be recognized in this field. There was notoriety to be had, grants to be applied for and commissions to be won. Institutions were beginning to understand NET.ART and the artists were beginning to understand the business of art. Advancements in technology helped bridge the culture gap and a mutually beneficial relationship developed between the institution and the artist. NET.ART was becoming part of the mainstream artistic culture and part of the business of art.

Yet this was not new news for the growing number of artists employed by the commercial interests that used the Internet for commerce. Graphic designers, digital artists, animators and dozens of other artistic disciplines had found a home on the net. The “dot com” industry had been blossoming for several years, and now it was in full bloom. NET.ART continued to improve in both quality and quantity as American businesses poured billions of dollars into Internet businesses. In addition to this the video gaming industry had been exploding at exponential rates for several years. This huge influx of cash fueled a revolution in Internet technologies, including improvements in graphic, audio, video and animation software. Digital artists now had more software and hardware available to them than they could possibly master. More and more the general field of digital art has segmented into task specialization. Software has become so complex that it is common to have artists that specialize in one specific software program. Technology is changing the face of digital art, and NET.ART is changing with it.

 
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Introduction | The New Media | Internet 101 | The New Artist

NET.ART | The Original Replica | NET.ART, Inc. | Interactive Art

Net Art Technologies | Selling Art Online | Conclusion | Bibliography