Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997
From: Joachim Blank
What is netart ;-)?
Joachim Blank
The text below is a contribution to an exhibition and congress called=
" (History of) Mailart in Eastern Europe" at the Staatliches Museum Schwer=
in (Germany) 1996 [excerpted]
The "Internet myth" is the result of a massive self-referentiality of=
our media landscape. Unlimited communication in a yet unknown conglomerate=
made of machines, cables and people. The exclusive networld of cyberpunks,=
scientists and artists has been superseded by the thirst for information o=
f the industrialized mass consumption. Nevertheless, the cultural "stylisti=
c howlers" of communication in data networks continue to exist not only in =
the underground.
Artistic projects, strategy projects, discussion forums and autonomou=
s network structures within the vast Internet, but remote from the glossy, =
dust-free surfaces, show interesting beginnings for an alternative use of t=
his medium.
Netart vs. Art on the Net
The art market has discovered the net for the distribution of art. It=
uses the net to promote art just like ordinary companies. Gallerists, muse=
ums and other art brokers provide information about their artists, exhibiti=
ons and events. For them, the net is nothing more than a big telephone book=
in which they too want to (have to) be represented.
However, netart differs from art on the net. Art on the net is mostly=
nothing more than the documentation of art which is not created on the net=
, but rather outside it and, in terms of content, does not establish any re=
lationship to the net. Netart functions only on the net and picks out the n=
et or the "netmyth" as a theme. It often deals with structural concepts: A =
group or an individual designs a system that can be expanded by other peopl=
e. Along with that is the idea that the collaboration of a number of people=
will become the condition for the development of an overall system. netart=
projects without the participation of external persons are perhaps interes=
ting concepts, but they do not manifest themselves as a collective creativi=
ty in the net (Dieter Daniels, http://www.hgb-lepzig.de/theorie/mailart.htm=
). The idea is fundamental, but dubious without media-specific translation =
and without participation of other people. For all netart projects there is=
a retraceable starting point, an author, so to speak. Nevertheless, what d=
evelops from one idea of one single artist with the collaboration of many o=
thers, is incalculable. Like the incentive of gambling, here too the openne=
ss, the curiosity about an imaginary end, the exciting challenge of taking =
part in such projects. And that with a medium like Internet, which makes a =
direct form of intervention possible at the same time on different levels o=
f communication (text, sound, picture, motion picture, real time).
[…]
+
dimitris c. milionis
+
p.s. …and the " net.art world " wants to know now has something changed =
in 5 years!
++
