Rachel Greene

Internet

Art

Thames

& Hudson

world of art

RACHEl GREENE .. e<e<unve DI",<"" 01 Rh'tome,org, ~n onllno ,.-e.sourc_c .and pl:.dorn'l for J\~ medea iiIIrt EdUI£:3tvd~! thil! um"'el'SrLie., of Pel1n,),l""n'" .nd Sun"", she ..• formo, <I'U",1 "udl", fellow ,n the WIOIrnQy MUI~um'l Indep~nd.n, S'''~1 Prcgfilm Grot"" 11>.1een b In~olved w,ih p'Omo,lngnew m"dl'~'tt "nto 19<;17 ond" ~ fr0Guen, l:on~dbuLQr 10 ;)rtm:i\,galJna iJrld Qt.1'ogue~ Cl.lrrll!!olJ~ Ihe 11:l tlJr.u(l~ •.a1 fellow It ,he NQ-wl"u,eum ell Con~.tnpofil"Y Ar, In New Yorlc

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Rachel Greene

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Internet Art
232 illustrations. 174 In color

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Thames

8,

Hudson world of art

Contents

Preface 7 Introduction 8

The Internel's History and Pre-History 1 The Arc-His!oricol Conte,l(! (or imerne! Art 19 Chapter I Early Internet
PartiCipation

Art JI

34: Russian Internet Art Scene 31>; NewVacabularies JCJ: Travel and DO(l;menwry Mode.s ~5; Netot! 52: Cyberfem'nism 62, Carporole Aesmelics 65; Telepresence 1,7
III PI/blic SPaces

Chapter 2

Isolating the Elements

Emml-based Communilie~

73
73; Exillb/tlon Formats and Col/ectlVe

PrQ}ecr.s 78: Browsers. ASCII, AU[amatlon and Error 84, Parody. Appropnatlon and Remixing °2: Mopping Authorship 103. Hypercext and Textual Aes!/Jetics 10'1. Remodelling Bodies 108; New Forms of Distribution 110: Sexual Personae III

Chapter

Themes in Internet

Art 119

In{owar andTactJcal Media in Practic.e 119; Turn o(l11e Millenmum, War and the Do!com Crosi: 128,. Data VisualizarJon and Dambases 132; Gomes 1+1; Generolive and SofT-wa"" Art IS2; OPen Works 164: Tile Crash af 1000 16B

Chapter 4

Al't fol' Networks

173

VOyeurism,Surveillance and Borders 173; Wifeless 180: E-<:ammerce IB4; Forms Q(Sharmg- 18B; Video and Filmic Discourses 19 t; I.ow-fi Aesthetics 200; 'Art (ar Networks' 206 Timeline 214
Glossal'Y
--¥tl'1

IJ<1

.mo31

89,,,

I Shu l ... C h ""g, ,1ppl~¥.oh

C ~tgn and ~o&el'Ii!!nnut

Borm.lIloJ

Projects and Resources 216; Select ExhJbiti(!)ns 217; Festivals, EveRtS and Venues 218: Mailing Lists 218 Select Bibliography 218
Illustration Index 222 List 220

Preface

Contempor'ary and promotions.

web pOrtals offer a broad array of re~OUrces and

to

services, from email

search engines to shoPPing, COmpetitions in cyber-orgamzarlon that feawred

This book Is more like the portals of the web'~ arranged by tOPI~ _ for example,

first years- initial e~perlments links and Conte tuallnformation, education, users Who recognized independent

travel Or brrds They were Compiled by experienced that the internet might need some co make those early

signposts. and they served as conduns, guiding others My intenClon Is that thiS book function like One
0

voyages mto the vast and protean onlrne universe

por-tais, offering paths for readers Wishing to e plore the field of

mrerner art. As an early experrenced

user. my own connections

~.!!I7~

HI.~ ~

to the field - a long·time affiliatron with the online art comrnurury

Ilo <;7~Mw" l~
_.hIm1

!!~

~!!I

!!J~

Rhizome.org commercial

and familia rit)' With the first yean of memec an, languages. experience in the
III

a command of programming a closer proximity between of can temporary It Is an IntrodoctlOn

1 Jodi.org, htlp'If~Of,}Od! .• 'R. 1997 Jodtor(, work- whroh "''''', Its: "am~ (,-gm the web browser C(rgr or. rn Interner Jat"-Bon• iii; '~04' - [Urnl fntenCtjviry inro a fu,JI~ exe rctsc by u<lng em.11 commu"ieu~OIl :it5.lts foctJ1. The
proleCt Is ~pU[ j'lto -'Unr~'d',
Ihrec
:Ii

sector of nee development,

and an imerest

creating

thrs an and other r,elds and hiscories

art and media - all inform the writing. co Internet art, Its hlnory and the themes
[0

"='~..--s

lil .1 bllllnl
Ii) .11-""'"
~ .1,.html

and topics associated

with it. and hence it has been necessary and engage With particular web sites. and contemporary works I wanted to

,explain how co interpret

ccnre

mailing lists or software in an art-hisroncal

c. This

ofren required significant detail and delineatIon. and

fiiJ
t> t>
~

.1thtml

I had to leave eue many of the extraordinary reason, and

[0

flo

.. """
..-

~iI:[jOilS

cover [hac have rnspired my own interest in net art, For trus offer additional resources,
h35

...
In6t.< html 1ilI_><lntml

t> t>

Ii'l_Mrnl
..... _ _ wi

'~~plr'.nd ·Un sanr' - each af wh f-ch ftustra[@-s eh1<1 u 5 er b), <lell b~r't~lr rea rn "gins0 r cen!orlng ~I' or h~r Input Iby re:mo'l'jng vOw~I!f'~ 'Unread', fer e•• mpl., .n" "'on ",gurgr"'''ng mom In 'Un •• n q

an appendix

of projects,

archives and portals partlcipnnts

been added to encourage

readers cc

e~pIOI'e, further, draw their Own concfusrons, In this diverse and relevant field.

and become

Introduction

deployed With agency. coordlnatlol1 and selecnon. Stili. rhere is more ~han an evolutionary argument for rhl! Slgn;lficancl!of net relevant to how we live within

an. It IS not
now, Inrernel

lUSt

thar the tools and Issues brought to the fore by

fnternet art are current, and therefore

an: ISP""t of

a continuum

an
I~

hiuory

chat

InclUdes .Su.ch ~traregies and themes as mstruction.s, apprOprIation.

d erna [a r '·3 IlZa[j on. networks artl~ts an,d movements Both everyday and exotic. public and private. cornmerctal, to find the internet of contemporary autonomous and form a broadcast an d Inform arion, I[ impo r til n t to explore parallel$ between net .r~ and Ideas in _he work of earlier - for example. Nam June Paik's (b. 1932) Paru'IPorJon TV (1963) [3J, whiCh took the televiSion. lradlrionally platform, and shaped it into an mter~crlve canvas prefigured . is a c:haotic. diverse and crowded to it: web sites. software.

Paik's appara[Us for receptiOn and production

browser art (see Chapter for experimentation.

public space. It is hardly surprising. animation,

therefore.
to name IUS(

2). whlC:h treats browsers as fodder

so

many art forms related photOgraphy.

broadcast,

radio and email,

ThiS book will show how the shifts in mformanon technologies that began during the /9905 have affecced. Impacted It will on and. In turn, been Influen~ed by artistic practjces

a few. Moreover, the computer. fundamental for experiencing Internet art, can be both. a channel a nd a means of p.r0duction a
can take the (arm af a laptop, a cellular phone, - each with its own screen, the experience Internet's summarize software, speed of the arrwork an office comput Beyond the activi its its glo! art difficult and capability _ ana aesthetiC

explore the field in two ways: firstly. by offermg snapshots

changes accordingly. issues make Internet survey such and ephemeral

singular ability to host many different in

other novel and complicating

a critical and
however, internet

historical is dear:

as this:
nature;

relative youth; its dematerialized reach. Its location. that decorated century cultures, cyberspace

like the gre~[ works of arr

public areas and buildings in pre-ninereeruhart resides in a largely openzcne= itself on computer have suggested desktops anywher halls and white cube galleries we look for art.
IN am June P.ik, P.o<1fc/p<lffoo TV. 1963 (1988 VO""<>n). P.Jk tra1uforms the oml1fpr~ent teJevislon -:. (on!lu"'cr~Qrgei:ed
dC:'r'lce CMltcrng sigrul- into the
iii

- manifesting

in the world but rarely in museum where the past two centuries

Sy virtue of its constantly diminishing and replenishi!)g medium and tools (e.g. software and applications become
obsolete, upgraded. web pages are abandoned new plug-ins ilr"€ brought internet and removed,
onro

software

is

the market.

web sites

ul1Jdirectiona:1

an mt1!ra(;tI~O:r

are launched).

art is intertwined

with issues of accesS co and consumptian. funcdon increasingly

teChnology and decentralization. and deml:lnstrares pUblic space. It is Inextricable commerciallOnOVation; complJters, machines to reasoning.

production from the history

p3r'tic,paCory:spue Not 0" l'y does dE.!i~m.lriJrr.ud ccmmerdal

how media spheres

as

ilp~ralUS become a more opefl

of military and unwieldy

and it follows the changing roles of from anonymous. portable, custornrzable instruments

Which have developed

and respooslVe ~)'~temrc r ilrt ::'iond' comlllunrCatlon. blll Ihe screen emIC-rgeJ as- iii. pJc(;,or ••d platform SWi«hlngrom bro,d""" 10 f produCdon wltlun Cine! Ul~rf.iCi! 1.1 common 111 intemer. iirt-m:!lJcin,g.

4 /IDd"",/ So,iTl.!rre TIli, ,hort·I,ved pubhc.1rIon (1910-71}, ""d'eo ::Ind Video a..-t.
w:;;u

""..,t~...
\lllc..ned

.......

b, wnten ;and ~nlSD tnte~E£d in dO<etlmlh.mg mWJa. I", oonton" fund::tm~nt;;d'Y eressf"@

Inc~ude POlItical COnditIons. Chapter artiSts explored the constituent

2 desCribes how early net of the new

charaCteristlcs

c'IlClpliNrynd a

Df,""

.....

.,ri>ed

'" le"'~olo"aJ <C"""ml. ond the jourNll WD.I C"r\ll:il.1foreru,,"er

medium. often communICating With One another through art proleCts as well as on emaililsts. In Chapten 3 and 4 these threads expand rc Include other salient mpics: such
35

orOI.Y. movement'< Ire• •or.".. ,,· and '",c~",' m"dJ~' " A.ll r-l~'" IS.sUe:s em now be.
"~Dnhntr

,.,hilS

mfowar, gaming, softwa re and i'aCr1C31 media Sometimes politics and commerce are referred to because Internet art is no straightforward something injuStices, Often assurnptions technologies. alternatives, commercIal complement
It

http) ....-..w ",d,,,,''''rtware .orgl

to 'dorcom'

era caPitalism but

of an aCtiVe COunterbalance to Its e cesses and has been net artiStS who, alongSide ""nous cmlques agaInst the and Itlrorma[)on acuJal

critICS and aCtIvIStS, have formulated Furthermore, software,

burlt mto flew Or e isting computer

net arnsts often generate

developIng pr~ctical productS such as non. Their strategies Imply [hat cOmmert:I~1

mach,mtions inflect art and orher fields we tend to thInk of as removed from tndo"ry.
B ritis h cri nc uw

re nc e A IIOway se e med

ro an [j c~ re the net pa

when, in 1972, he wroce 'The Arc World Described

as J

System' in
(Q

about the various SOCJal.profeSSional and critical networks which artistS and therr work circulate. Alloway, ever alert prominence mechanisms, of the mass media, clced sophisticated increased communication, rapid productIon

rhe

marketing and norlng

•
(and screensho[s) have created of some of the diverse methods by which arns and shaped cultural expression by using che lntarne

dissemrnatlon connectivity',

of ~rJ[ic:l5mand an 'data', or documencatlo'l, In a new and lmseulmg Alloway favoured alternative

that 'all of us are looped together diversified fields of art expernsa Without

exhibition venues and

(to accommodate

a youth whose

all d secnnd Iy, by pre end ng a ch ro IIIcIe 0 f rh e tech no IO,gi.e of s Internet art, as well 35 an account of its art-historical precedenu
to reveal wider concerns information The geographical and democracy legendary in Chapter about societies
10 which medfa,

grasp of popular Culture could outweigh hls own generation's). doubt, AllOway woutd have been Incrigued co see how methOdologies, goals
(0 those in the 'offline' art world. He would also

net arusts have been abie to devise alternate and communities halle appreciated the extent
[Q

and commerce are ubiqUitous. starling-point of this hiStory lies in Europe, War technology of
[Q

which many of the strategies and

Eastern Europe In particular; advanced art-making 'neLart'

where post-Cold

critIques inTroduced by new media anists secure a prominent place for the genre 111 the blurry and shlfrmg space between mass media and physical being that comprises contemporary fife. Indeed, compared German with concurrent
[Q

Initiatives opened

up spaces for pockets dot), which an

and media acnvlsm that gave rise

rhe

[he cOl1'1plexfabric of work by arnsrs

scene (with a requisite to conceptual transfer

IS

descnbsd
In

I There and throughout art is indebted simull:3neously

the book, I relate [he ways

SLJ~h

:>$

whlch internet of networks, traditionally

through

Its and use StaWS

GerhMd Richter (b. 193-2) and Arnencan

Matchew Barney

emphasis on aUdience interaction,

of Information

(b. 1967), Internee art has less cosmopolitan

do, with objectli or soc~al or

bypassing the autonomous and periodlzed

financial prestige, and little, atleasc currently, to do with the

ascribed to art objects, The projects in detail in this chapter

of early net
[0

art businesses that thrive in New York, Cologne.

capieals. It 15 generally a more marginal

artists are covered 10

London and other culture

and oppOSitional form, oken uniting parOdy, functlonaficy and II

aenvnrn under a smgle umbrella. actively reclaiming public spacs and circumnavigating boundaries that seem entrenched Jnternet distribution and in the same world ofgallerres and museums. consumption. sculprures overlook
~5

art has redefined

of the materials of CUIrent art-making. expanding operations networked because out to tlle most remote

from rhe white cube gallery computer. As with public or 10QlIon them ~rt is Ilea rly all of

or murals. email. softwa re and web Sites are easy to

as 'art'. doubtless

their functionality

rnean chat users and passers-by underwrinen experiment,

do not readily acknowledge

such. Though cheir tools and venues differ. internet by the mO[IVlItions that have propelled Ideology: technology: and memorializing communicate. critique or destroy;

n Order to View the art d art a - oes not help eltner. For many VIewerS h ." ~Icomputer screen Is too unfamiliar both conceptually and' p YSlca y. and the technical steps necessary t not reconcile With 'art' . 0 access It simply do experlenc:ces like brOWSing In qUiet galleries or naVigating vast museum collections Indeed. there (5 k d f a In a reversed e~otitlsm in play. When the Internet was new dirt re d' I .. . . e"t an en COmmerCial. Il seemed more avant·garde. Now that the 'lnternet boom' Is over and Its [echnologles consume. research are entren<:hed
In

the way we work. play and

arnsuc practices, Ideals or ernonons; practices

1[5

desire: the urge to the eiabora'ion arnsnr markets observation or experien.ce. that preclude

Its qualkies are mfll!aed With aSSOCiations of labour. or, worse stlil. pOp-up Windows and ~panl. Whde the movement focused on pr~ervmg and

IUl(taposltlon of these Corpor.lCe P' oducts and free-softWare (a dIverse and International red,stribute promOtmg the freedom to copy. sUJdy. use. modify and soft'wilreJ prOJects offer rich rnaterra I for those In[~res[ed In them iZing about an. medi~ Culture and today's
SOCJI!'C)'. some attack the prevolenCl? of b''ilnd-s:uura ted tools and

While Internee art's contributIons compose

to Contemporary canons,

much of tIllS book. the conflicts art-historical To conf,ne

easy mduSIO" within traditional

and dialogues must also be explored, dominant art discourse smgularltles. Moreover. suspicions between the form's Inception. establishment curators represents culwre.. such as museums tendenCies and undermme internet Internet the benefits

the fleld to

would muffle Its most vlcal anarch" of a precise study of Its of official since one cannot gloss over the mutlJal artists and instItutions art IS sometimes and ga"erles. that have persisted

phenomena.

For some of these detractors,

to

Seemlngl'y. work th~[

begins with or e ists Within Internet or Commercial forma ts can ,'ever rise above those limIts il<:h,eve the status of arc. illmed at the works' creators ten self.identified"s
0

A related criticism 15 sometimes that Internet and software artists. programmers. expectations objeotions It. n producer

viewed by the For crrttcs. an. the tiel 'to

are nor 'real' artists. TIllS ('rltlque can be taken as ofwhar artists sl10uld be. what skills or 'trades they

as ernblernanr

of how we live now, but at Other immature art practice. in internet

a symptOm of [he changing modes of an and the evolVing should POssess. and what their critical COllcerns should be The can bl! suscalned only If the role of the is ImagInl!d in limited ways, and
eXist, 3rt1S( 3.S

~mes IS taken as derivative. fresh aesthetic

and Viewers who rake an interest art discourse.

possibl!itll!s and ccntrtbures

ccnremporary

For those who do not support

perhaps

an is often thought to lack the craft and direct Impact of work in

painting and sculpture programming by privileging commercial cheap. 'whin meaningful net practices tools. veering to bang' an should such as and IS also <l media clese to graphic design, Or explolung naturally be 0pposed)_ Furthermore.

anachrOniSticnlly. outside the time and reach of tile web Internet an has also been critiqued for a perceived elitism. users to becOllle ",different to a reclusive pOSition Within the world and concem5 of cybcnpace Some argue that the net conditions the offline world, as participants often be~ome caught up in the

tricks (to which authentic,

software art do not align With existing gallery. museum discurSive sYStems. and these mstitutlons differentiate themselves from Commercial or practices tend!!nI;Y (since the inception Consumer eleuroniC$ The internet's operational often want co fields. There With

field's linguistic and practical £omplexkies.

Tbrs criuque. whrch

a

Situiltes the Internet as a space of lelSUI e and contemplatIon. online Communiries. ca n, I tlunk. be subHamiated. space. untainted by gender.
ethrue

haven where one can dwell on the vagaries of net aesrheucs and Indeed.

of video art) to place new uses of associated

m~S5

characrenza tions of the incernet a. an open pl~ylng field ~nd

and class bIases. or free from a r!! mlsleading. The labour Issues or ecological ccnsequences

In one category and art in another presumed banality_ with its labels and Navigator. Mac:romedia Flash) and Ics COmmercial tools (Net:scape

sense of insularity among Ilecheads. hackers et 31has been such that many dialogues between Internet an and other tradrrlorlal art pracncss and hlseorles remain nascent,

requiSItes - the n.eed to turn on, booc up and log in.

However, these critical issues should not obscure that incernee arc has received attemion influential quarters
<It

the faet from various both

and support

- curators, museums,

institutions

and communities

-- --------RadloTal(is

the edge:; of the mainstream

C0

art world and within rt, Many fund ng institutions and festivals, in of net a rt, having limited expertise

T~..Ao-'i~

aa,j:.

-------

major international from Seoul recognized

O"-~
C1""_~

Kassel, are now supportive and developed art without

its importance

order to suPPOrt Its programming, truthful history of internet encouragement Eleetronica (Karlsruhe, Netherlands). Postmasters lists from the earliest

And one could net offer a naming tIle frUitful provided

(or Art

moments

(Linz. Austria), ZKM, the Center

Germany), the Walker Arc Center SyndiQte

by Ars and Medi. the LIS), mailing such as

the Waag Society (Amsterdam. (Minneapolis. (London),

Gallery (New York), Backspace

Nemme,

and Old Boys Network.

platforms

Tlllepo/is, THE THING and Rhizome.org, such as Muu' and Intelligent AgenL As someone

and pFint publieatiol1s the ropic of iOlternet to calk a bout the time for a as well as the no the has bee the
5 lIad'D Taxi5, fa:., Arr.l002. Enn.~ng londOIl black cabs, .SIlce!JJcetrilddng -and ehc IIllil!rnCt
'0

who began to write about

to

art during a time of urgent crldcal geSUltion, when artists and

critics were trying develop new vocabularies medIum. my view IS that now is a more appropriate book on the subject. The initial scepticism the traditional art world. the desrre for polemics,

of net arrlsrs toward5

---------

----

--

-- that made Its

inwatives and, above all, the milItary development mtertwined hrstories of the computer

marna and hype around the internet's

substantially, and momentum

novelty have all faded away sites and software Though in media theory

concepts

such

as web

orch ......

re

longer seem as alien to the general art enthusiast. of change and development

amplified by increasing usage of the ne, since the mld-1990s, has been a shift away' from al'lYurge to concentrate authorial mastering approaches is possible figures or final theories lts meanil'lg or declaring
In

m3p$ of CIl"- oveml!nu. iI Brltfsh m l:iUU ccrepa ny IiIE:ridty fOr"a)1. Outside conventloni11 art ilnd tr.UlSf>Ort~seC'tcr Zcnes Wf'Ule Its.
markll!!tlng consideratJOP1£ <lire nor

"'.'y.

tools available. Central to the evolution of the internet are ttle and eleCtronic data. Charles at Cambridge Babbage (1792-1871) nineteenth-century was an early VIsionary of the former, a mathematiCs professor and labour would be raken tasks

COlourfu'

University whose work on production who deSigned prototype,

on single impacr

resolvIng the internet's

Its radical singularity. Wherea sensibilities, now

It

.hm red ""iii 'he G PS .FCW"rl< dlscu ,.ed tn Ch 'pl. r ~. oil. theOrtHICilj IUUc:t ar .5Q,ke are 0'1,~"cdy ''''oted,

up by John SWart Mill (1806--73) and Karl Mar:.: (1818-83), and for apparat:uses that performed by following IrlStructions, now commonly kno"Vn as 'programs'. His planned 'engines' - the d[ffer~nce engine and the far more ambitious analytical engine - were fleXIble and powerful calculators controlled by punch cards. The analytical engme
ill the modern

felt a pressure

earlier years to come up with fresh critical for a wider audience, one

to new media or give them 'cyber'

to

write a more open history

that IS in dialogue with other

epposltlcnal movements.
deepen my own interest relationships between

and These shifts in writing about intern~t art

related art-historical the

included mal1Y features chat later reappeared designed to be huge and steam-powered collaborators Countess

CO"lpucer, such as versions of RAM and memory, but it was and was never built during Babbage's Iffewl1e. One of 8abbage's rnosr Significant on the engine, was Auguna Ada. King (18/5-52),

in how the field Illuminates power. art and daily life.

The Internet's HIstory end Pre-History

Like the histories of cable television, cameras, radio and even satellites, part via the innOVlltors, companies, 14 COnsumer research

electronks, videa
is told In government

(ilf Lovelace and the daughter of Lord Byron" who wro te som e of the f rst In s rrucno n ro uti n es fo r me eng) n es. Ada
would late I' be the namesake of internee art platform ada'wab, as well as a programming Department of Defense. language used by the UnIted States

that of the internet centres,

15

The work of George Boole (1815-64), who perfected a binary system of algebra chac allowed mathematical equations to be represented development by true or false statements, and use of electrical became central to the circuns in the 19305, processing and zero/one. Employing this non-steam,pOWered

only two objects: yeslno, true/false method, electrtcal computer:

In around

logic Circuits could be built to Use Boolean to form an electric, computers engineer

algebra and combined

the n, Aft.r d""e'opJng II and Z2. Zuse W<tn<on bUild .he Zl dUring World W.dl The nuchlnc 111M[D b tlHl:WQi'd~l fi rer fully (uncuonal F cog,....,. .ontrQlled CC"1puI.r - fQrmed tho

.& Konrad

ZUSCts thll"d CQmpLlt~r;

'D

1/,.

bUll

of Zuse'.l (j~rn 'fO have be~11

Electrically cperared 19)8 when German relays in his parents'

were first developed

the f'jru

frl ereC'rf'Qrljc camp.nlnE

Konrad 2u5e (1910-95) [61

constructed telephone

a large machine, the Z I, from electrom<tgnetlc living room. He also used two With bInary numberlnf. was che British in the field Turin, for pap of future computers.

.. :Jw..i ...... J...

I. P..... .... \~ ..

logical voltage levels (on and off) combined laying the ground for many principles Another computers computer developed pioneer of computer mathematician developments

\\\\

Alan Turing (1912-54), who not only engineered asking ir computers 'could think', and ho in 1943. operator

but also did some of the first experiments processes compared

of aruficlal intelligence,

with human logk systems. valve computer used reader systems encrypred

calculete tabl!!, for- shell tra,eCtories.

The ENIAC was enormous, were so available

the world's first electronic the computer

consts cing of more chan 18,000 v.alves, 70,000 reSistors and 5 million soldered jl!lints. Its !!Iectric.al POWer reqUirements great that the computer'S' usage Is reponed computers electronics computers llghts in the 10c~1Wen Philadelphia area. COmm!!rdalir (Universal AUtomatic Computer), the 1960s, IOtenrlVes to decrease
[0 have dimmed tile

Called the Colossus, tape5 punched Data intercepted application

in by the many female military teletype (rom tr.lnsmissions

on the German

Enigma devices could be input and processed demonstrated chat computer ( 1906-92) I,Ised (or tasks Involving characters Dr Grace Murray Hopper twentleth-cenetiry sophisucated language) on In the development

at high speeds.

reached tile market In 1951 With the UNIVAC and the advent of solid st:!te the bulk and weight of allowed for smaHer and smaller microchips. Dunng resulted in substantial Size reductl0ns.

teChnology

could be

as well as numbers. was likely tile first o She was highly influenn Business Oriented k .ne and her

By the early

WOman to be involved in the developmenr of COBOL (Common

[9705, the cent ra 1componentS

of a Computer - central processing

languages for computers,

unit (CPU), memory and controls - had been aggrega(,ed on a single siliCon chip. In 1981, IBM released Its personal computer, or PC. Though Steve Jobs and Steve W0zni~k, che CO-founders of Apple, had relea.ed compete interfaces popularIzed several Apple models In the 19705, they were unable to With the PC until they developed the MaCintosh required users co [)Opeinsttucrrons. the 'desktop', movement Macs also of the compurer
In

and its application

for the US military. Besides her w

StaCUS-

rhrs,

the second oldest high.level program,

was the highest-ranking computer

female Navy officer of her time (rear for her discovery of the first

admiral) - she is also remembered Circuitry of a Harvard are metaphorical moth symbolizes computer-related

198'1.

'bug' in 1945, an actual moth that had flown into the Mark II computer. or conflicts of error Toddy'S 'bugs' in progr.Jms - but that to and breakdown DC. or and John In 1946 , was - errors

The Mac Introduced

clickable Icons on the Screen, whereas PC a Visual representation

the centrality

interface. Cursor

was aided by an Invention our of with

3ccrvides. It is preser-ved Hlsto.ry in Washington Integrator

at the National and Computer.

St<Jnford Research Instirute: Douglas Engelbart's hand-controlled device called a 'mouse'. By tlie early 19805. microcomputer,s user-friendly SOftware pacbges processing Commodore and spreadsheet and applica.tions like word were offered by App.le, manipulation

Museum of American ENIAC, developed Mauchly (1907-80)

The Electronic Numerical

by John Presper

Eckert (1919-95)

and Radio Shack As more and more replicas or the market during the 19805

at the UniverSity of Pennsylvania

'clones' of the IBM machine entered

the first drgital computer- and was used by che US Army to 16

and 1990s, home compUTers became more affordable. Today, [he

17

7 6EA R"""""""". H." ,. Weio lando. A" Term,,,,,1 In "'" 1960, pha,_h. COIDPU,.,... ".,ble ~IJ J,ne JIaK to !;~£Li~ pl:ane se:aa (or """"lie .. T.......mnn'"l th. way p"ople wort. .nd lIVe,compuwn 6,nbK.me comme<'d>I'p ... ,f.bl. .n <he early 1950,

research proposed web

[001

until 1989, when Briton Tim Berners.Lee

(b 1955)

a global hypertel<t projec deSigned by Berners-Lee

tile World Wide Web, The to enhance the effiCiency of

was

standa rd research practice, which was often hlndered by the literal corrings and goings of reSearchers to and from prolects and centralized Information repositories (such as a libr~ry), If data docurnenu,
ta eed, and freed

could be made available through publrc hypertext research Would be effectNely decentnirled, modems, Berners-Lee's

facl',

from the constrain es of phYSical lOCation. AcceSSible via powerful web ran on prOtocols now Widely known Markup language) These specificatiOnS ~nd as HTMl (HyperText were thoroughly

reviewed and refined by progr.Jmmers,

II"Iternet usage began to expand and develop In rhe halls of edUcation, Parallel to the web's Interhal development, the net was rast becoming a popula.r hobb}'lst and community venue Applications than applications such as Gopher, Usenet a nd bulletin boards were _ that locate and display web pages _ were InrrodLlCed Navigator (1994) were the first multimedia (able to display Images, video and audlo] Mozilla apphcaoon and mrning it Into a commUniCation pIadorm. Web browsen

majority of North computers hooked

American

and European is rather

schools have

up to the internet. more condensed Many would pomt to US Army scienuse a.s ItS grandfather

The history of rha mternet that of computers. Vannevar Bush (1890--1974) who had built mechanical

An M IT profess,

soon after but were initially only capable of displaYing text, MosaiC (1993) and Netscape or 'graphics browsers'

computers

in the 19]Os, 8ush Imngll"l In a 1945 article entitled in Atlantic Monthly. multIple use

an Intngumg system caned Meme The Memex would

'As We May Think', which was published

Later browsers InclUded the open-source Microsofts Internet Explorer. Tile An-Historical Context (or Imernet Art

be built

intQ

desks. allOWIng
the Mernex's

browse various microfilms interactive

at the same time and input their ov model of an and ecucatlon Til"

data, Though never cOnStructed,

Though Internet art has been diScussed In a number of books and

library of data as a [001 for research

ca talogues ~hat have appeared since the rmd- 1990s, and ~ handful
of net art archives are ava II~ble online, the conneCtions net art and Other arc-hlS'torical movements documented. greunded are ~O[ well are often berween

picked up by others in the field or electronic Nelson (b, 1937) reitera1:ed the terms 'hypertext' called 'Xanadu', thil1klngand hypertext become to be and 'hypermedia'

informaciOn. describe

Bush's ideas in the early 19605, C~ 08

[0

texts, Im~j,

In pan, thiS may be due to [he specralllaClon Of many

and sounds rhar could be Interconnected Both Bush and Nelson of systems modelled liberating potential

within a 'docuverss were Interested on associative. concepts

In

net an crl tics and writers, whose methOdologies online. Their experience,

the

In Internet culcure and whose audiences remam mosdy useful as it IS.does not always lend ItSelf of the retaucn between net an: and art forms as Flu us, EAT

non-linear of

experience,

Their Ideas, Nelson's

to Sustained crItIcal explorauons and such groups. movements (Experiments

11Ft

espeCially, were unportaru bl ueprmts for what would . the internet. Named after the Department Its development, system Immune A R"ANET r-. to
0f

of Defense

in Art and Technol08Y), Happenings and mUltimed,a of the 1960s through to the present, as well a, In cable and Video. Within the scope of chrs book. orme worJ(;sthat are

agency that Sponsored

was

designed
WiISf

spectacles

a tOrnmunicarion

nuc Iear

a tracks and

developments

first Implemented

by fOur American

universities •

(t he Universlcy 0

thene Is Only enough room to look atmme in dialogue With Interl')et aestl1etks.

California at Los Angeles, the University Barbara, the Stanford Research Utah), ThIS 'Internet' 18 Institute nemainedlargely

Ca II crru '3 at Santi! 'f

and

Many net artists fe.el a strong (onnec tlon to the werk of French artisr Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) pal-ticipants in Dada (rhe intem3tlonal and to the arts movement that began

and the University of a governmental

19

111ZUrlC. h rn .

1°16 as a reaction
T

to
[0

World War

I and to a traditional ilway from Greated POetry , Dada firmly embraced

9 Stan VanOe'See" rnf"'nt

an: pu bl') a II of whom helped IC.

shift art practkes Its members

trad·· menaI r ~< of pictorial representation. rorms the ran d om as ~ means of expression.

111),-0""". at StOlley Poln~ ••

New Yor~.c 1966

0"111

@nv;ronmll!'n(Olt mQv;e theatro

for exampe.I that.rened on instructions and chance word . '., variations. Th e net analogue of such instructions .. IS code, the algOrithms (the set of steps for solving problems) basis of all software and computer operations. and publishing Events and Happenings (performance that fo;;>rm the

experlmen ts) - which began in rhe late 1950s with artists . associate d w irh the Huxu s group, Including Allan K.aprow (b. 1927 • .

[a] Roben: Watts (19H-88), George Brecht (b. 1925) and Yoke Ono (b. 1933) - were also based on the u~p~edjGtab~e exeCUtion
o f ,"strue t'10ns or premises . anticipated artworks, the interactive.
.

Allan Kaprow interaction,

Interest whIch

In the layers
In

of time, space and lnterpersenal

many w3y~

event-based jackson

nature

of some com pur from critic Gloria SUtton has nOted,seem consumption composer theoretieian experience working In medIa art, VanDerBeek prototypical of rnternet data enabled by web Suriing a nd brOWSing. Like man~ was heavily rnnuenced by

came from what he saw as his inheritance expresslcnist

American abstract people, odors.

Pollock (1912-56)

to 'utilize the specific substances touch', A5 computer-generated

of Sight, sound. movements,

Images

by artists

such as Bela

Jl.lles
an

John Cage's (1912-92) interest In found material and Marsh~1I McLuhan's (1911--80) Ideas [bat each eype of an acnva metaphor rherorir able to tran.late into new forms and revert agency to the partiCipant of subjeCtive experrence.
lI1l1C

and Michael Noll (b. 1939) began encerlng participants in dispersed locations.

the gallery purvrew (1927-8.

debriS as mUSical COntent. as well as by Can~dran Writer and media should be considered Many decades I<lter. Mclunan', n ..yberspace

(hie 19605. satellites came Into use as a way of connecting

Stan VanDerBeek who bUilt an audiovisual. of mUltimedi3-laden, satellite-linked

venue for film, sound events that, as Ame

anrrnation and collage called Mov/e-Drome [9J in 1965, is II pion

network-dependent

feedback and choice has often been Invoked in arguments rs an open dnd encompassing democratic

med'um.

One inrtiatlve of the 1960s that prefigu"es internet modes of colla boraelve prodUction - In which an artist might work With programmers. deSigners or other speclall5[s - was EAT. " group formed In 1966 by Bert Labs engineer 8illy Kluver (b 1927) During the 1960s, EAT would involve such diverse armes as Andy Warhol (1928-87),
BAlian IUpmw 18 Happ,onillr' in Paru. 1959 , "1'''''', who b!!g>n '-' .n .CL<>np"in, ... lh,fte<j h" p""CIlC~.., chaq pnrw::rpltS ~d to -MabiE Irrtt'fil.c.tron l1!d ,,,,,,1Y2IT1enL 1m. h ,gt,ly Itn~..,d ",,","'3ed H."peolng.

Yvonne Ramer (b. 1934), Robert Rauschenberg

(b. 1925). jasper Johns (b. 1930). john COlgeand David Tudor
(1926-96). JUSt as 19605 VISualartists opened up to dance, music and ocher forms of mass culture, EArs extension Interdisciplinary and development' mto sClenrific engIneering. funded by Bell Labs. was part of an expansion into spaces that can be Considered a mise en scene (or (at the MIT Media Lab, for Instance) cha t curranj; practices like hacking. software art or net art as 'research In the late 1960s and early 1970., a number of exhibitiOns and critics began to focu, on articulating cntical vocabularies It is interesting 20 went beyond the 'art object' to address infOrmatiOn and systems, re note thar many large-scale museum exhibitions

""'''npor;,.

,ndud,'1& """.<Il"n.

,....110& and

I>"rlorman,o, pt. w;q '" 10000er. opo" prod"""""" l.J I<e Imny p"'recu lnom Ill .. ~ me.

H"'fI"",n" .... Ilonged rigid <Io!Jn_os or." 0l>ie=

10

ExhlblUatl postedQI

'Crimm.lIt S... ndipJ'Y, 1968 If Kit G3Unway .nd Sherrlf' Rabl" ..wlt:r f).mon" Cote, 1911'1 B«UI>niCCDfump."ded .pato;ll and U!mpor.. r dIY~.d'£.S and ~l>chcwed ""gul". <1g113Nr1! mod", or a UU,,:""''!i hlp to emph35iu lh-e Interplay p>ruclp:>nl'< 01 .• poaod .. and p.rfcrmonce. InIllI~' "f Int_ern-et, lrt. multlm.:dP1llFcmclu ilnd saCQ_rn~·bilSed c.olbb-oriJ";nOn5 wth os EJo<1ttml< Cpr;, earn MW hu.ranr;aJ llinlfiarrc:C.

Cybernetic
5erendip~rv based On the.e somewhn radkaland Unfamiliar premISes malo; place then, inCluding 1968's 'CybernetIC SerendlplCY' 10J at the London Insmute of COrltemporary An: (curated by Jam Reichardt), 'Software'
In

1970 at New York's JeWish Musevm at me Museum of

(eurated by Jack Burnham) and 'rnrormallon' 1970. In Our recent 'internet

Modern AI,t in New York (eurated by Kynaston McShine), also In age', only a handful of new media ~n and shows. originating at {he ZKM, Ars Elcctronlca and S~n FranCISCo's

[[

Museum of Modern Art, ~ave equalled the scale of exh,bwon venue of thOse that Cook place at that time The curator of 'Software', jack BUr'nham, who embraced crOSS-pollination between anists and Computer scientiStS _ shOWing work by computer innova[orS Theodor idioms whell referring

"

Nelson and Nicholas Negroporlte

[0

~
I

I•
t

(b. 1943) alongside those by self-styled 'artistS' _ employed computer Hruetunng che concept and thenna "(.5 'InformatJon' took rts name a Work as its 'sOftw3re', and the external obrect Or sense eha t an Was at an Imp"sse, paralysed by

form (If there was one) as 'hardware'. from the curators

world evenrs and werghed down by malerlaliry, and also Chat art was something very sepan[e from emertainmenc-based spectacle In the Cat.logue for the show, MeShine wrote mat {he artists 'With the sense of mobiljry and change mac pervades interested embalming the Idea in an "object'" Joselit interpreted thetr urne , .are In ways of Idpidly e changing ide3.Srather than In 2003, American crrnc David McShlOe's esSlI)' as proposing two Significant Would only

claims, namely '(hac by 1970, obiects had come to seem practlcally Obsolete', and chat 'a dynamic e change of ,nformation be "embalmed" if given permanent forn,' of video, fa and mformation
Co bla

During [h...1970, and 1980., relatively affordable technologres teleVIsion,

.3

well as satelh re, came In (0

Wider usage by anists. amplifying the themes of transmission, and networks formerly Inveseigated by mlnlmaljsm and conceptual art. Arnsts Sherrie RabinOWitz (b 1950) and K,t
to dam:e In the Soteilice Arts Projen (1977)

lUkfit\ d()
I

t"

Galloway (b. 1948) secured (undmg from NASA ro bring remote paniclpants together creanng a new type of performance that allowed what they called yoking together

~-'\I\f\-'-.'/ '

'image as place'. The duo's EJectromc Cafe (1984) [1I]lomed up various areas of Los Angeles In 'telecollabol'ation', an. dlstributJon and CommunicatJon, a parrent systems. rachel' than te~hnoJogical one" as Johnson'S (1927-95) m811arc projens,
(0" (hell'

of net performance materials _ R~y

models. Other kinds of network art took biological or SOO::ial example, are pan of (he

New York Correspondence

School project of the 19605 and are

'Cyb;,meocStlrMdlplzy', 968 1
II KIt Galloway ond Sherrie R<lbinowi<:r., D"",,,,,,,,, ColO, 1984 EJKJI~",t ,u'p"naod .pa<I.1 and .ompo.-.I dMde. and eschewed sfngular" .ngn.uure modes: af ou",,,,,hlp I" &mph.... e tIl. Interpiay of p"tu:lp.nb, <pen.cle, pcrlo"""n~""- In hg'" of ,ntern"tart. m"ltlmodl, <pccllIde> ,nd .. ",lIIfo-l>.,j e<J ",11.bonltrcru

10 ExllJb,tla"

""Ill" fOr

Cybernetic
Serendipity

based On these ~omewhat radica Iand unfamiliar prerruses took place then. IncludIng 1968's 'Cybernetic London lnstl Ute of Contemporary Serend/pr'Y' [ro] ~l the Art (curilled by [asla at the Museun, or
UL

ear.

Reichardt), '50fcware' ill 1970 at New York's Jewish Museum (curated by JacJ~ Burnham) and 'Information' Modern Art
JO

,n"

New York (curaled by Kyn3Ston McSh'ne), also I~ age', only a handful of new media

1970, In our recent 'internet

shows, originating at the ZKM, AI'S Electronlca and San Frarwsco's Museum of Modern Art. have equalled the sC<lleof e hlbillon and venue of those thar took place at that time. The 'Sofcware', Jack Burnham, wllo embraced between artists and computer innovators Theodor
CUriHOr

.uln

>5

Deammc Cor. ""m new

hlstoncalslgnlrlQnce

of

croS'-poUrnaCloll

scientiSts - showmg work by Nelson and Nicholas Negropo[lre

(L[CTf!WIC

(N[

computer computer

R Ul1PIJI[R ~D IIJlr I· "[DrA 1[L[ClllUtICAIlilt<S ~ !I11N;1t,; T(Q flU nVl CULlU"".lV Olv[RC[ lu:. FrOJ.l.~ un s !" R V!~ Dlflt\"<J(

(b. 1943) alongside those by self.styled 'arnsts' _ employed idioms when referring to [he concept and rhemancs 'InformaCIon' rook
Its

structUring a work as its '50r.w,~re', and the external obiccr or form (If there was one] as 'hardware' from the curator's name sense that art was at an Impasse, par:llysed by from entenalnment-based spectacle 'with

world events and weighed down by m3cerlalrty, and also that ~rl was something very separate In the Co l:alogue for the show, McShine Wrote that the arusrs Interested

the sense of mobill t:y and change chat pervades their time ,.3re

In ways of rapidly exchanging Ideas rather than

In 2003, American critic David McShme's essay as proposrng two slgndicam would only

embalming the Idea in an "object" [oseht rnterpreted

obsolara',

claims, namely 'that by 1970, objects had come to seem pr.lctrca.lly and that 'a dynamic excha nge of informwon be "embalmed" IfgIVen permanent form',

During the 1970s and 1980s, relatively afford"ble teChnologies

--

q
do
1~()A

of video, fax and cable teleVISion, as well as satellite, came Into wider usage by artists. amplifying the themes of transrmssron, lnforrnarton and networks formerly InvesCigated by rmrumahsrn and conceptual an. Arnsrs Sherrie Rabinowit~ (b 1950) and Kit to dance
In

Galloway (b, 1948) secured funding from NASA to brrng remote pa rticip a n~ together the SOleflj!e Arts Project { 1977), that allowed what they called yoking together creating a new cype of performance various areas of Los Angeles
In

~)~
I

vtllA\[

'/

'image as place' The duo's Elearom: Cafe (19B~) [II J IOlned up 'relecollabcwation', an, discriblJcJon and ccrnmunirauon, a portent of net performance

models. Other kinds of network art took biologICal or SOCial systems, rather than (echnologlcal ones, as their materials - Ra lohmon's (1927-9S) mall art projects, for example, are part of the School projecr of the 19605 and are New York Correspondence

2.2

precursors of email art. Jack Burnham's technological neles had

actually been Inspired by artists working WIth more natUral

phenomena. In 'Real Time Systems', one of his seminal essays on systems as a way of thinking about Contemporary art, publ,shed I~ ArtfOrum in 196~. Burnham cited organic systems as revealed by Hans Haacke's (b. 1936) 1966 plans for II work: 'I would like to lUre I ,000 sea gulls to a certain spot (in the air) by some delicious fOod so as to construct an atr sculpture from their combined mass' Haacke's [Urnlng away from the an exhibition space to ort1lthologlcal organl:z,aclonis emblematic or ~he period's varied anthropological explorauons of process and ImmerSion 111 field usually relegated to the sclenuflc, likewise, television an is a pertmenr precursor of in[erne! and, In terms of scale of distnbuuon and access, more relevant than Cinema or satelhte. ForWlII'd-thinking galleries like Howar Wise Gallery (New York) supported the format as early as III 'TV aSB Creative Medium', an exhibition curated by W,se in Signalled the Widespread influence of Marshall McLuhan and engineer, mathematician andarchleece Buckmmster Fuller (1895-1983) and galvanized an Interen In mass-medla-based Soon after the exhibition, Boston pubftc television Station yo, 'i produced and aired lts serres The Medwm Is the Medium. ant' rnagazme reporter Michael Shamberg. so impressed with th rk of VIdeo pioneers Frank Gillette (b, 1941) and Ira Schneider 1939). co-founded the artist collec::Live Ralndance Cerpc the in 1969, together with Gillette, Schneider and Paul Ryafl (b Raindance was assooaeed with the Important pubhcanoru (, TeleVision (1971), offermg a blueprmr for me decentraliuaon networks, and RadICal Software (197Q..-74) [~J, earurmg mar f interdiSCiplinary and technical approaches to democratizlng media. At 'TV as a Creative Medium', Gillette and Schneide showed me important work Wipe Cye/e [Il], In which vlewe themselves on a rnonlter at eight- or sixteen-second inter v while other monitors played live television or footage. Gllhwe described hiS prerruse of underlining the relationship betwe1l''' seeingan image and aSSimilating the lntorrnsnon it contams, 'The
merle of mls overloading (somethmg like a play Within 3 play Within a play) is to escape the automatic "Informacion" expenence of commercial television without totally dive,stmg it of Its uSUiLI Coruenr,' Also included in mat show was Paroclpa:lirln TV by Nam

12 Ham June Pa1k,M'CllerTV, 1765 P.,k 'ppfr.d a large 111.'8"0'[0 .t. Cbmumar u?lev;sion. marphrng lu
,~lgl1:.1j an ilb~trnct, couipO~itlon JnlO

rn tli pro(cls$, he. ,gave me

ii'I

monitor
~[S

s.curprUf"aJ .;h'U'':Ictnr. dI.$l"'l.Iptlnx

u"lndJ,,..d~:ted form ,}'1~ 111nt:IJOP'l Pho Feter Mool"C Ii:) 0.""" of PCIC( Moo'oNAGA. N ...... 110rkiDACS. Londo", IOD~

'0;

on 4) rlla TV

oW

June Park, the icoruc artist who in that work and others like Magnet TV (1965) [12], as well as his many multimedia tapes for television, generated celevtsuals VIaparticipation or externally

1'3 1/'(1Sc h "c id~.r on0 Fran k tim 'TV u ~Cre.~.., odlum' M elhrbltion or tho Howal'd W"O G,,,.,>,, New York, 1969

Gillette,W,/" C,,,o, (rom

24

applied means. Television art ground

never

really managed co programme

co hold its it. like the from 1978 In the rea~h book SlmlJlocres et Simulation and elseWhere, BaUdrru"rd's formulation of the simulacrUm - the copy for which there exis.ts on the d,alectic between the no original - focused closer attention seen In the rephOtogr"phy

as commercial

networks

became

in~l·easingly cenrralile.d,

though European video sketchbook Some relevant highlighting

channels

continued

V,deeSO, curnted

by R<!lbert Wilson.

points of comparison

from arc of the 19aO$

and 1990s Include identity-based various inequalities oft.en forced (or example. of fine arcs. As a precursor this kind of practice stereotypical anumpllons srracegles reference about, behaviour

work, which SUcceeded both within and beyond its makers a woman's to repf'\esenc

virtual and the real. and the role of a work's contexrand

aura, as

works of Sherrie LeVine (b. 1947) and

of internet

art and actiVist £tracegles, down Widely ~eld relationship to her Suml

Richard Prince (b. 1949). or the pno[oreallStlC paintmgs. of M'alcoltn MO/ley (b. 1931), Appropriation and plaglamm. iU~t a keyboard shorreut aWay When using a computer to copy a file, have become f~lrly Standard forms of maktng in net art. A !';Inge of paInting Strategies. coupled With ongOll1g debates about the 'dearh of painting', fOcused critical energy on questions about medlum_ speCificity, questions interne that become more complex whe,; dealing With the multlple (e,g. text, b"oadcasl and audlo] formats of

or Images, breaking

body, and chen replacing corporate

[hem with new representations.

are seen in some net art - for example. tactics and formats of public space or information. in the 1980s included techniques, theory

when artis,

to reclaim and COntf. appropriation (b In hi 9) I

the colonization

Ocher salient trends

art. During th,:,-penod, works by American artists Peter

from ~rstems, theory and adverrlsing, Halm Steinbach

hyperreallll1d
the influential specifically

slmula[iOnist writings

These were bolster Jean Baudrillard more generally.

Halley (b. 1953). Barbar.J Kruger (b. 1945) and Jenny Hetzer (b. 1950) borrowed respectIvely. and SCulptures by Israeli-American

of social theorist

and French literary

(b. 194~), American Ashl,,\, BICkerton (b. (959) and Fnmch Sy)\lle Fleury (b. 19(1) dealt with the obiecrs and materials of consumer Culture. Cuban-born to prominence Amerkan ar[lS[ Felix Gonzales-Torres
In

(1957-96)

and That arm t Rirkrit Tlravanija (b. 19(,1) [14J, both of whom Came 'n the 1990s. worked
Or'

the inst;lllatron mode.

functioning as produeer~

f":lcflit;ltors more than masters of social events, a signature In his book practice

craft. The creation of partiCipatory

aspect of Tiravanila's work, is emblematic of what French entre Nic/1ola~ BOurrr3ud calls 'relational aesche[in' RelOlional Aesthetics, Bourrlaud deScribes In emergent connections
141Rlrkr''tTirav.ani.ra,
Cinl.ma
(PI <J

of relational and transitive are, writing tha t 'the artist produces with the world broadcaSt through works of SOCial to the Internet. nee arnsts gestUre, sign and form', While this highly influential term was d'scussed Without specific reference and crincs developed necwork technologies or the emailll.t. like-minded models often mformed by and systems such as rree software

Commun,f)'

Qufeit

Imu.seatOn

(o{lor Old.nbUrgJ, 1999, n""vanrl'"

Orp'1ilatfon of SCl"'e"enlAp

(llleluding (olub/oneal In GI>sgow. 5(:otJ.nd. cr:ysmQ.. e. rr"", loose til"", es of t990, artWork'
"".1t1o"11 ilesthenc.s., cphl!m£."ru,.
networks. lrt. t!'e cros.!:·pcUlrliIc.!on 01 'IS prod" <tlcn

Other artists of thiS era With explicit impOI·' for Imernet art indude video artists Gary Hill (b. 1951), Bill Viola (b /951) and Tony Oursler commUnrntion' phOtographers (b. 1957) [15J, who. as David Josellt writes, eoxplore technologies of using video and Installarlon. This isapersi~tent Isabell Heimerdinger and Cindy Sherm.n (b. 1954) the 'colonizatlo.n of the flesh by electronic

dIlClpl'n~, .nd new form. "I pul>fo<

coordln~tcr,.. OppD.$e<J rc me",

tr.IfuPI!PiO:"~ ruscn n tes: wrth internt!t :artllitl who cheri

To" artlll

theme in net art. Inst:!liaejon artlse Maureen Connor and

(011.00 ..... ",I," prn~"''''m.", and deSigners,

[16] developed languages engaging with the lconophrha and

27

15 Tony O"I"'II~,.J"dy

1997

O",sler~ pofll',m ofJudy d.fies

rty secure per-c.epbO" of rilE .ub/«' or "!>joc,"• rnng. or
€U;pr-auon$,

pl'VfK~d

.1I:rt.'IS

the I.ria,e Qf 0 doll""o~", p.ytholo"cil well

v,,,,.,On"

as

U!'JlNJI.on

lnd

5lJf"'¥f!!Jll.:'111ce

technolog.~An ""I'lo .... cn u orfI'IUlbpl~ 1"""0"""<), dlmrd r

In rtlt..ltu:w tQ med'l~ 5tt1Jctu["~ 111", wer I< brmg' che po"r.",u", rradjnon
In

Une- WI rh d1 e cultu

r(!

01 c.I1.nfl.,r .urfin&

6 Cindy Sh~rm"" U"",k-d nlm 1918 ")11> ull on .. o!,o

imel'naiintion

of media (for [hem. film and [elevislon! Similarly develop and rn

$hJ

en,,,

Net artWorks on surveillance

mise en scene. Installation artists Toni Dove. Jeffrey

and Shu Lea Cheal)g (b, 1954) used computer create immersive. interactive
Ken F<>hlg .. ld JCJ-Ju"km"n 99~ Fe Igold seU.n mag. ol ,h~ m-out "mloqu .. , P"PI'",. <ad 'pm,la b ;ID; b'C",'ound. '"",nOed by""""", dr.mgmg o..l1On. ..h,th.", drfficul, (0 catch ,no "'JT1OVe ~ny ~'.m.nt of gleul.ted th'''ce By tllc~Ing on rhe~ebuno",' Ill.. user"'" m>lu! me If UPp" -he.d 'po" k on ,n, "he rl!rrt bngtJAge - mad" up of ,nlpp"'" I'Gm pu b IIc-<l'omam -Jlrchl\'e filt'-J round CH'I the Internet - to If~ ute Wnat F1>J"goJ d

technol
her

(b. 1954). Perry Hoberman

environments. or. hkeJuh (b 1954) and Ken Femgold culture. Works b

technologies ane

9511 ese ,Iy!tfe

aSler

[I7J. addressed
are intertwmed
to SUStain

computer-dependent

artrscs made the claim [hac consumer

In complex
have become.

ways - a claim chat has bee

and ,UusenHe the more developed Internet culwreand

technologies

de;scnt>e.. ... '", era tv.,tt ',..dueed

1.0,

zerHegn>e

Chapter I

Early Internet Art

Welcome to the World's First Collaborative

Sentence:

I~ IDIDNOTFm.. SfJ'A1I.Al'liD IFELT VERY CLOSE EVEN TBOUGf! WE WERE TliOOSAJ:I1Ds OF MILE.S APART AND TWAS SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE HERE TFEl.T CLOSE HOW ARE You THIs IS DURBAN WE FEEL WE ARE A PART OF mE WORlD AT LAST IN 1l!E PALACE 1mE I AM \V AlJ'ING 1'0 'IRE J'JiE._<;JDENT SEND 1'011 GRE:ETINGS H1i.IIJi I AM IN TIIE GA.LI.ER Y LOO:KlNa AT rms BIG PHNCtL Pr 1 AM LAUGmNG COGITO £ROO row GO 00 GO s:ENTBNCE >wmg SIWIg rwmg nng 00& ""8 ""II rtng 1« tl!:.... h~er.GUMBOGUMBOh~olerDON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY A IJ'ITLE lEARNING IS A ~ DANGEROUS THING FP.EEDOMFREl'DOMFREEDOMGET OFF ME GEI OFF MY BACK SCRATcH M ,\i"!"DOI1GI.A.:> HOW ARE YOI1'" FAP..AWAYYErFREEDONT COMEAFTERl<!£PHI KAB NAUNau ~ FRAU PHI NAI1NG SEX RELATION BETWEEN FIRST COUSINS ARE FORBIDDEN THE MOON BPJGHlE>1SnIE.BATI1.E CAlD SO YOU LIKE TO LOOK A1'MEPAYFOR.1T YOU PAMPERME SO !.fUCH YOU MAKE ME nEL 1.lXE A QUEEN! SEND GREETINGS FROM FRANKFURT GOD BLESs Al.mRICA Al.rE!llCANEED IT ANlMALS ARE GOOD TO 1'lllNK AND GOOD TO PROHIBIT BE tao ~L'Bi Tno!E TO BE GOOD r LOVE EVliP.:YBODY I RAIE EVERYBODY TBli: SON IN LAW MUST NOT alTER ENTER mE SLEEPlNG QUAR'rES 'l1IROUGB: THE DOORWAY OF THE PAlUiNTS IN u.W CA, HE RIGHT NOW TO SA\IE THE WORLD I LOVE 'tOU WORLD WORLD WHEN wn.r. YOU SEE.HOW BEAUTiFUL YOU ARE STOP DYING WORLD EERE IN TEE BRONX WE BATE TEI. POllCE GIVE ME YOUR HAND r FEEL YOURFn'lGERRERli MANY MILES MARTI THINK IN BASEL WE lllroliRST/L AND APPRECIATE yotlP. WORK KXfJ' GOING WE Ani B.EHIND YOU NO BODY CAN SWEAT SO H WE mID 'fOU I.JEAA EVEN \1IE!EN"FAR TO THbI!EALTH OF DON CESAII.E'S WOMA.N AU ImVO~ !&.ON'; ENF ANTS RED.RID RED RED RED RED R1ID.RED RED lIED RED RED RED BLUE BLUEBI.UE I lAlJ ~OBlUE!SAW A.MANREBELD A STICK OU1'TO ME I HOLD TBIS STICK orrr ro YOU AI:' "!lIE WORLD IASK YOU wmJI1 WILL YOU COME TO MOSCOW AGAIN DOUGLAS er nurror IllITe.. U!E.~1J.iHES 'I'WITCBID AGAIN 1l.Il> STICK BEGAN TO GROW SHOR.l'ER.1N BOTHBNDS HERE n KAUNAS WE l:!A vr: SATAN MA.l'ro<G LOVE TO AN ANGEl.. IS THIS WHAT DROVE RIM INTO HEL WELL llIis IIml& oroIwnImg maD capr IS S'Inng' btt llre'.",. ""d wby does til;' ... nt.n.~ hllvo ,"uod '0 dJ_;!JJ.
nd ,,~ •. who d" Ihmk w .....

Early In:~rnet art is very much Inl!J(trilJlble from the technolo and politiCS of the 1990s Mid early twenty f gy I - IrS! cemury al[hou h ,ts preeccupations with themes su~h as 'Information" g cemmunicatlon', 'inreracrion' and 'system"lInL d th' • xe e genre to ~e5tc0I1Ceptual art. As artl~, and theorist Peter Weibel (b. 1944) as neted, cyberspace seems a '1960s Id' 'r• . ea , e~en, It was not technIcally VIable until decade:> I~ ter ". 'j th -""> mportlm as "se hlstorkal connections are. net artistS have also de~eloped and created new method ~. d . s Or pro _Utt'<'m. consumption and exchange Not only do net art practices extend the arena, capability and reach of artlHic production. but they have II d .. ollere ways to rem,x. and reVitalize ,a~egories eften reifred in the arr world aod beyond. Imernet art IS buoyed by the technological, economic and seetal sPecific3tion. of Its medium Tho h '/1 I . . ug su eva ving today. domtna~t tools are ~rnall, sofrware and web sites. Uni'lue econom:es

or """e ~'od of gertrude

of attention eXlsl,irr which interna tional web traffic .

are the Indexes of the p bl'

<ll /u:J th.... ".,. ,,}om- Ih'lIg:HhlllI:OIJd lui df}7l. /Q mai. u,'Gpcp loot a Imw mo,.. attraeuv« at I••" r •• dahL: bill !hENDON'T m; SO F~G LJTIiIl.A.l YOU 1I@%-!TIIlS1:.'N'T A TYPOGRAPHY I..ESse ..Ike Ih' on. th.o: buuaful S.. eduh g.rl.,.. m. on th, Irl!in to Gc!u>k ad Ib.enleterm tho OlIl'BO hold of tho ,lap ""til lWI~)JI." Mr! !I!1OlWy-wbiLo ." ... dmavtan brcuu winch mode me r••tsoufilif'.,fThI II Moth.r!u<tl<" l'''' dlOn befor. IIIl run b ... 1.... wtth orum cOlllrbLlllng 1I,IIIolo&lcol pt04C and poetry. but IS IM ... alIy m. or e rt ,0 wh '"" b .... """fWrJ iIIId IIIorO and more lind mo re but .. 1m d.ifercllcc .. 11m makmg WELL ISN'T' IT JUST '0 ~.rp_r'I'E TOGF:TIIEIU..IKE THIS IlIIllemaI eDgg.nllIoru OV.maI. clJI' ungu!1IIl1¥.baCiC humaruly IS ... lon.1J .. (Tm ",~ bu spacy) !heR or. a I... "rtlm,p tIw collid be ... d. but I d.,,', know wln!llo "''1 but I W;UU 10 •• y.t my 6Jther I """"8 near hBv. to stOp now hr alwwy~ comet ulutalrS like I!!J£ II ~ addle "fth. n>&bt dust (aDows dwt In the ."dl.1< pro""mO'll ~fb,olo!>J:zlbclu:n·warc 1001001 SOS 1001001 INDISl'RESS 100100 Everytbmg .. deeplJ 1ll"",-.,gT<d I w>ntlo b. _, JUS\ IW: ""''Y0De el•• Alier tlu. Jen dECIded. finally. 10 attempt 10 bnng tho kilI'rlm Jwl<C.... "" OWD"""Y. oi and. 1Il.0 doma. n? the world of. """bl. ,eollfie. re'Vl!.d by all 'lei won 10' p<nm.:d sul».1 ofthr: cO!llllllmlly who mrd W5Iclled!her _cs progren from r;mdom. pollY Vlo1",<o to 1h.IUIl-e,~• ocopl1ht.c 'C!J thqhad 'g, en pmcnmms. o.Imost u if for ont.rt!lllIIlt.m Dor 01Jl'bono6!, for the last .rsJIl mo"tm oJ! ~ 1lmt0l'D!.& lb. om.,. •. wb........... elhns uplown on Ill, 6 tram. a man and.a WOJIlllIL gol on 111:! 3rd IIrO.', I.uy.n& "Jill : blbblillg 10 0... ",.Ihor., lome LIIlJ:OItlI'11!b~lt!mwu ... wInI. 11."'od b •• k'!I""",r Ill. b .... h. 1r)'1't8h",d Il.~ .. leep, ad !lit Wom..., mIlII;Illa!. to m. Jilbb,d.t my !IlIl and ukod me .,..okiIy, • rmerephene held up 10 ha-;:.,onmr b ....... I tboI:. her I.I!!I)'Z. had b. <OJ removed. 'Vlbollanguoge you tbnk thoy'n noIkmg' Ill. problem [0' th' .ov. !It tI'IUIm tho """'''':mhcOlllla'y-p..-hap. nil !till tho probltm--wu how 10 us. tho aonrbolll of_",)II'oclu'DO~"" ,

0'

and email forwards and downloads

censumprl0n
-

o_

ro

,Ii'

and SUCcess of [he art, as opposed to COnventional means of valuationl such as Visits to a rnussum show naga _ r.~ zme reViews or monetary w .... R 'd ortn, ap' rates of reactIon and widely ~vallable preduction tools have also been defining. For example,
I

u 'c

If one does
18 Doug'''' Da.vi., The World. Frr~ C,IJaboroP)\'i: Semefi(e. Compc'~d by Irjto:mot P.rtlclpallts, !hr, on&"ln~ <oll.bo ra,rv~ \York, whl.h '~II".lIy Qnly 'Upparred ,ext, now ho,,,, mull/me dl•• oDi.,. ,1"01",,,,,,,1, lnterrtll!tilon;tl ~.,d s aeen I n.r;fy "'e prole" " alt"n held up .. an emblem of Intlmet ae.fth eucs,
000'<>5&.

n<DC like a web site, chances are that one can offer

<.tn,.

ra'G'1Il.tmg ••

!llI~.

feedback (email) or find tools to create an alternative (web publication). Those who View commerce as irredeemable c.orrUption will be pleased to know that, as yet, rhere exists no v,able or stable market for net art. As a result of this Isolatron and specializiltien, Internet arns rs often develop close-knit online ana radical contem has remained
SOCial

1~~'.'.nL

COmmunities, and 0ppomional an undllu~ed component. geographICally d,spersed.

Net arc's audience is a

medley:

II

varylOg in background. these art

enthUSiasts are able co morph theIr involvement constantly,

31

drawing from roles such as arrlsr, cntic, collaborarer (one who ,USt watches 'vlewen' from any computer artwork, download of widescale OT'~3d5, _wIthout participating). have a direct relationship

Or 'lurker' Finally, Who searched the net for new pOSSibilities during these early r"a~s were oft<4!n more reHrained sought
[0

With net art; they can log on

with net access and the right so'ftvvare, see all It, share t or copy It. interner art was juSt one Small part technology reliilnl on of media and consUmer Increa~ingly

rn t~elr enthUSiasm. in face, those who

find contemporary

art on and about the Internet had

LO

In the early 1990$, however. proliferations

look qUite closely. Not only Would a search engine not pro~ide the right kind of resuks (or a quest for 'art', but directOries Such as Yahool or Nec$cape tended to bury net

People in the West were becoming first Gulf War exemplified CNN. an international, broadcasting computer became weaponry systems,

an

under man'r bye .. of the net elided

teleVISion. satellite and cellular devices in their everyday the Ubiquity of globalized television and Operated twenty-four-hour deployed

he~ The media, wi h

web pages. Even beyond Its tel<;t-heavy aesthetk,

network

eVidence of being an easy or refined venue for artistic production. Its ability to realize Imernatlonal alld relatively Inexpensive Communication and e)(change, however, was potent. And Internet arc's e:lrllest beginnIngs crystallized within d"s mdtriK of communication technologres. Art and Communication were at the tentre of many Initiatives undertaken by European non-governmental organiZatiOns (NGOs) and the European CommiSSIOn in Brussels after the collapse of the SO~let Union in r.he early 1990s, In the mld-1990s. these new computer Centres and media art programmes becam~ more prominent fixwres In the European and Russian culture- and leisure.scapes, offer'ng events, educat.fon. internet access and production tools. The Internet was emblematic of the increased access to Information in these regions, and the opening of imetna(ional borders, and was very appealing, Many net artists, such as Heath 8untmg (Bl"ltain). Olia ljalfna (RUSSia), Alexei Shulgin (RUSSia) lind Vuk Cosrc (Slovenia), worked
as offline artists. phc>tographers,

Ilia sophistiC.:! d

At around

the same time, reality televisic

which p~ople living together made theatricahzed and frequency Although Department younger. Cellular phones the internet

a hit among young Americans. MTV's The Reo/WOrld were taped, edited and broadr
and mediated daily life friendlier. and device usage hipper
tt

d
0 ~_

began to be used wldely_ A new

of communicittion of Defense.

was

ElV,

began as a preiect of the US GOven more and more civm~ns, office v. of

u',
'1,

studerrts aad artists used it follOWing the development

and HTMl viewers, called browsers. Email and rhe World Web (the 'web') became tools fer work and home. With
allowing for instam;aneous communication. and the web various graphic lind communicarion for text and image publication symptomatIC social groups thoughts of significant in which divisions moments. cultural

hie!
de

appllcattons, and endl

events er emo - wer ~ the ne changes, suggesting

norles
e oenL

- web sites. These between behaviour.

graffiti writers and filmmakers

before experimenting accepted aesthetic

With an online. LeaVing behind more

s and
Irred

practices, they came to make a rt from media

- and media. technology interests browser,

an d commerc,e powered Navigator,

centnlS like TO (VIenna). C3 (Budapest) and Backspace (london) via cGmputers In their living rooms, or from desks at cheir d~y Jobs. lnstead of ntm Or
011

From its earliest governmental development commercial designed

the ways in which comrne

.]1and

and technelogles such as Netscape

paint, they used iow-f net prodUCtion

were obVIOUS. One wou ld experre nee die .... D Will" , exoeri c chat h~~ been to corporate
. mterests, no t educational

tools: HTML. digital graphiC5 and Phocoshop were likely requiSites (laceI'. java, Flash and Dy.namic HTML). They were Introduced to One another via the internet and became contemporanes, fnends, collaborators and travel compaOions, meeting face to face at technoan events like Next 5 Minutes. the Cyberfemmist and Ars Electronicll. These a!"tiSG were able to draw of the Internet's rnest basic
[8

according

or

aml'l< w h' h wer e reCE!JVIn& IC . e , oper.lwd _ , nel1 attention from the venture capital sector at t h e tim .• Th es e diverse collectI\I1!l to social communities and orgamzanens. like were based on everything lind anyt. hl mg, from the pragmatJc, . I ro. news groups software) Though culture
lists focused

.. aesthenc ones. CommerClallnterescs.,

International

on the work of 'early adopters'

offerIngs. like bulletin boa~d systems (BSS) and email. They aiso be neflted fro rn til e e>;pe r1en ce of til e respec worked with teChnology-informed

(an . mteenee bulletin. boar

to

for car mechanics. on Virginia Woolf marketing

syst em requiring 5pe(~ 'ill\! the more $C holarly • such as miIJ

d figure s who
,uc;h
3S

installations or lIl[ermedla Roberr

as 'democratic'

f 'nterll~1 lind press outlets route d the rise 0 dI rti~ . and 'revolutionary, • t he writers an a

criticism.

involving video, Satellite. ,Olund and computers,

Adrian X (b. 1935). Hank Bull (b. (949). Roy Ascott {b. 1934), Sherrie R,abinowitz and Kit Galloway.

32

33

This early generation of Internet set of interests. communigtion and exchange Some wanted and audience address,

artlsts

eXhib ted a diverse modes of also bears the hallmark of siruationl international anlsei( and pol' I I sr works. eehorng thae It (a movem r' (/957 tactic of tranSmogrlfyi '. "., s -n) famous ng eXI~tlr')gelements f t <OlPPOSitiOnal forms. Buntrng (b. 1967 f n 0 more radical or recipe almost to I ) ollows the sltuaclon,se e ertez The quotJdr i. Use in King's Cross Phone 1'1 _ ubl!c h an orrns chac are pur to page - retain their ever d p . pOnes. rrng tone. and 3 web y ay qualitres but I hei manner of d I ' n C err means and ep oyment, change the ten f and time. Though Bun' !. or 0 a PUtlcula r Settrng trng can ee seen as II br artlscs of earlier gene '. trave Ing pMhs broken raclOns, With this work h collaborative performance that I"k e sets up a. by virtue of irs rna 'r rs un I "those of tus forerunners nloeS!atlon of the web's ca organization and colle tt..r paetry for tn(ernationlll c ve pe, ,(!)rmanee 'Ib II my time wande' h ._ asrca r Spent most of nng r e streets at th looking In trash' B . at pornr dOing graffid and , untong sar', describu1g his research fo h projeCt. In~pired by forms of public d rt e . . iln street art, BUllring's Interests at that trme also foc' 'sed . . ~_ on expression and communtcatlon Via new technology' he BSS . ran a OUt of rus living direct dialogue

to realign tradirJonal pursuing

from ~ oroUnd the world, independent of the cumbersome commerCial cha I nnes of galleries. museums and dealers. To some, the digitized screen with other artists and art enthUSiasts and computer themes formats aesthetics were dominant preoccupations. These
~t art

en

were explored between

through configurations These often appeared

of six main n~ In combinulon _

1993 and 1996: email, web sites, gra'f'hics. audio

and graphics, or email, texts and imagesWhatever

video and arumation,

'

cornrnurucauon
referring
to

and mergIng with one another, local contexts

the pr" 1lse dispers~

or organizing

principles. artists were internationally programmers, shape it.

working from wildly disparate outlets.

and using dlffe nt

tools. Bur along with devslepsrs, their screens, PorficlpatJon The earnest, significance subversion even as they helped

!!rides and

-dlil On

all of these artists were watching

[0

net CUlture evolv

In

Public Space.
tone of Heath Bunting's msr an opening ION

straightforward

on the web site King's Cross Phone In (1994) (19) belles the
of what the arrisr points towards: to extend and artistic lntervenden. web page capabilities into public spaces, enabh On a simple, white'

n,..,

Jf lay,
pag~

wim

black text, Bunting listed the numbers surrounding London's King's Cross international

of public tele
station.

ne
Inga

@ kings)(
".no,n., In fUlV.«
:tnl~~~~l' of

booths

Desig rh

time and date for a collective, orchestrated commuter a telephonic

phone-in,

nst
an~

musical in a public transporra and playful aesrhec

fr1d?.sUl Men.lI!

hub. These partklparory

.s ~I"O~ :(1.-1"~U~I:1~~:::' .irI(I I,U,Ld r:a.r ... IItr1t)C1~ CVbtl'QfL

'I!: :::-=QrI ~ r
ll5J~ ..
ULN~

Significant to early net artists, also stand as part of a r;we

th-

~~~~

:::,,~~

Wr.c;UIIQlt

-=,"-tr)'

lloo (;1fT

century avant-gards interest

passive consumption response channelling the world, encounters web projects ornamentation flow of pedestrian

in instigating

activity, replac

TU£fHON:~ HcH

of a medium

(the web site) with en with a stranger). Disrur

ged
ng die
19 H""th Bunting, lVt'g~ (f ess Pho.e I., 1994 10 Ih.. Work. !he web w.u; Used to transform.ll commuter hub. Kmg'.! Cron"tr.Jln n.• tron. Into a venue for ~or~j:aj , and mU!:'QllpeC'tadE!..I. Thou,gh ,,,tern et in 171 rely d'OI'tJin:a~,es-

(making a call, chatting Io'(ebfunctionality

traffic in and around

King's Cross scurcn and conducted minimal

into friendly phone calls from around of participants

Bunting and his group In an unlikely venue.

chant(

It was one of Bunting's earlielt a basis in direct action and tht

but it bears many of his hallmarks: and low-fi graphics,

IIII'n '11 no:3' !;:In I ~,. lUI 011'1 1!U ')1:CI}l1 111 ~~H

Uu In un

en1 :2'11 not 01713"11 ::lUI 0111 "1'1 lUll. lUll 1.11Uu OIU... J1 .4*1 !JIll nt UtO c!-In illl 10H IU1I JJ7 IU, (l.JIJ IU u.U fllTl U' ,JU l1li7) 111 lUI 1)l1l IJ' III""

I>Olrat.11'I"Ii, ,"0 life. or

,h.

IUu

HI

1:1100

capacity to unite fields of public art. hacklng and street culru .

re

In came out of Bunting's explicJtgoal.lo hi I oductlon 0 'brlng high tech to street level'. In addition to IS ntr train workers and commuters to the lnternet
r1l1

King's

Gross

Phone

r
I

rbec •• " CQ 1re~ oil of •.... b P'80 11 ~yeh tnat ;:u"nst:5. iote t cseed ill ~ublJc!"pl£!n t:onul:x;tlj.RJch u

Ilun,r~g. fcu""

il CO b ••

rrch

cr •• avc pl.tform

as an art plado •

room and had a voiceroail system based in his kitchan cupb(f)ard For his experiments. _ i.e. cheaper the Internet was 'the next logical Step , and wider audience', Scene internet his KJng's Cross Phon I11, ne 3rtF'ractices in wi th artists' Ioenture

Russlon /nterne[An

In the same year milt Bunring organized three maior factor> were encouraging reactions

RUSSIa,Firstly, net rechnotogies synchronized

agai rlS'I: a local commercial

mough the internet

and publicity-d F'Ven an

scene. In addition,

as a commercial

was marked as American beyond their borders young artists extended interactive

anG European

from the beginnmg, It to communicau: s man

I

offered ways for Russian new media artists and reinterpret Finally, Russia's rtch hisrory in narrative and reconsldered capabilities.

the net in the,r own w visuals Chat co, screen With mo evolve In tho

of avant-garda film schooled on a computer

and screen-centred We see these elements

be

ork

of Oha Lralina (b. 1971) and Alexei ShulgH'I (b. 1963), who fi began to use [he net in the mid- .1990s as a distribution outside adopted the Moscow film and art worlds, respectively

plar 80 its Idioms and tools as the core of their pracnces

the directness of Kings Cross Phone In with d of Liallna's project approaches

!leidy
IIOff

Contrast

medium-conscious

My

Boy

ld
1994) atss Mll!
\'is~r 20 011. li"II" a, My &rfrr.nd Ikrdr f""" <he Io',I,r, 1996, L"Ii~a ICto.onod th. no· nib t«hnlcJI,'l". then POpularWIn, net ;3rt1st.J in faveur- of a mere mcmare. decor'illl'ie. f)1rl"ilt ..... c. ilnd, fo, d1ar tIJ"~el perscnal .ppm., h to W<J b- b,sod art,
Cilme

Come Bock From the War (1996) [20], or Shulgin's Hot Pictu

[21],

both of which were made at a time when [he web cc Qnly the simplest dramatized graphICS lind text. The former narrative, sec against th (in whictromantic

support backdrop window),

an oblique,

of war, and uses frame programming and subdivisions Its balance of text and Image across by new media art theorist and film director

divided Into quadrants has been described legacy of screens. (1898-1948) earliest influence included examples

on a single web

a darkene
Lev Mano

en in !he

men

po", of TI,. tn,t Root Nor An

My fJ{Jy(r,end
va.,iujQIlS

SheI"cr

In ,Iuded

'ho work as

role' I 'n re anon to art was by n 0 ere no 311thorlracrve or complete formulations on the subject, Shul . of th gin notes some of the Jmbigultles e medium, Wnung in his introduction to H p' 'Ph at Inures otography for the long trme seemed to be h I th r c e on r credible me od lor re31ity reflection But 'he d I . , eve opmem of the computer technologies had PUt this pOstulare on tria I. So photography which In its rime had changed '11 r: , h • nne arts now rs c angmg itself, Electronic photo gallery is not only the presentation of speCIfic crusts and work' b I ~. Ut a so an a tempt to ~esean:h .and v,suallze the described phenomena' Shul m's eleeu'omc phoc II ' g o ga ery e eracrs photography (rom the offline gallery context, depictmg it as 0 broad medium that accommodates We see these covers o
II broad

At chis time, che internet'. means clear. and there w

MlJ.fl!~m,w~lch h"l'Ok.the Orfgrnal

1997 essay 'Behind [he Screen'

theories

as iii. rnanlfestatlon

ora Ru Ian

Com, fJ{Jck hom ~,. \l\br. COupled wlrn other al'"'OS:u'

Of) j~ to Cre:i1re .illl

Sergei Eisenstein's It is also one nhhe professed between in He! PlCWrei

of parallel montage. arc. The Interests of boundaries

archive of "York

of a work in which the user can direcdy the compUter r and the separation of 3rtwO '

the narrative the dissolution

tmage, palnti ng and photography, from the Russian gallery scene,

r erne! reflected In the art In Ho! P,C!ures. which

range of

paimerly, mechanized and doc h . ument:.1ry aspects.

As the 'first, Russian eleccronlC . . ' , . ovel by vinu! photo gallery', as Shulgm called It, Hot Pictures was n rnF11erclil, of ItS self-styled centext: a gallery space free f rom (0 white cube constraints, amenable te both private aecesslbte reflection from home and OffICi!' and and public reaction

'k ( WOI rom the politicized to the p,ctonill ne e~ampl~ is Empty Icons by ,he group Medical HermeneUtiCS (Serge, Anu(nev. Vlad,mu' Fiodorov and Pay I P h II Ph e epperSteln)eav y . Otoshopped photos of Russlan religious 'cons. Another example
IS

found In Evgem Llkhoshers(s

(also called Chumakov)

36

J7

works thae are about the 'impossibility the concurrent tragicomic, information couching and unsettling. provided

of being an arrisc' and recall Rkhard Billingham;

work of British photographer

On

They were, accOrdIng to !:he Hot PiC1Ures, Llkhoshe"s['s last works~

photographers in RUSSia: building hiS own

'The lase evidence Cert:unly distrIbution capabilities prescriptive

chat he is an a r eist. He keeps silence since 1990.

He is one of [he most talented and promotion co his critiques declarations

not the flrst artist to undertake

'interactive media ;n9(0I/(I[lons'and ';ruelligem Inlerfaces'l You are very dose 10 th« idea O[commVfIICGtion, closer I.I10narU5fs olld theori~l$1 Just gel fjd O(yaur ornb,'!!ons and don'! regard people as iri/()l$. [un[II} (or crealive cOmmunication, TOday YO!J call find chose thOI call affiliate {WIth] you an (an] equal level. If you wom of COurse,
Beyand his Confessed ~ver5lon to g.allery ~nd museum culcure. it seems apt that an artist who grew up under the Saviet
Communist goveromen

mechanisms. Shulgin applied internee of censervative art CUlture. publishing

presented in Futurist-like, apOcalyptl! Shulgin identifies

c would celebrate apen realms for

upon 'afficial' an; Curiously.

terms. In a 1996 manifeue. communication'

'pure and genllln

'~ommunicatlon',

and belinle art that depended

as a tenable goal for the net artist:

! sJ

spaces or intellectual

'seductlons'.

after Hat Piaures

a5

ArtlsulTryto
21 Alexcl Shulgln HOI PlCJJlrtt £"' .... JAillnhvn, 1994, f,,,,,, the , • ....,0$ 'The QUiet', 1990, This
p""enhl&blight.< hOW

(Orget che very word and notion ·ar~'. Forgr:t chose sill

Shulgin did not make any mere web work relating cl ely to the saCial and eC(!)Oomic conditions around him, He would go on co
focus On he formal and medium-related

fetishes - artefacts chen. are imposed [on] you by sUPPressiV(' SYST you were obliged [0 refer your (remive actiVity to. Theoristsl Stop pretending rhor you are nOl artists. Your will to obtain power [ovel people [by] seGuCJng them with inrel/ectual speculolJons IS very (chough understandable). But [a} realm of pure and genuine
communication
0;

COflCer'llschat have

;IS.

",.d'um

'~l

guided both new media arc discourse and the work of che next wave af net arttsts,

lor 0'",,1'1 .nd publ''''Qun. <he ,f"!(t!.r-nt:t L5 -OlbJe[0 host ,ul.a",d mforrrrn f.I on £hat we uld DIMr'W15e "G.r.I"taJn Ion 0 r h:~g.l

is much mare appea/jng and

is becoming

very PL

"e

New Vocabularies
If dlsda!n for the channels of the art world offered one route in to web-ba.sed modes of art-making, another was provided constantly
eV01\1ing vo<:abulary of in ternet

nowadoys.Media

artists! Stop monipu/O![mgJ people with your'

by

the

prOtocols, or usage deriving

HOf P'jC(un:I1LdlrUnhprJ1

h~hft-P-'::-':-'.-"";"',:-e-,u:-..... =.:-:"ul_.rtl""'plUJfikhl

stand ar ds. BeCause af the nee's casual climate of constant

development.
In part

mformatlan

sharing

and cammunication,

from Its use as an academIc tool and large-scale message

board In academiC settings, new terms often sprung up In the vernacular. As a result, much internee formal rhecorte has a sociable. friendly tenor; The 'handshake', pracess mutually beneficial
InformaCion

(or example, is the no IS),

that OCCurs When twe modems inceract; It establishe.s transmission speeds and Other related
German

exchal'lg" metrks,

artists Joachim Blank

(b, 1963), Karl Heinz Jeren (b. 1961), Barbara Aselme;"r and Armin Haase allude co thIs term with the,.. 1993 web project Handshake. Handshake Is a visually and organizationally baste work With a smallilwerltor)' of law-fi images spIlt up among sections
19'1~1~~':.:~ 1981 -rut CfltI,I,,· l'hc.H
Lb.. ~
IUl.hjtSk~.

·AnI ..... a! WUbldo •• 0;_"""11, ••

t.1:0KDW

.... ~Yf-OIL USSII

called 'Ronchach

Test', 'Symbols and Incerpretation',

'Ufe and Aided

~z::.' ",,:!,,!,,,,,,,
In ~

1991 fcnlHlli e.h'b"",n.

k,.hw..ot..

...

"J.
The: 'lIIilDt1U _DIll h~ IH!t..lGnli1

P1\IidJ!:by Ettjt."IlJ..khodler)t,

frl1poj.~lblillY ar

"

In
bl 9

..

OIl"

Work
The 10" ,..;<1<""

in Eastern Europe' and 'Electramc of user-generated

An or

ElectrolllC

a,

Art'. The combination

eonreoe, social

19~

Ii<

b ..... 01 !he

""u ..len'HI ph"'''9tOph."

in

IWIII. .

cammentary, discussion of canceptual and media art histories -and awareness of their own artistiCally Impure contaxr (and conseguently, and forebears
What was at stake in claiming

web territory like

for art)
cl-adj(ions

shows this group as both knOWIng heirs [0 3f[.historical of online SOCial spaces and arc plaoorms THE THING and Rhizome.org,

And in light of the rigorous

discussions about the cultural role af the internet chat would lacer

38

take place across small llsts and web communities, appears as a preSCient example artrsrs, propelling work dependent As sue-specific components networked them towards operates Tools serVicing mterner protocols on and inseparable sculpture

Handshake tendencies. for wor~, online.

I!Jg~, od belQw; Q 22 Jodl.urg, hll"II_/odl0'l,1'I95

of net arr's self-aware more medium-speCific from its location

prOVided inspiration

vis-a-vis the pa rticular

and uieologlE!s of a. place, public field ofvlslon

so

do many wcrks of Take,n together

Internee an derive in Significant ways from chelr location Within a and consumption, a quality shared

with Handshake's manifeSCltion of tcs process

Its tools. Its s,te-spec1flclty [he earliest web prejects: discourse sneakiness and self-awareness. indicates the capacity

of develOpment by some
IN

lnd
Its

to merge effecrlvely the.y evoke minim

Such works instead

lack the nonChalat

or
reo

of Bunting's approach: leftovers containing

ethics in which proce-ss is valued over product, and objects the web site) are almost photographer or 'leavings', as writer an, them. discursive muddled, COt imp readable Max KOlloff (b. 1933) deScribed to works

In contrast

rt,

there were also early projects. that appe-ared and impenetrable. Tn mugh the collaborative address the first working across and rhe moniker by which its creators Heemskerk
[0

onal web

JOdl.org (bot are known

(b. J968) and Dirk Paesrnans

(b, 1968) were a

abstracnr

g
ere

venture fully lnce pure technological

code into [he pictorial, and radicalizing the e ecuted task the unreadable. mto Jodi.org also made a web page '" -a pro'dnrty-rtddled work WhtC~ ~ses the Englisn word 'ruck' as ru background _ for Alexei Shulgt., S Site. ene Moscow 'NWwArt C I entre ntr'oduclng It In August 1996, Alexei Shl,llpin wrote 'The e . creators are obVIously bearers of cyberpunk ideology wilh rather good taste... They ha;e presented pos[·li~gulstic and pose,vlsual research that re eces very well the stare of can "emporary CUlture and com~~nic~~ion, word

Their experirnenrs began in around communn:y Interfaces, (a computer's

1994, while the coupl

the first few aggressively te

and hving near Xerox PARC's engineering-drive

In

Palo Alto, Callforrua, During the duo created content

rnultlple projects,

al

ignoring coherent central turned

in favour of desult and operating system

representations of cede, protocols

application, inside
OUt.

on which all other soft Some of these lnrenu

re s c.n

runs) aesthencs is (onfuslng. composiocnal programming are almost

Irs very 10gicaJthat they a re uSing the English

be seen In hap:/Iwwwwwwwww.jadl.org(1995)

[22J.

The Fr, (page bur he

f<)ck as a background - now~days It has become a mere

repernive, discordant

and alphanumeric, written language

symbol Chat means nothing and everythrng at the S4me (Ime _ a synonym for all other words .. : The inVocation of 'fuck' could be seen .as a juvenile anti-authOritarian gesture. but It ~Iso reveals the code s human authors, people who value experiment.ll programming. Unlike many orher projects from this nme, [h,S full of Inlernecine IntlltllCtlOIlS for user,
to

effects are not what they seem: for behind tIlis code (the. statements here the markup

web page lies source

In a p3rli,~tar

language. scientific

HTMlJ.

which reveals a cascade of traditional images and diagroms that or astrological, (To view source code, look applications, of separating select 'View' and the" code seenl~LI (che H instructions Images In source in the menu of rnosr browser 'View Source"] Hiding coherent playful and rlddllng, a means from the completed divide of the browser

work ISfree-standing,

gee caught up in. and Independen t of external hnks or adler Sites The disinciina [Ion of Heemskerk and P'esmans to sU-alghtforwnr~ use of dialogue with writers and eunl<or~. and their persistent oblique and nonsenSical communications. own motivations remain un.meulared. can read their' subtle. cunning code. often even
to

have ensured chac theIr those who

task (the from page), ThIS surreptit!o~$

IS accomplished

by ra rca

d'

I' -

IZlng

the source

40

Both Unit. X (/996) j)!3J lind _readme.html ( 1996) [H], by Ale.l<el Shu/gm and Heath Bunting respectively, readable names, such as www.arr.nec, rely on the. web's prOto~ol linked to IP addresses) and for dividing and organizing files into domains (domains are the
13 AI~~el Shulgln,/,ink X. 1996

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators or file addresses). like land tieles in unchartered cerrlcories, In the mid- 19905 domain names were entirely up for grabs. On one level, domain n3r'f1esare thl" most rudimentary, elemental aspects of internee art. They are sigriflers, fundamental to the functions of the web, though often obscured by what fills the browser's main screen. Often 3ddr~ ;e:! reveal technical information about a site - for example, If a UP has '.jSP' In Its address, one knows that It was hkely programmed
Page IS In use. On a" her level. domam names and URLs can help define communities deSignating certain parameters of authentiCitY, e pertise, tt> or power Demain name. are llrruced, For example, at the
II

Java, while' asp' means an Active Server

of writing It was difficult to buy tides for Iconic URLs lIke or hrrp:}Jwww.sports.net - these wou long ago, possibly purchased for subsranml The Inflection of expertise In II domain name can be under by considering how 3r'1 art enthusiast would receive a text in the ardorum.com domain versus ene reSiding on a Ge or AOL server http://www.an_com been occupied Shulgin's unk X forces artennon to domains by listing thernanc groups - 'never, never, always, today. now, mayt Kmg Leor-esque secnon. for example, When one mouse'

ns,

es

n In one
ntel me!'(lll

coherenc",

and organizatIon,

even ;)5 ehe unpredlccab,'n:y and

frequent Stra~geness of the linked sites suggest [he net's organIC aspects, CreaCingil n overall effect qUIte different from Ian ua e. based work offhne. gg Heath Bunting's conu-oJied and more eynlcal project on
dornam

the links, one sees that. repeated words indicate further

Within the name - one may end with ',com' enterpme), like 'desire', of references another'
In

(signifying

.org' (for organrzanons] or '.net' (a

varied ways), The multip1icil<)'of a Is paralleled

names,

readrne.lnm[ (which Is also entitled software

OWIl, ~

Owned

neutral suffix, used

0' Remom IllvISI~/e) rakes ICS name from the I[1structlons documene .that accompanies Ins~/lers, InViting the vieWer in fairly (aimoH all softwJre

all the ideas it represents,

by th ve
~3I"(h CI

made - desire.org is an Inter-European mu (Development of a EUropean Service for Information or and Education), demonstrates
while Desire.com

In(ormal terms (0 engage vmh chI"proiecr, the (Ide also serves to Unite several regiSters: personal, procedu,"r use), serf-prOmOtiOnal. _readme.hlml has a text file called 'read me' that users are meant to read before inscruceionaJ and mchnical like link: X the centrality of che link and the . foregrounds

is a porn site. The pro)

how SWiftly expectations or associations can be undone With the dick of a mouse. Who would imagine that sky,o~ would yield the Finnish Cannabis Assoctauon! Shulgin's
arrangement of concepts

dC!lmainname: here, each word In ths article Imks to Its .semantically equlValem domain (every.com word_com becomes.con1 a.com doc.com com.com) As In LlIlk. X, ehe finks are
On

into groups brings a modl~um ofpoev,oI

order (0 a chaotic space. while seW effectively emphasizing some

of words and language. H·15 use of Engll!/!. 0l' not his native language, signals inter-cultural d lmens.o ns ofbotll.~ the more surreal aspects

diScovered by mOUSingover the linked words Unlike Link X, however,

Jer]fJme,lIlmfs

the web page

ex cernal links across the

e -. (which was at that time En g rsh·13nguag I . dormnacec): the project's form, a lin, emphaSizes qu alitle~of . work and the medium

we,b are u~ified by a lournallseic texr, an article pl'ofiling Bunting by loumallHJames Flfne from Bricish paper The DailyTdegrapl).
An accounr of the anise's background, family and In rerests, the

~"tI4;le's re-publJshmg and mapping onto the web Is Pro oC3tlv v Does the artist approve of this proFile! Is It press milt rIal or , subversion of It1 With us faded pilleue. light grey on wh,te. the colours are b~rery there. an InYocation of melancholia. There are poetIc Strategies at work: rhe artitle's COnrl!OlSpe3jq 0(30 Indlvldu~i and hiS preoCCUpiltlOn 'large Ideal sYS[l!ms'. and the
With [eXt

ilCt3cklng 'blg ch n8 '. ls CreaCes a [i!nslon between [he domams

a mode or

artln and hrs Invoc.ltlon of eIght hundredcommen:lnl (one (or each word In the article) d,splacement ilnd decenrrahz;won U~ers encounter

as rhey Inceract With [he

pro,eCt whIch m kes cnucal and hyperttl arnse and dIscourse

tua] Jinks between relationship and adept at

readme.hlml h'nts ar a different operatlona) between artist and CritiC ProfiCient

In

progrnmmlng

various Cricks lind short CUts. BumHlg modifies the authorlry of Flint's artIcle by appropna t.JngIt into hiS own set of Concern I Jnd Idioms SIm.luly. In /997 Bunting was widely ~on$ldcred behind th,e COunterfeiting of Yarlous critics' IdentitIes
[0

be

80t~ Trrn

Drudcrey, n prominent ne.....med,~ art CUriltOr and Writer. and critic Joshua Oec.ter were spoofed when te ts aeour ner arr, beanng their email addresses and names. were po ned to vorieus by Some basic. mailing Jj~ts - rhe power of til ermc subverted email softw.lre manlpul uens, Tra~el and DCKUmemory Modes Many artists and CUr.Hors Involved In m"d,a art of the 1970s and 15180$l!.lC(ended their work 3nd In[crests easily mro the Internet space. In Europe and Roula rhe.~' sorts of {(<lnSItlons Were enabled by the slgmficam pohtlC~1 and Cultoral changes rakmg place; agencies. governmental edU(.Hlon and open-media as network technologies he development
Or

NGO. that sped311zed

In

arc,

rnnra crves were esrabhihed and Wired

became an Jnc:reil'llngiy ligmflCan[ part of

bOoms caking place in the United States and George 501'05. a cOnmtenL3dvocate
10

turope. Philanthropist

of

media literacy, was responSible for suppo, ting centres regions. fundmg conferences. arnsts, teachers. many Americans
14 H"uh 1996 BuntlllS 'ea<illldrrmi

Moscow, The

ljubljana, BUdapest, Macedoni3 and other Eastern EUropean e nib,t'OIlS" nd workshops

[0

Cliramrs and critICS ....ho exlsmd near Or Within 'technology [han who. In me midst of an econorrue boom. came ro or academIC pamways. from these networks were fllghly

these scenes often had different relationships new media viii Consvmer, ent,repreneurial Many projectS thar emerged

la...., II< Dvm<fJ

Of R.",aIQ

l""'IIbloJ.

accessible and wen kno ..... to the small net art scene, publiCized by n

me media centres where the artists worked. festivals like Ars Electronlca [Berlin. Germany). From the webs Inception. text and .mages easily and, consequently.

or via technoan HTML pages hOSted lent Itself to in this vein

26 Eva Wohl&cmurh and KAtht Sj~"Q" 0'.1. 1'95

(Llnz. Austria) and Transmediale the format

Rae Huffman, !o

----------------r".a ••
" •

the

documentary.

One of the earlrest proiecrs

was

The

(b. 1958), Wagella;jr, who had pre~lously made Imelder/ve installations, Used the web to aggrepte and Index vanous aspeus of the legacy of theacomlc
bombmg or HiroshIma. Shown at Ars Electronica Hiroshima Projed brought (ogelher Information - mcludlng eVidence of denial and ignorance aggregating hnks. Employing sequem:es contradictory, Wagenaar presented
In 1995, The

Hiroshima Projed (1995) by Akke Wagenaar

abou~ the bombIng

of the e~enc _ by of Opl )IIS.

of data that were ofr.

considering

a broad spectrum

To understand
element'"

the work as a whole required

eac
0

IUlCtapositron; like SU5an Hiller's celebrated

prOle

col/ecnng diverse postcards collections

all entitled 'Rough Sea', DedlceIl

of object or data

the Unknown Artists (1972), the paradigm

g.ve

che anise the role of CUrator and, as Americ 'it (Omes to exist by work was takel
r"

rnnc Susan Stewan: has commenced, f

LS pnnclple

~s
line

of organllltlOI1'.

Wagenur's

n around

1996 (it has Just been relaunched) began developing

bur, IntereStinL
mUltimedia data-collection

r;.,,~ L::J
nre Bomb Project rUj in 1997 (rhe web me Was nor launched unrl] 2000) WIthOUt 3ny prior knowledge of The Hiroshima Project The role of [he artist as [ransnartonal or .elepresem culwr';J1 dOCUmentarIan

Am~ncan Joy Gamen

the very like-mind

witness had as much to do With me web's plethor. or information, and its ability to publish matenal Str.lIght away, as
With the r-.Jdlcal/y different

kinds of access becoming available In

the former Soviet Uflion and EaStern Eur~pe'. AcceSSing ex-Sovle[ [erritlmes provides the landscape for a prolec, exploring new dimenSions of global ConSCiOUsness, Slb!!flan Deol (1995) Eva WOhlgemuth was conceived
t.

[26J by

(b, 1955) and Kathy R~e Huffman Siberian Deal This was accomplished by analYSing trades brought a

co 'realize the vin:ual and vinuallze the real', In the the pair made as they crossed Siberia. Items bought

words of the creators. and exchanges

In the West (for example. Huffman ;rnd Wohlgemuth exchanged

SWatch watch, European perfume and high heels to trade) were for those local to Siberia. An emodonall'\et:Work nd bartered w.rth a global transferred rhe flgurl'S and
("1((.

evolved as the artists met, communicated" Siberians. IdentifyIng geogr"phicallocation.

with

~'""'''""ICilI ...."."<...

Th. ~ID~~I~Olntlud·.,,~,tt !<><t'IJ1I1<"lIans em !Iu.. 'OP":..

pes/tionll'\g map, Huffman and Wohlgemuth poor reception

rn(ormacion about a largely unfamiliar re.l,." via phone lines with and basic HTML, documenting scenes of their travels on choppy interfaces that feature

photos and anlmauons based documentary

of objectS of exchange

morphing

into one a net. (ocused genre of Works. Felix Step".n HUber (b. 1957) and Philip

another. The loggIng of encounters focused on personalizing

and travel demOn~traEes by bringing

mode that persists

today, and in thIS aSe is Siberian

Siberia and Its people

[ogemer culturally dfsparate fields - net technologies. culture and relationship-based networking. Huffman. an American Institute of Contemporary who had been a curator Art. moved to Austria

POCOck's (b. 1954) ArClic CirCle Daub/eTravel of 1994-95 [27] follows exploration and diary genres evinced by books from Dan,el Defoe's RObinson Crusoe
[0

ar Boston's In the eilrly

Jack Kerouac'S On !he Rood. Here, diary

19905 and has since worked with a number of institUtions <lnll festivals focusing on media art In Europe. inclUding the Soros
Centers for Contemporary An: in Vienna and Moscow with these rr 90s, he Is
~f

entries and photos are published from the fringes of the phYSIcal internet In Alaska. Rather than condUcting Commod,ty.based explorations as Wohlgemuth ~nd Huffman had done. Arctrc C"'/e emerging
OUt

and Ar

Double Travel nUra tElspersonalities

of isoined

Electronica In Unz. Austria. Her involvement Institutions as well as with such platforms Te/epoIIS, the cyberfemims[ particular moment

natural landscape.t. It was more concerned

With form than Slbrmon

as the Berlin-based of a

Deal. and has a sleeker design chat emphaSIZes attractive graphjc~.

photos and maps. Huber and POCock'. portrayal of the artist as explorer of pristine territories ably captures ambIValences (ell by net arusrs at thac time; how to make the medium a (orum for art, even as
It penetrated

ernail flsc Faces and the new med, In the mId.

USII

organt<.ation Rhi<:ome.org is in some ways emblematiC In new media an's trajectory. dialogues. many arnsts. curators, nd conferences

many

~espectable

all territories.

actiVISts and theOriSts fOcused on

net to Initiate international

At the same time, festl venues at which to soc

Wo'iS

POtentiaJly nattening cultur'a I differences and pe peW3ung r problematic trends of capltlll and Cultural flow from the West mro less developed areas, These t"dveJ·bi!.led proiecU' also break new ground by memOrialiZing the drudgery and Weight of the various equipment they used, documen [.ingunreliability, crashes al1d this time of pre-WIreless Irksome wires that characterized

offered participants

and publicize their works and Ideas. It and events that the seminal net.art The senSibility of that period, o explol e onhne and geographically.

OUt of these prall

s y I-

scene and CUlture evolve when there was new terr, had Its analogue In a rr

networking, as well as fairly bulky CPUs. Arruc Circle Double Trovel and Siberian Deollinked the net to less media-saturated environments, without SUggesting alliances with or romanticIZIng the connectedness of cyber life with Arctic either, Contrasting

tr.vel. one sees In both an emphasis on process, chan~e. interaction anc engoing narrative ~ rather than on any particUlar final destination. Remote locations were not the only obieCts of online documentllt'on. to less extreme Communication assocj~tlon aesthetic. Heath Bunting created two web Sites relating expeditions

-AVlsitor~ GUldc> to London and

which hosts projects by
it

Creores Conflia. (barh 1995) - ~nd fe.amred [hem loose

on his domain lrational.org, and sltuaoonist

of artists who share a subversive edge.low.fi Idioms. In hiS own work featured on the

web Site, Bunting follows an intUitive if sometrmes cryptrcally simple approach. A Visitor's GUide to London represenr.s the culmination of a year spent as London streets are embedded south. east and west directions, vaguely cartographic_ skateboarders '18
19

a new

reSident of london,

depicted

through photos and observations.

Black.and-whlte

images of followmg north,

with small bunens

offering the user chokes that are

Other images Include qU0eidian shots of

and corner shops. the artist's home (in whICh an

old Mac Classic Is visible on the tllble). along with photos Qf sites

communicatIon,

Including

Its

prOmOtion

and attendant

@l

message
!

commOdification by cOmpanIes such liS Brit.lsh TeleCom. Rather than laudlr1g 'communication' as a Straightforward ethics Uf1[O Itself, Bunting shows a sense of sGepricism and CUriosity throughout generail'led SUbsequent 'humOur' pr"sence Stations, artists Che pre,eCt documenting a rrip to Jap" n. The the level scrutil)y and tenSion of the Po~m heighten pages explore themes

i Mllease

a message

vs destroct lon to destruction, ge from - mortpl~ty ln6ptred fear, onguats desire far - Untficat\on t 1via language, creo e L ., h 'It good to talk' $~ ~rttlS e ~com, . ~ut is futIle as p~OCel$ ~~esslOnless, uttempted eXpression t s ~nfhct.

....ce CJnd harmony

of CClnStlou~ness

In each of rhe work's varIous SUb-pages.

of 'attempred

e preSSIon' and

and use tech Cools to add elements to Burrelng'. Tokyo "'lCOUnters,

of time, space and

If!

On one page users can metro Some of the 'Perpetuate each placard

t~r:heve P~bHc: emJ1.9rasSll!ent- ~( poradox; for enhancement of self perception; self define by external; • to relieve dented damlnat~on of ob)ectlve/1angullge/structure

c!")'ptacon se~·otlve destre for breach of borde,.s h ' ,• . ch' C. trol\on Internal durupttOn, anal' Y. P(l1n, or

submit text for placards

that Bunting would distribute

as per the TOkyo CUStom he had discovered, Macrunas (1931-78);

leaflets share a literal, simple senslbiliry Yoko Ono and George your own myth', 'Emotional your Own weirdness',

WIth works by Fluxu.

noe ratIonal COlT)putlng', 'Culdvate

A results page. memOrialozes

but tile language ratIOJX!le fights bock, , untt l d'estructlon through c~lexl'ty I cO"trodlctlon por"dc!~ Clttac:k; energy depleotlon, oil dear
I

and notes how mall), were distributed b)' Bunting. If the Other travel projec"l:s mapped out terrain WIth IT [0015 and wei/informed aCCOunt5 and narratives, Communication encounters were ;mporr;rnt
of CommUnICatIon

IItIat

Creates Con{llcr

Q!l!

'fj(!

110 7

shifted the focus to intel'actions; roles In Bunting's dOl/etailed Bunting's Interpretations

web USers' active and eXpress've pares of the Work. praC[fces

neatly With the Ideas of many of the intelleCtuals

h~~cofe,or9 of interest
In contrast project (such as SBC headquarters to user-frIendly travelogues and Covent

CQmlr)g [0 promine"ce orr marling lists like Newme and Syndicate - figures Such as Geerc lOIl/nk (b. 1959), who was a primary

!Il).

theorist

of media pragmatlSm

as a tool for social and polirrcal writer Da.vid GarCIa, of tactical

16 image-driven. used the

pages are ~plcally not

usually seen by
Though

arm hi~ It IS introduce d b y an Index p d {Index to organize .frles Wit h'rn ~ wI beucal ." ' ell e an user) liSting, Its c~nce,~t5(:nL::(j'nuSt~g
oth,er

by

change and, with AnglO-Dutch

d [hrou&~ I'ke a psyc hogeograpbical wanche hyper' er cartographic pointers, I ' ld es a contrast betweenoften hermevC the city, the index page proVI , 's rational order of alphabetical files and the artist
order.
. CreOles Con fI'let [28] was commlsSI lk AV/$/!ors C~I!II ' t NTT, LI e: arts lnitiative of Japanese telecorn glan 'age features. , p 10 London, this project IS quite j)rera'i , ,Its opening baJized fI

one can navigate A V,S/lor S GUI ,e

relationships

'Id-ngs and roads, to Lon d on • b UI I 5

toned by en!

Communication

version 0 t:go at che aruS . L , I,51irnple ,orm , of communication, Within chis lyrlca bi aspects addresses certain candid ' an d u ncomforra e
Poem ., outirnlng a more . plex com

29 Simon Biggs, Gte.,Wol/ of Cill"", 1'1~6,ThiS work dro"". from a datlilbue or wordJ from Fra.m. Kalka:. • ho" "ory The G.... , Wall oro,m. re Produce tiyo>m" [."ts, By "~ing !h. n'\rlga~on' I trepes 0/ dl. ChInese I'ndrnark. Bi&1!' dl"""~ aUudQ[otile I"nc~on; 01 pl"e ono I,nguog e rIl:tc form ,he biiJfl or p-erccpeJon, unwrttingry und~rrlnln!'lh.",c of mucho(<hr, perlodJ'n,.rnet '1'[.

media Nertime. an d
0 th ers 'n I

set up by Lovink, Gerl'nan Pit Schultt: (b. 19(5) against hyped. often _ American _
I

1995 as a reaction

plarform Was press tOU ung the mternet as a".'utopIan free-market small yet enormously influential to International media aCtivIsm and theory crrcles until around 2000 important. larger-scale discursive participant time Nemme and continues

ofarrists

to make polemical statements

and ge&tures to attack

as an

list. Australian

crltlc and lang.

.norms of [he art establishment. By the late 1990s this genre would Involve subversiYe product design and hacking. related projects Others made work thar had a less practical reach, but that rem3med less
Wrm'!

McKenzie Wark notes that Netrime Was

c3ptllred d'e spirit of lIle artlSt as a catalytic and SOCialforce, Many of the artists who elipoU.sed these a[tlwd~ intereste'd
In

'a mailing list, but it was also a series of meetJng,s. and publicationl

01 the all of whom could think of i1:in their Own way and imagine everyone eJse concurred. (It] arose OUt of

in different formats. alms of Its paruopanes,

It thrived on the pOSitive confusion

art discourse

by non·artists.

They tended to

tn~

their Own declarations and definitions, and remained aut of the lray of art·related COmmunitie~ like THE THING and Rhizome.org, A Seminal project that ilIusrrates this position IS Vuk Cos ie's Net.or; per se. Vuk Caslc, barn In Belgrade In 1966. has shown conSistent interest in histOrical narr~tfve (he worked as an archaeologIst before becoming an artist) and variable ways reduced
[Q

discontents

of cridcal theory. It found a negative

semantic

ter

illn

In its hostllity to Wired magazine.

the Rolling Slone of new me la lightlil by of

1t to

sellouts. and pOSitioned itself against the "unbearable

Wired'" On an email list like Nerrime,

rneir email addresses subscribers tl'le list's master address, on the list. While Nettime example. reports arnflclallife. (1925-95) for projects connected

users subsc~ibe forwarded

ad ng

to a list, and when an email ('posc') is lt ls aurornatlcally to all

make Ideas
It was

materia I (such as teaching. art and writing). but eventually led him to create internet.based taught archaeology experience rnrough the Soros Foundation

the

amount of time between publication and feedback [hat

POSts ranged wildly in style and topic _ on the Status of Brazilian radio, writings and art, musings on electronic
rm,

an. Cosic, Who had

and been active With cultural initiatives in Slovenia and Serbia, also had Most

complexity

essays OIl media consultants. and Felix Guartari

French theOrISts Gilles Dele

as an ac(ivlst: 'My bac.kground Includes several years

(1930-92), and announceme

of thoug~
'1a[

in the ranks of what we called the DiSSident mOVemen

or events - there were two strands them. One common theme of the 'Californian Ideology',

o( my actIons were part of the very general oppOSItional activism. Some of those were artistic. some jOurnalistic and some were agitation. I felt very deeply.n Impera(ive to create a parallel sysrem of values that Would COUnter [ile dominant diSCourse in SOCialist YugoslaVia, The language that I used at the time was thus hea,vy on "us" VS."them" both in social and artistIC chinkIng, I believe that actually chere Is a bridge between that and whar later became net,arr.' In 1994 Coste came across the World Wide Web. which had
a huge Impact: 'I saw the web for the first time ;!.nd dropped

was intellectual3~

critical scepticism Andy Cameron

a term ref

to the utopian vislons of the net, wined in their highly IfIfluential constantly, name. The ocher was [flat various aspects and mdustry were discussed often in political terms. Though

by Richard Barbr

Ing kand
me tUre
ime

1996 essay of tht

of technology in great detail, ar on art, Ne European

rarely focused

was an invaluable network

net art COmmunity,

for the emerging

everything

I was doing .... I immediately decided chat I 'Vane to

at the very first moment. .. 1 remember surfing (or 18

be rnvolved. It was one of chose siwations when you are 100%

Nelof[
in Eastern Europe and Russia - cultures In W h-rc h the promise! . marketed disavowed of dominant important technology 'democracy' internet and ideology utopian discourse. were unwe Ie-openly com the consumerist,

,
0

confident directory.
I Started

. Following the collapse of the SOYlet U' man, many artists workmgr .

hours for days. I believe I have clicked through the entire Yahoo! By 1995 I was busy with tile ljubllana Dlgit3.1Media Lab making sices for everybody chat wanted them, For free. that whIch was no more cl'lan a group of people talking. luka Frellh and I was thinking of arc in chat COntext but very little wasarollnd

and often ap.o li .cal con[enl It! .'. The SOCial responsi 'bllity of ulil
LOmilfr

group of artists

. . was salient .. particular Ii· a t m e when JTlany y at

eIlCOuraged a nu

.. cultural and political decislons regar d' access mg

were taking place. This context

I liked. Then in Marrh I somehow met Heath Bunting (frrn contaGt was via telephone) and found his web Site was che best thing online. Then in June Geerr Lovink and Pit Sc.Ilulu invited me co
Venice for the first Nettime meeting .. ,.'

52

53

At first. COSIC', art practice and the Nerume

consisted

of mailing imag~ to
8UI

other arnsts and !rke-mlnded peers. But as his affinity with crowd grew closer. and his mastery his own web-based evolved, he began co present artWorks.

of HIMl

ing

Net'Jrl

I perse (as 0 known as CNN InleroCrive) [30J WlI.S his first project . a fake CNN sire commemor.mng a meeting (called 'Net.art per se'J of artists and theoriSts in Trieste, Italy, In May 1996, including ~,[ Schultz, Andreas Broeckmann, Igor MarkOVic, Alexei Shulgln,

Walrer van der CnJ1Jsen and Adele Eisenstein. Net.orr per se II a fairly comprehensive statement of the ideas that were crldt.1ll <II
that stage of development SCepticism towards held to consider in internet an: a serious engagemr ijl On, a and a ~ se ere rk'"
rt

With popular media, a belief ln parody and appropria( commodified media informaCion should distribute perception of the interplay of art and life. At 'Net.art how net artists work, how the 'modernist romantic

per se', meetings amI COnl of the "art

applied to the Inrerner, and how artists ~udlences When ropi~s and premises per
Sf IS

could deal With glot

SI!

were not universal. N

a repl.ica of the concurreoe CNN site of that time. With the multi-typeface logos for which the Atlar staff and banal I This was the f web sire d eel s', p, The main one b jlinel

influence of HollYWood. fashion and teleVision, COSICS Net.ar; per takes materials from fields of mass. media. By shuttling between
per sa', CoSic equates with sinrster

complete

CNN news and the findings of'Netal"[

company was famous, images of Pentagon about baseball and advertiSing promotions, Internet art projec::t to appropriate
COSIC created

both as Idealoglcal and contingent wrth a bralen senSibility. Indeed, CNN. which was for many synonymous first Gulf War, functions here as a celebration The subverslsn of corporate aspecrs of lIblquitous American media and propaganda after the of artistic potential.
'Veb siees shares a blurry border

a mainstream

some of his own headlines, found possible',

'Specific Net.an 'Technology',

and the smaller headlinE

which were buried under headers such as 'World', 'AIiPof 'Music' and 'Style', formed a poetic announe Gr lrnages an Like pop art's early herald the British Independent whith affirmed the banality of photo-generated

'h~

With hacking and agitprop practices that would become an an. often referred [0 as 'taC[Jcal media' Located within afield of mass media, Neton. per se is absorbed by the sYStem of COmmunication an .. distribution through which It is published, and which ie addresses. There is another echo of pop art and Andy Warhollf'l particular at work - Net.ar; per se fmllolY.
impC!lrtant field of net hi, idiOms of tabloid (etishizing and self.aggraf'ldi<ement Warhol's media attention
IS

Indeed, if

Screell Tesl$ marked the onset of ~ paradigm In which a focus of Social identification, a rnlrror (or

as suggested by German critic Ursula Frchne, Net.or; per se begins ~ campaign fer artistic au~hentica[lon on a St<lge stolen from the heart o( American media, Finally, 'ner.arr', a neolQgism ConjOIning artisuc and Internet individua.1 self-perCeption. communication fields, did more. than suggest an art pracrlce rha r was rosted In net culture. The name - whi~h COSIC coined after

- --

--DaI. ~ ~dltlUU"1.7"
WI!

---,.'1
lI:f n.J.5. 0$ tIIUU.lJ

Coming across the conjOined phr"~es in an email bungled by a technical g.Iltch (a morass of alpha~umeriC junk, its only legible

term ·net.art') - would come to stand for the (Onrrlbutions

of that

------

r.rS[ wave of people wor~lng dUring the 19905, Cask, Shulgln, Jodl.org. 8un~lng and Uallna chief among them.

the gallery scene, THE THING built itself mro an InnOY~tive arts lab, sticking to the web as its bas" through most of the 1~90s (as opposed
10

ernall or prim publication formats. for InStance).

Rhizome.org, founded On De/euze and Guattarl's notion o( il 'rhizome' as an anti-hierarChIcal, deceruralized network. leveraged the archl"e model and email lists to form W~atlts Tribe has referred to founder Ma rio:

as

a SOCialSculpture. an interconnected, to t.Jlk about netwOrks and

collabor.!'tlve platform run by new medl~ artiSts, curators, crItics and Viewers. It ISnow cOmmonplate communities online. but Rhll:.Ome.org was Singular for using email hst hosted all kinds or Criticized for being too 'AmeriCiln'

models of free-form discLissions as Strategies for an ar .focused public forum. An unmoderaced discourse, NeLort per se's headlining conclusion was possible galvanlled discussions about onhne. In fact, nodes for discussion Drall well-known Eil5tern European started projects to connect Sofia. Belgrade, Albania, Sarajevo was launched as a BBS for artists Cologne. ada'web was mrred that a Specific 'net Internet art lai<l( Whir sue ther "h
I

from hIgh-minded [heorerleal POSts to patenr self. or friendly chatter welcomed

promotion Ilee
y_

in focus, Or for lacking critICal rlgour, Rhlzome.org as a venue fOr arc discourse che changing Conven tlons of electrOniC by refUSing to be abOve Its At the t,me of Its formation In Berlin In(ended to be Such art critiCism and consUmption pa'r-tklpaflts' preoccuPUlons, (Tribe later relocated

sprouted

up internatio in locations

list was Syndicate,

media art practitioners

and Estonia In 1995. Thre (1991) [31 in New and enthusiasts

to New York), Rh,zome.org

were based In New York: THE THING (1994) and Rhil:.ome.org

a for-profit venture and Started off as """"",rhlzome.com was che mood in 1996 ..mong Tribe and other hew media vlsionafles,

lnd G m {Or~

(1996), THE T

including those behInd edltoria' ventures like Telepolls laking shape

by artist WOlfgang Staehle

(0, 1950).orlgmally

and Word. that they thought the 'new economy'

Germany, after a curiOSity-driven led him to Set up a large modem. made the pleasant Glmaraderle discovery were the dominant artists

impulse buy In a cornpur After logging online, Stal' and ~ characteristics channel. of most BB Staehle's

Would serve to value flew ktnds of content. like RhlZome.org's m,x of EMatter and theory. By 1998, ,t was clear that RhlZome_org had to become a nOfl'profit OrganiZation to stay afloat.

that Information-sharing

eXChanges. and he decided as an intellectual

would benefit from theil an exceptionally

version of an online communication artist attracted intellectuals boards.

repLJI:3LIOn

gifted group of

arnstS. curators.
THE THING's

and kindred

spirits to POst on they would dlalrnlo and politic!

DUring the mid-1990s, reviews

!:he text -based hub to trade ideas on art, technology THE THING hosted Besides being the first diScussions, sell was (or a long rime a Standard-bearer
[0 11

and art projects, and

for many art platforms art on 11 e - Staehle n up for sa Ie an d a year ISler servic e proVI '

nd distribute

PUt digital files by Peter Hal/ey Marlko Mori

[32J

published images and sound files by the likes of Japan". se artiSt der

[ll] -

THE THING

was the Internet

3l ""arlko Mori, A~lIell'Qlnr, 1995, '" nUI11b e r of Well .known ortis" •• u,~ ... Morl.Worked "'tit

(IS?) of chOice for many artists

based . New 'IIor k a ndGerman~ In ties and Stae hi e '5 history on

THE THING, u'lng o.c .. eo

OJ J

Capitalizing on its strong EUropean

medft.un::u w,err 1tI.5;( meJfl$ 0' diStnbvtlon {o, <hoi, work.

57

CuratOr 8eni~mm Weil was at..o IIltere5red In hybrrd forrni

made poulble by onllne fo~mats. Well had wlm THE THING. but was Interested arnses [0 creace online experiments
CUt

his internet

teeth

In workIng Closely WIth

that e)(plored new terr ,..

I...,ne$ of production and disrriburJon in me r.lditlon o( the Bell Lab._ sponsored EAT In 199'1. Well teamed up With che arcs-l"l1 llded i Brrtlsh busml!ssmM John Bon:hwu:k to foulld iida ·web. an Onhnf arr pJar(on'n mat complemented Borthwlck's other web Site gUide ro Manhal:t<ln called TolO/ NewYoric. LIke New York's D, Canter for me Arts. whIch had "slmJlar programme for collabor.1[jng with blue-chip arusts on web-based prOjects. ada web produced Its first art Site In 1995, Jenny HolZer's pi ChQnge BelIefs lsl The work divides Itself inro three parts. refreshes

named for one of the m/e words, Please. Chonge and BelIef" unsettling aphorrsms, such as 'HumanIsm is obso nd 'Mu.-der has Its sexual side across a web page Chang inodfly these aphorismS', and Beliefs aggregate~ m d,fped tnIlsms. Occasionally one comes across a VideaS [0

Q.'

TO i"'orov~

Or reolac.

Ihe 1I"1:I15m

-'!!.l
'fours will be added
10

a n~w m~SI.r

lin.

tted version of an aphorism. Holzer'~ long- term IntI' pJtlJltlIng informaTion In public spaces, uSing ltem~ Sue
hi
[S

or more commerCial forma

[0

[S

Including billboards

tched

he rni ed context

of lhe CommerCial an

d:i w b would develop around twenry other pro,ect r (Jons before slwrong down 1M ea.rly 1998 when p pa Y 0, ltal C,t,es, owned largely by AmerICa Online cq red DlgTtaI ewes and ada 'web rn 1997), WIthdrew fUI I there 15 no way [0 group ,he wlde'ranglng pro)ecl:. ken a [.ada'web convenlcnuy Without sertcusly

ch 8

underrniningthe of the well·known

artistic goats of We.11and his cOflab ar-:rJscs wju, whol1'1 they worked . "" Orators 'fl1!~r
31 .P~ oe. H.lley, EipllJdmg CoJl, 1~91 The M"'eu'",,1 MOdem An In New York un dcrto~k ~ bnj!!f
e;(plCli.H:JOPl

,SUe" as I Lawrence We/ne.r (.b, 19<1 ), jlliia Sche,- and Doug Altke (~ f.! o~~r 2 we~ able to e)(p Iore telr - Signature idiollls Or intereStsIld u, 196a) h h . h _L organization. '. Iflg t elr affit· - - Wltrne J latlon
Ur

Online nodes like ada 'web fiJledlmpol""tant gaps between artists and estabHshed institUclons and audiences or art h . . .. " In a varrety - of ways, More than slmp.ly enablmg the prom (Jnt (J~~u .. '. .. diStflb,utlon of new media arr prOJects, they gave usen L '~~ to communicate_. develop critiques and amuse (hernsel~ online chat a persistencactivit)', theSe forums Could oft res·emb.le variety-show stages or SPoken-word pe.rlorr
3~

er Pl'lt"crnet

art;.

proJo~ sl,n::h,~II; f-bl/oy' '''plo~lnl C,N An <>nll". ,oJunrt Il' 0")10" ,exn rr..iUClI1, thrl CO".1bcranoPl ~nrJ
toJ'Iltn[u'O'iJl1g

d,. "'tU,~
to

r'l
.~ ~ ... ~ ~r

-J

ithO!e Wm II wL!r~ OO'H;tneleu

'1~"rr.""", h~,~.~'0 Incrod'uoo 'nd

jn Ultn"'~ aes ~Qt.lrs
.3

h. ,~~,:~~

rt ,iI!h th Ullil~

u.

.1ti1s(:S.and

Vjy,,,,, Serb 0, ~"""'al

""""""""II.ftl,nd

CDmidcr

1So'''.U''"l'lnU,ng"". (flgh'I, rl'lo>m

1I""~""'m",~

And, unlike the [raditionalJy influential channels of art~ - print magazines such as An(owrn, Flash Art and Art N", li~ts enabled arliSts, critks and enthusiasts to nand or
footing, With the email s.etting making an end to dl~cul Virtually ImposSible. FUrthermore, the smafl.g of, roup partiCipants, numbering JUSt a few thousand urltll 1999

t~_;;;-~~~~
ISm
·1

In1ervul. 1~96

Contnbu~ed

IO

an intimate and cfose-kni!t sensibllft)! "

lei

-'en
IOU5,

"

these COl"nmunitles Or networks solved everything -If artists still lacked inclUSion in broaderarr diScourse a I( they COnsidered InsLj[ullon~1 acknOWledgment [0 be

there were shared Concerns about how artiStScoulti themselves. Indeed. [he net had many shortcomings.

lrt

- ~- -_ ~-~

ON THE lIAY

We

or~ the

[llyo1 sons of

dlstonc~
the mll'ld

Every morntng we ~epart,

abloze

31 8arb .... london 10. <he Mg,.lImol Mo d e rn Art

._--N (I

The heart lIIelghed down iliUM core and bitterness Vilego, accOrdtng !'Inti" to tile rhytllin c 10\1"

the

songs eSCaped

boc~~ord

Cunrr"'~OilP<1lch." fiom

......... </on r''''m: S"'.fry-.A V"tdlto o,j~o, 1"7 Mod", cu,"",o, s"rb,,._

FQotfo11s echo in the memory.

~Yhible and
PmtHcy n ere,

th~ ll'lStalt~ 001)

Lon.<ton lI.n:l!ld th e er t.o doc-urn en [ CUr;lifodal r'e5e.)rcr, ~tr'pre

'l

~.'''''''y ""c, '''en of [he eura IOrP;l1 ..

Scnne.'iVlu~~.re;bc tw'een

thord, all o{wlnd! can be Wld.ntood as delaJls or. Co om

f

outhoe III"~ a let Q£ ,"Oll/tors. a Wlndcw en one, ~ II" (I, Oil anoth" ..• foot tnknng 0" a

Invi:nb] e L tves -Illruc.os cJoar An:aytd ""!fun 1> rrllm e.d

I
"'< somotlu!lg

The tne were thr!II.d that VIewer. melt th",,- r eern eal, and acio, Qwl" 1111. ell ts utJp1 ~H b OD£

--------

----- --_

_J
61

Cyber(emmlsm
Among these discursive networks, the scrurlniZillg of "olit'
I~S r[he analysIs of how gender, race and class informed tech"

and
3l

often took place. 'CybElriemimsm' practICe. Wieh a decentrahzed, the crux of net culture, Whom the Ausrralian term 'cyberlemllliH', femmlzlng Other rheorisrs

was One of these fields ocuIUl~~ of . matrix like Sadie Plane (b. 64) With 19 COined the female lnd
MOte.j

J9 VNS Mdtriw, A Cyb<'f',mmsr Mo. ~ sr. {it, 1,,, c."u". 199j

ti,.

connection-dependent

VNS 1993

~o

Srlll'rom All Now

;ii:lmo

Marrl~.

c.,te, c",O"'
Gu~

c:ollea;lve VNS Miltril(

[l9-.!OJ

fountJ the net to be Inheremly

feminists.

suo::h ~s faith Wilding (b. 1943)

It." .eo",,1 dJ~me or lila SCU!'lJn-ncuon_b:'!ri:d 1m. bf VNS Marti N.'.r

~d", cybo,x _

C'om~uU:lr

Tht pon.f:Jlnilry

!I,.

thac femmism'S migrarlon Into In(ormation-technology fiel of 'Third Wave' feminism's occupation of diVerse pial for public action and rebellion. As well as SUpplYing a rern:

"'a.s
'111;

rt!.lrl il'l"d. It. do C~ predj'l It!' U1.~ "'og'~h~' fer g..tm~ 31"'1 In d t~ frrTOr rew )"e:iJ f'l

pan

er rh'l.':t...... (IInly,.iirsr

ccmur),

IdentificatiOn (I.e 'I am a cyberfeminisr covers three areas. generally of Women In technologic addresses speakIng.

artist'),

cyberfeml [he p

11
1111

lr describes

.. 1 diSCiplines and labour, includl! of technoculture, various technologies, In~lud po

end.".
also

based divisions of lab()ur Within these fields and Industn

Women's expenences effens on work, domestic Commenrs on [he gendenng ferrufllzation or erOticrzaclOfl. VNS Matrix was formed Josephine life, SOCIallife and leisure. Ani

or

JIIY,I[ Iy ill~r

in 1991 in Australia by men Starrs (b. 1955), Francesca da Rimini (b. 1966

Pierce (b 1963) and VirgInia Barratt In 1996, as a technoart and manipulating Identity technology referenced

(b. 1959), who left r

digital spaces in In ics com changin

group wjth [he stared goals of U'

to 'create

l:anne roup ch nlque,.

re jen~ el

and

sexual politics can be addressed',

or the frequently and spectrums at conferences Intellectual, in

A Cyberfemmist Momfesto [.

21s1 Century [39]. the Ma[rix flaunts strategically sexual and technll:a I languages. male-dominated The presence of

of sexual pOwer, as well as rhe combinar

01

res merl'

ers

and on email hsts underscored o( male-dominated users

3.$

howehe

net could be seen as IUS' the la[es[ media. Where

fairly long hinory

Newme

offered up deprived

verstons of net

dupes, often unknowlI1gly _ overriding

of various freedoms

or lacking in cririca.1 ab"~ty, rhe approach

VNS Matrix took a different

accepted
and searches

/Tel

behaViour With sexual and creative for fun and knowledge

personalities,

Their Cyber(em;nin Manifesto is at once sexual, graphical and technical and, wirh itS explicit of the 19705, It can also be Identified

langua,ge., eva k es the ',uot art with 19805 French lemlnl!1

COnceptS like Jouissance and ecriture w h· h POSit." espectlvely. IC . pleasul"es and Writing rnarexist beyond discourse and fixed .

62

meaning (which was identified as male and bound b e language), Further establishing its historical . L r onve~~1lIW
' , Itself travelled as a W<1phic,inscribed In a cir Welgnt, the 1'rJan'f~!1c I d r... trajectory - an allUsion to [he argument POSed b e'/Ing If !lear (, ce AI 'Ice Jar d' t h, masculine aesthetics pnYileg "y el'llmlS[ me at ' • Inte"Vlew pOSted to Nettime. Josephine Sr~rrs ed Inearity. In ~n ... group • goals and methOds to Dutch art crrtlc Jo escrlbed [he s h sep IneBosm ~ 'We Started POstering cities in AUstralia With tfla[ "

CotPoroceAesthetJcs
Critical consciOUSness of power imbalances tOok many forms net art circles, and One persIstent articula[ion of polr~ICilI One Strand ftusCIOl[lon online has been an[i-capitallse sentiment
In

m~l1h~!O We Wanted to work With teC:hnelogy, We're all fr.om d If . backgrounds: writer, performance artist, filmmaker I I ereol f a phOtography baCkground. We didn't have access na ..... s 'll1Ji ' y particular new technology, but we had aCc:ess[0 a so We just Started writing about technology, been, warried chat it seemed Such a boys' domain ac th the arrworld and So On.... We had this agenda of women to get inVolved if they want [0 lOok at thl wjth technologies, ro get theDr] hal1ds on the [0 fun with it. Part of the prOject was to use hUmol1 process,." We tried to make it like technclogy r It's fum to Use: Another reason the 'c:rber'. 'sexual' and 'fer< so compatible in che hands of the VNS Matrix IS rna de optimistic theorizations of network techn in the mid- 1990s, One of these was the 'cyborg 1:0 a CUltural dependence on techl1ology, Cybor
fJl'igl~g

of eh"se policics COokto c:I~imJ'1gthat in ter~et [errltory was

311d

ar[/scic, ilnd was bolstered by critique.s of the !I1tellectual, neatlve mora.I I~rel'i·orlty of commerda·' vemures. DOtcoOlS were
<:>( the marke,-driven,

often the fOcal POints for thrs anger, 3S they 'were taken to be emblematic Utopian 'CaUfornl." Ideology", The term 'do[com', of COurse, refers Co the semantic SuffiXes of

new media Companies genet'aUy f<;Junded If1 the 19905 With the aim of capiralizlng on the rise of inter[le( usage and culture by prm'idlng specialized tools or COncent. As prOViders of solely online-based
serViCes, Amazon and Yahoo! are dotcoms,
110t.

a[ion~~·p d to nal'!

whereas

companies like Apple and IBM are an online presence.

,hough ~ey also maintain

In art circles, the aversion to dorcorn culwre and ethos was seemed often marked by e panded Uses of satire and parady _ emplOYing rhe IntrigUing hmlts of these models [0 prOvoke critical COnSCIOUSness While a Web Site CilJled ®TMurk.com Would become an epicenere for thiS activity in the late 1990 , etoy_ s created by a group of European artISts then operating OUt of Zurich, SlVlrzeriand +was the first to US"edatcom aesrhe[lcs reposition to

.:he group popul.r h referred

~I Eva G,ubinger, NCI:Zb1km" 1795, In<hIs ea rl~ Work, p~rtrClpanrsdOWnload and concept of the time. deployed by the VNS Matrr d advow.<tJ pnrn OU[:I b,Jclnl p:n~urn (. n"n.t.c~nclog,c~1 ,ubieO'f) as a politically pOtent feminist aesthetic by Donr 1l<lWilyJn ;illld eustern Iz.i!! It {or we.il(: As her 1985 canonical essay, 'A Cyborg Manlfeno S ce, iii I'"eJ!utt. Grubmger's web .5 r~e Technology, and $oci<llist-Feminism in the Late'): [Ie!h ~o, .... PIl>fu"On or It.noj,mJOe. 'ndlvl<fu.I"O<I sw,im'LiI tiS !1m, Century', One should also note t'hat In virtua I ne MI ronme'u '. ""'.c I, difllcul, I<> focu, On ~nr like Palace. popular in ["e ml'd -I990 s, grap hical r • esen14uOIIl One COStume cr p., rtlcAp:3nr, TIll' prOi_ ~,ghl,,~ ... on of self were often rh0ugh [ of as alternative per sonae, or'a\llt3fl' , hnpOn.'''f :].$pe~t of die

reakey

are

in relation to daily praCtiCes Incorporated

In 1994.

eto), fuelled its self.styled hybrid of business PIOlCt;ces,fOolery and confUSion wieh ambitious, though ambiguous, ",die. hsm, The plan, as artlculaced on the web site, was 'to esta bltsh a complex and self-generating an·'ncuba[or regimented

art v,lruo and e-brand which reflects

~Ild drgir.llly mfect5 the nature of tOday's life and business at large that turns the essence of drgltal lifestyle. e-commerce beh'avioLlr, based on detailed research and e haus[Jve and socrety Into cultural value ', Via Identical (OHumes and highly disCLiSSions,etoy members brought office aesthetics into {l'Ie more margm.1 scenes they rnhab,ted In Sw1r.:zerland and AUStria, OnHne, their al]eles Included sl,lrreptidously COnfuslIlgWeb users abeu, the content etoy offered, and 'n 1996 a Search engine hack thOusands of search engine called Digital HiJack., WhIChredirected

That people could be liberated f rom tr e S ta n dard (Jescrlpul'f !Iih ualities of the day-to-day world gave way [0 ttl eortes ,mat1 ( £il

net heralded new kinds of fluid identities. com pIece wahches! ', a lei hierarc;hies and unprecedented 'mtercon nections. True. "d Iinel W1 '. . on relied on making a d,stlnc[lon b erwe en 'real Me an mls 'f ' but rr was a popular aSSUmptIOn aro und the rime 0 353 'net manifesto, The projected . Image port rays the Inter Forl'l'om!I' , II' . utopia offresh social formations an d Indlvld1l3 !Je~, of t deal artists in pilrticular, these POSSI 'bTfes held a grea rI I aesthetic pOtencial and fr'eedom,

dec""tr.lti,,=dn'~meL thl'Ough r which a -;an: arra~ d3t;1 tr.Jveb QS[fy tc be r.,onccxwal,zcd In $(jbie~ve. ::ier(in.:gs-

0'

Users to the etoy home page. In 1999, e[Or become embrOiled IIIa remarkably complica~ed fight wJ,th. dotcom named eToy& thar brought the spectre of corporate mOckery InIO the scope of AmericOJn finanCial ma~kets (see Chapter 3) Anti-commerCial sentiments POSing a relatiOnshIp of binary OppOsition vis·a-vis che 'artistic', 'pure' and 'progres<lve' were

web sites With similar n"me~, Zuper and Superb ad (1995) to shOwcase arc and de.ign work. Bach Seem to have thorOl.lghly absorbed the playfuJ and IOYous aesthetic capabilities of HTML. and their WOrks reCOver a sense of the (un, U~f"ml""rity and Wonder of dIgital aesthetICS SUPerbQ(j In 1[$ earl~ icera(10r]s seemed to disregard programming limits and standard spatJal deplOyment. Highly visual, and undEjrpirlned by rIch syntheses of games, pop CUlture, advertiSing and Signs, 5uperb(1d used iI range ofaesthecics practices 111 internees, suggestmg rh"r the Web Was a
laUnched respect/vely, d,verSe and multivalent medium. The grand speCtacles these
~rtI5t5

created as el(per1ments

Were unable to reconCile

ehe tenSIOns

between the aesthetic and commerCial, but they ISO I;! some ted of the nets mare deSirable and glamorous posstbllitles Te1epresence Ben Beniamln IImRo rl<lli<bu,rdmr remlna' and nm,t'gy
WOrltshop,

'I,

Abo'~If!ft

hard [0 SUStain In such a mIXed environmem context

as til
IllImilOll "'es!

A term derived of coordlnatton,

from Virtual reality descr,bmg the Sel1.1atlon 'telepresence' is a duractemcic

""lJII

'"5

of new media art, the COPICof dotcoms c varIOUS corporate beh3VIQUr and allowed artists
rejection artists

of feeling In a different place Or ,time by Virtue of technologies

of much Interne,

Iti>o-r (I~h'
43 Ben B",njarni". £a".,,,n 19'17

of market

Stracegies

or obJeCtives, Pro)!
at rh

behaviour,
pr-oduces

were almost alllV:iys fraught Wlch paradol(es:

from an overseas (nend a kind of InUmacy that belies geographical d, ces fantas,es that inter"el
In

111the

way that readmg an

were dependent on cOmmerciaUy produce of Adobe, Netscape and Qua/comm (free-softw. lacer diversify the fleM), and aU of them found ch
di$tribu"ted Amenca via browsers

Th.s senSlbiliey has enCOuraged

stal1

Industries

""d cultures are 'v,nual'. eXisrtng rk

ommerc-

ether Or tn an almost

filnl4sr"

realm, With no ImpaC[ on actual behavlQur, natural reSOurces. lands

- whlch were then stan

softwares distributed
Online,

by new media giants such

O~I Vu k ern per se, or Heath Buming wich _readme,hlml, SOUl' chese very COntradictions bu c With therr own "nt

Mo$t artists, including

rOlolialil'
hiS NIL"

o mlffi(1Il ons madec/l;

Ic rnusr be added, though, 'that in net art eire I ,he _ D rerm 'commerCiaI' was conSldere d as' bot h pOSitive and egao.e,3Jl h b't exC1fl.~ much commercially
and Connruc"ve

'

" arnsnc

minded

.. Itle qua r ' s , This

war k w as thought

to ex I I h ph,rOI~f was as mue met artilll a many mte dLicers

posicion as

It was

a rea IIStiC one, because ,·

Of SUpported themselves as pro ~ esSIO nal designers, pro wileII' . . America, programmers in the new me dlia, Especially In . media M05tS ' . governmental suppOrt lor arusts is Jlrnited, newtor MlChan

'42 1] an American base d In S a n FranCISCo, w the mid. 19905Jl'" i designers/artiSts who began working online In ' 06

Samyn (b. 19(8)

·he could often be found at wor k In t

[44],

private sec B Benjamin (b. 1910'

and

Belgian

artist.

en ere tWO such

MI<~alJ SamYfl,
(/'Om

Z"~",2

·Prine.

z"P<r, 199$

or eXlstmg systems. And 1;0 the exrem that ihternet n espeCIally amldn media and economic hype, seemed t etworks • the realities o( life offline, literally and figuratlvelv the, o OCclUde ,. er'" arnsts who Immediately recOgnrled the net as lUst 0 Ii!•..... ne next ro many ochers, sllch as [hose found arneng natural lll'tworJi' phenomena Articulating a link berween natural proc communrcadon netWorks In symbolic and mechanl""'1esses and The Telegarden (1995-presenr) [~51 by Ken Goldber"g (b.tetlTlllf 19 I)
~Q

Joseph Santarromana.

George

Bekey (b. 192B), Steven G

Carl SUtter, Jeff Wiegl ey all

'
lt11er It~

(b. 1972), Rosemary Morris.

w co tend a hving garden {phYSically lOcated In Llnz. AUS[r' commands to a robotic arm, which 15 Controlled throu Telegorden's web sire. The projeCT; highlights a sense of by gemng VISitOrs In dispersed locarlons to manage Ow (by wa[enng It or planting new seeds, for example) A Viewer requestS are earned our In (Urn, several Users rhe garden at one time, and
It IS

Berger In [his Installation ,"",ark, intern at Users ..... orld

'glill, I~

munt, 1e{J
gh
lre lor

also POSSible to see through

fellow-users along w,th cheir POsicron In cnegarclen. Ir

between partlClpalns IS further encouraged 'village square', a public chat srs:tem_

The other Side of 'telepresence', cannily allUded ThrTe/egorden. Is the physrcal. "Itill reality e slIY'nlSS come [of new media Culture_ The haze of press abo revolutionary p:lld
to

he

Cdpabllraes of the net, and the relentl lud€t)

rgo

the stock prices ofrntemet-related bUslhess for ~ mne, cere:un realities. In fact, most of the worlr COn[l/lued to tra~el by sea (not high-speed
packed and accompanied as Other compUters and related eqUipment

Internee

by people, and the product

slm£!.ll,
of d~'o'jte~

followed the sam"

In

electronics; rhe toxic rna cenals [hac (orm th by factory workers

were moulded

Thrrd World C , tries

These rssues underwrote

of Inverse Technology,

which is headed

the work of the artist grouF Bureau by Its engmeer Nat<llie

OUt

)eremijenko

(b. 1966) and, like eroy, set

to emulate rhe

anOnymous nature and brand ambition of cornpames tr.ldmgo" the stock market. bringing represent,wons ofless-YISlble infOrmation into ilr[istic Zones. uve Wire (J995-present) ., W<l an early incernet-related project sec up by Jeremijenko, whldl . . ·ng~elIded the $'ta'lldard activities of [he Internet (browsl sending an email), making use of a local nerwcri k co visuahze . ilCtlvity With a String chat wiggled accordlng to Ior al computer hoi usage. The dangling sculp[ure
increased [ h e penp hera! reat

the formerly inaccesSible and unarticulated network While screen displays of traffic are relaclvely cOm
purposes Interpretation . and attention,

tl'<lffic
f,

mo (e,g. illr-traffio:; systems), their symbols uSualJ or-pratli 11 and the String, ill pare bee)' requirE:

ca I

• aUseo',," very banalley. was an unusual, SCUlptural and SenSitive I~d '. " Spll(laJ and Visual impact This Pie el( fOr • tc ~I;l, Initially installed in the heart of Silicon Valley, Xerox PARe io
activity. allOWing aural, Palo Alto, California, where neg1ected inf0rmation. its Wiggles claimed lI[[enrlor lor

necwork

In Lve Wire, a formal element is Vitalized and comp,- d by actiVity, creatingan assoClatioll between mini IllSt and the internet.
The work also Signals, at

sculpture the earliest expression. -online

tr

Joseof

years of net art practice, the browser

an Increasing foe

In fact. many of the preoCCUpations of h.

screen and do collab

'nfllflll>'
Jpter entary ~d olldnd 5izrngth!

communlCaoon.

- were to be eilrned forward in years to come. !!l(pic

reconfigured using new means of production,
15

audience. With UveWire.Jeremijenko

intent on er Would bee

representation

of

In

terner concepts (such as nerwor

and [his interest
t

as much as functionality,

lfic)jus:
tile

founda [Ion 0f much net art tha

followed.

NataheJ"remijenko.ihe "" f99~En~

~m 'll$Q/f.tlorl,

IfIi , ....
st,~

The more of Lrvt>W;,o od cafes .,..,

t<!r.. tic or I~r<!m '/.nkD~ /u-po"Oil the /ormal fllons of technOlogy >tid rll an» "'",h ~ryd.y ng.. and IOp'CS. Or "'tural

70

Chapter 2

Isolating the Elements

By 1997, net an: had become an I!SCilblishedpocket of relatIVely

autonomous art-making, though it had not succeeded In reachmg

a Wider public. Beyond the spheres of internet communities,

media feStivals and arnsts' immediate SOCialand professional circles, the.e was little interen variations
H Alexei Shulgin, ftom WWWART Aw.ml,}ovQ Flo,h f,,; 'FI..,hlng. 1997 Shulg,n foundod me "N"MNArt award to ul.:"owtedgc c.re3moc w~b 'Ilel tm,t dId not origfnue In IiIn~,.tlstlc Context.. cnu.r"J prile. c:at.egoriU 'u<~.. 'flu.,ng' By d,cklngon .. <It of the Mw JaY>Rash option. (,FlaSh I', 'fb.h 2', 'FI>Jh 3' Or iFWh 1/) tht user I!. able 1;0 Yfew ",ur WIth dlff.rent <omb;n3UOM of '"Iourful bhn'i!1g bo .... 7h" ,w:.rd cetebrsres the n.. hlng ,mage, which was iI key e'~ml!'nt \11 the web) ile5-cJU!:;uc development.
011

In and even less money for net many and

artists' work. Since the launch of basic web browsers.

HTML web pages had emerged. The tradition of web pages had fallen by the waYSide, and parody,

,I..

using basic HTML and Images to make an documentaries "traighuorward

appropnation and formal explorations, as well as email, music and animation. came Increasongly to the (are £mail-Based Communiries Email,

a system

for sending and rete""ng network,

messages eleCtronically

over a computer communication

has changed the nature of work and

'<11:"'"

in cechnologiz.ed cultures unequivocally smce ns dunng the 19905. It was certainly the
In

Widespread adoption

organiz.lng medium for many

dfscussions

,he cyber Intelhgenma and art

fields, analogous to the way in which Pansran cafes hosted the of eXlSu~ntlahst thinkers. and literary and an: journal, Though the email format Initially limited users co texts graphics (HTML and gl"1lphicernarls did not and Instantaneous expression and irs or Sarai, so co rhe such as Tel Quel or Odober provided a forum (or postmodern discourse. and srrearnhned

48 AI"" .. i Shulgin, WW"WArt Award for 'R~eilrch in TOlJl'i$tJ~ Scmlotiu'. 1~97.Shulg,n crea,ed <It- category ·RUJe.rch In Tou.. ,,'c
SeWIlOOC:;'

become popular unnl around 2000). ItS advantages were Its ease as a method for spontaneous lnternauonal organized penecranon, Mailing li5[$ consist of email addresses

to .. WiJrd a

cO"(::lse

gu,deto tome (ommon t,.ffk "~H",und the wl)rla (argon]>",1 by COUntry), Bp ....,dlngthlS web s.Ke, Shu'gm alludi!d to lln InfemadonaJ. diVerse, v'sua' informat,on Sf".m and hl,hlight"d (h~ ntt', Jacleor :atcn pOlnl(!fl;
.I(Uu.ttlmu

under one name, such as softwareculrure

chat emalls sene to this name are automaueafty fo~rded list of subscribers, wnter

who can chen respond accordrngly CUI. cor and

David Ross noced in a 19991ecrure entitled '21 DistinctIVe

Qualities of Net-arc' Chat forms of onhoe discourse. such as 73

mailing lists. break down boundaries generative dialogues. expressive pOSSibility regardless

between

tritical and
50 Heath Bunting and Natalie Baaltchln. Crllfa.m Cilmwr
Ci:>mlliodity
D

While email offered fairly Immediate

COmmunk~ ..

of physkallOC3tion f , Or Illa~f were vi~1 S net Pok~n ccnversanon allowed more nuance than electronic and , . . In'pel> diSCUSSIonswere less apt to produce the miSunderstand ~h artists working in the 19905 actual meecings which writing can lend Itself. especially on fnternMlonall1 mother-tongue excitement language variations. Moreo"er. beyond mee['n~
'.

q ...

on and

Bunting c<,",'d.~d ,~e term 'm!t..arc· to be 'aICD'3nd ~ f3tce prCClpltaUnp ~pul" dlf'nc,IOn from {ne.cl1lt.r!lJJ1l QI(hl!li work
j ,

1m

ColiOClor

OI""r.rm"~OII.
("~C~.(':~C'IIIIIiI"" ~AI"1 ~ ... .. Ot..I.f_:m_'t'''Il)

'l1g. to

wtllr;h ~
fj(lmQ(fllllC

to bL.ijld apell,
:5o)l.HCffi!ii1nd
':ClJtU:M:,tI.

-.:.r.u.,i'I ....~J4... ""=IIIIr...,. ..........

t-.Iio~_ ....

l1li .. <1;

h~""

".."....'hII

.......

II.

t.d~

fe

1t5l\1lt1i

H. oaillboruod w.,h Bookchln '0

cre;Jte. -c;hls- SCflll""i n,g wtoriil.J t::.1lhng

of perennial

email correspondents

2f' (fa,!

to face), and the bonding over food. drink. danc)ng an"'" .., Jvel!hil took place. events gave those involved the sense thar t were taking part In meaningful and productive discussions at l ~ultIJl! Though the artists involved were by and large margin, contemporary art field. me scene's connections
to

(Dr tho ".0 of 11151010rm,"on o11d .a"nt~rfci~cd Idontitl., .. " WOI'I of nui>tinl rhe obleo~fic'lIo" .nd
in.:.-tiUIUOOllfl%tJ'tro" of art..

i
• fat~f.lfIiPl.I~r:~f.

.~"Yi

."

re

the

and engaged intelligentsia

were a kind of compensat'O

Ifest,le

nil

__,_ \ I,

II

~I:c-rj

_1--"i..:Jft 5 IV,,"_" ... J..::'"'I"ItI: __

IaJlt .. l

•i -,----,-,
I

~y lol.a "I~

jllIL • H Olll!.'", Ir.

\, '-- 1-----, •

Il>(U'- rtu __ 'L-r- ril!.-PUD. ~ b_t _ '\ 11 •• _utll ~ ~)A""'II!' of 1 1i~''''It.'I: 'II' 10

..... _-\ _

'\

.'--

offering expanded obscure \\

.\
\

il

sense of shared arnsuc lnt.er·ests. Indeed, the In~nltely number of Interne, users aenve today should not

the extent to which tF<iveland rneeung '12(' were cam ra I

..
49 Jod1.or-g. Yeeha. 1996. Wjt), th~ direct lorte 01an ~maJl~nd the ."".1 <u",emy of .lplul1vmenc symbol< or ASCII (the stllnd.rd ~""'pu"'r «>de lor "'p......,ntin& Engll'h cha",C<eN. ., numbo,,). worlu: sueh .. !his 011. we,.., abl.
.\

n-~-

to the early net

an scene. espeCially In Europe. Despite the near

In

,_I
\1

\--~\__
\1

absence of an art market for net art events were consrstendy subscribers

the 1990s, new media art

wen nerended by slgnrficant arusts ,n the

In

........... - .. _ ..

field - fer example. more [han twenty-tlve per cent of Nernrne's travelled to Ljubljma, Slovenia.
to

sprmg 1997 for the

.Beauty and the East' conference. and fesd\lills was necessary dlsrrtoured a contingent

The prollfera[]on of meetings

sustain a culture made up of possibilities The result was

pockets of e.)!,cited. ambitious young artists and of veritable nomads who hopped from Nertime festivals. from Next 5 Minutes annuals organized by media centres such as TO in Vienna.

thinkers invigorat.ed by technoculrural

1_-

l--_·'
\

rc d~II'.r bod> I>ic .....al and 'eJ<t """" sa t'" quickly 'nd "W,cl.nIly ee large ."d.enc.,..

\I

,-'- ---, ....... "

... e , ----.--~.

meetings to Transrnedlale to conferences

C3 In Budapest and many others.

the internet, london

:r'elies firmly 011 n",w tachnologie~, invoke.! a nov,,1

W,a5

rnustc ~ubcultur" that

and elsewhere

very popular at thl!. time on iBeriin.

1[;';

In europe ~nd also defred Standard ,empha<lson remi~ing. shared Yisual an. music and

aud:lorial c'Onvemlon~ With authorship

and group usage. The wonk concj~ely demonstratB bOundilri",~ sepa~ting

COIU

Net Cnticism Juke Box

hOlykldl, 11M! _ ....... clps:;
? I a, !.
JII ~

how t~dlcional cr iti ci 5 m

ld be brea ch ed, as 3 ud 10 files are mco rpo rated into

anocher lorm. HTML and broadcast almost as musIc All data can

L luI. ....
.j",," , ..

UIIiU.

"tr'' .!111
UlI '.!U .l.J:1II
JJ;!,t

ItA

r.,. ~
l.tUl

'RA :MIlI.(C~ nprlJ.:I

I tl~ IJI RIll !J.!j
I

t"r'II"-'!Ir-jll:

:$..,-.I'll'JII.8«nl.
l"PAD !o jII,~~.lIH~1III r lUI I_.l'IiIIw
.1:1,

"h"

1m!\la
I_ll.j ~

Itli

~!!. '"
w
tn 6J:It.
I

"r'U!

be enmeshedcog"ther. recalling Mcluhans dkturn chac'the content of any medium is alway. another medium' TheartiSt-or,ienL'l[ed mailing list 7·11 wa~ founded in 1998 because, as Vult Ccsk recalls Heath Bunting once 5:J}'mg. 'We needed a forum that will be a COntext and not an audience.' lndeed, .mdemail If Nettime decorum, moderators. m the name' of c!iScursive ..... elg,ht Inhibited email an and pranks, 7 _II, which

T'II. ~~,

illhUU IIIII~ Cwllifuill

IiCc'

£.. ".'IUI.;;
l' IIMI II!!.: Dr""."C!rlll

J...tlII
lH,

~m

"I1I\.Iim

n:

""'IIPI: .... " ~IDt •

11:1 ..r.I ••

ScI_'r

.f:i1Q~e

l.!U Jl.Il , !.!lI ftl; lim

UIlo
ttl)

IW.I

«110 tt

JJ:!I

Id'

J.i:!Jl .IN kIl. L" Il1Il 1. .... W !J'

Coslc, Bunting, Jodi.org and Alexei Shulgln formed together, establiShed a new vein of creativity rooted in email. Its formanon Eyen as these gatherings limits of email-based Josephine Bosma remembers thrfved, howe

v er,

the fund.

highlighted a conflict: UBuncing et al wanted freer ImproVlS'"tlon and a Ct, vIty. th

c;ommunities

were also becomil'lg

ey wou

1d have to OVe ream e cbs L'ldes brough e use (more subscribers). but by the

that at the 'Beau;~ and [/"lISt'

about not o"ly by broadened

c€lnference 1I. dea .• disjuncture berw-een many net artis' hardeore activists was taking shape: 'At the e v em you already see (in hindSight) how Nettirne WlI$ going to c;h artists mails had their private meeting and did not interfere I meeting much, ... They were said te feel offended by St.

ld mMe
d e The
~ mlln prwOlf

d esl re fa r p erma ne nce a "d a wi de r aud ienceo fore xa mp Ie, the

Ery Nettime

founder

Pit Schultz, who tcldthem tc inner v ention down a bit

p the !(~sm
rreus P.ur

prank mails and other artistic An art project

made for 'Beauty and the EMf,. Net

Q'

juk£:

BWI

(1997) [51], pokes fun at the endless srrearns

circulating by Vuk online and addresses

discourse together

these tensio

Coste

With material from Interviews

tv duma

. by Bo~ma and Geert lovmlt, the wor k uses a very s! pi rn~eri1l(! m to remodel and rediscrtbute art discourse. ModeHedaftera jukebox but with selections of criticism rather than so~. me'5illhas a friendly look (It Is adorned
Hobbes, brows;,,! from the cartoon music) 3'nd..ln terms by an image of Cal v in and design, shares the nooo:"
II

. bbe,s , daocifl8IO of senesrJ C Ivln an d H a. .' 1

ofjcs interaction

mal·1· hse, cheJukerng I , f rom dominating . by .(tIl format prevents anyone theme or opinion -. '. . ·d ubleclJ~e. relymg on the Scuttle of multiple viewpoints, an 0" S _ . h com b'Ine w 'Ich elect(!l r,esponsiv.e elements (intervlew~), whlc 'h like and choice with the web, l.lke

"I'

52 R~<hQl a a koc ood Kas. Schm!tC.ju'1 pag~ from Mr Not.An <omp"~1ioll.1998

musital: lnterludas.

The inclusion

of electr'onic: music wnlC"

introduction documented obstacles.

of moderators

(effectively

editors

who ch

for their relevance)

and the establishment

email posts by archiving

ves (whlt~ them) were two such that many emalllllh

of web archj

k lie em.,1

It may

have been largely due to the growth of archive-friendly forums artists them altogether;

mtO more populous,

arnse abandoned
On 7-11, Occupymg
to

ma,or nel

which some of those uluseraucns

initially SUbscribed abounded the 7-11115t reatlvt

Jokes, Innuendo.

and fake personae

a £pace between

email and performance,

apprOXimated a model of call and response, replies to posts. avatars, ASCII pictorials

enCOuraging

and technorub

SoI1lf
~re, ubi

emalls brouphl attention to the formal elernems of ehD .. ~ like Jodi org's messages. which put expanses of datil In t line. Or. the contributions bore hiS personal contaIned of the elusive artjs~ m/e/tla but Otherwi such as a POSt consis; alienate some female
I(

se

scale online exhlbiticns launched by 'Ind' 'd I IVI ua s and a IJ df I f CUr:l[Qrs aSSOciated With variOUS lntllrnad~nal ..... an u 0 AI id " ..,useums ongSI e these CUr1ltors, universities from CQlornd . S. were expanding their re~earch and teachm 0, to '0 Paulo h D g new media art and t eory espite the small audiences anendmg the h tl1 ' . se SOWS and I! occasional dum. mess with which $ , IJ orne Cl.lrators Consldergd e e Internet, museum sUppOrt provid d . . . e I!Xpos'lJre for man~ artl~ts and gave Interested viewers a focal poi t d Oint lor l~cuss'On Off1me galleries remained generally uninte~e"ed ' ".. In IIlternel arc In r h e 1990s [or a number of reasons LI" d . . "e me IJ an. perf~rmance er moving-Ifnage work,lmernet art was difficult to sell: I[ was ephemeral and prone to' h' Ib .. , .ec mea 0 solesccnce, It had unfamIliar diSplay aesthetics. and prOjects were teChniCally complex For many galleries. their
OWn

mark, his email address,

identity

W3.S

aSSOCIated

huge data-collections,

With a physlcallOClitlon and actual artworks,

and Inrernet.based

list of serial IP numbers London-based pioneering Participants

and the web Sites that OCClJple

[0

work SImply did not make sense to [hem, One commer~lal gallery L5ner~
WdU

Though me list managed with 'sexual, egousrka].

that Integr1lted net art into 11.5 phYSical space and online presence from an early point as PUt 01 a roster 01 painting. sculpture and InscalltltJon was New York's POstmasters Gallery In 1996, P05tmaSters Director mounted 'Can You DlgllI'. which included a number of works that resided on me web or used new software like

Rachel Baker. (or example. politically Incorrect

described

pOSturin~

effort in extemaliting observers

creat:ivlty and exper

rauon btl!} by 7 II
I

such as Baker, Cornelia and were sufficiently

Sollfrank and Jos('

of ar inspired and repi, eomperu of a be asre

Bosma were shrewd and discourse.

of the workings

(3 multimedia authOring tool that hosts audiO and Video)

to parody It qu!ckly With the Mr. NetArt A playful art cornpetitron to mock celebrity, the experimental Bosma describes environment International

[52J

1998

_
(10

II ......

_.
,

.. .
o
~

..

that used the terms

P3&eJJll

Mr. NeLArl

mol

•••" •••
!.I,1ii

at the time. 1997 was and it was the ye in new media. starte of women.' In Mr. NeLJ1 was expose

ear or
..... hltn
WlIS

the first Cybeneminlst

Faces. the mailing list for women be subverted to the advantage winner,

looking for ways In which the main, mostly male dlsce notion of the Individual male artist-genius The eventual contest software indicated

ecolM
he
10

,
f
~ ku. S<hmltt. 010"" 1~97. n.lo: .ncry,Alrm Art tompeduon

I I

allillill

1.8 \1iIIIIHa "

!l;1iI l1li11

-I I·.

• r:1~ !"
il
r.1

lii

ndku~

The Web Stalker (1997) beyond

l.

by

1/0104, had not even been a contestant.

a horizon of gender - beyond caregorles created a de

me terms

This artist-Created of the COl'llpeuU!I'1 charisma. Mr. NetM

and personal

~llIlm~mmmllll
-

ch allenged rh e claims th at net art cui tu re was e nlightened, and

foao

women's

group out of its all-female jury.

&!hibition Formaf5 and Collecttve Projects

The visibility and influence conterences of Internation:alnet such as 'Beauty and the East cOlnCI. e

art meeun

. &s an

d d with I~rga-

_0_

Q_---- 0 0

.~ AJ" ..ei Shul!:," feem FwmArt web "'" On rho< p:lg. """.ndlng rhe pll)'ful.n<llarm>l U,fmI" 01 . rh. "",b,uen InlO ~nInleroCI.l" CO't;l ronme.ri'L LJ:j en are eflCpected
ta fir'net" ,nd th~r
teXt

and were distributed online, Participants included Le and SaWild Brooks (b. 1964). The following year, the mounted ·MacClassics'. in which artists made' use of computers. As. {he driving force behind these [wo sh Postmasters' curators Magda Sawon and Tamas 'Bano much to crystallize internet art for the New York an

loovlch y ~a'(nIo!l

exhibition spaces could be mobile lind collapsible Thl' h .I h'ft I' th ' , IS[Onca rea Igned e fixity a( the gallery cOmpared [0 the flUidityof art cycling through It - exhibitIon venues could no fI '~r b. w I}e a. eXIue as we SItes. While in theory thrs developmem h h . ff. as e e POtl!n[Ial [0 a eel the relatIonShips between CIties and eh II L . b ego enes Inat l.nh3 It them, so far the impact on offline art spaces has been limited. Instead, a slew of nee-based oroamza'io d . .. ~ ,ns an proiecu WIth missions [0 map Online an have formed, enlarging the functlo~ of museums or galleries as rllters and promoters of an: . Artists were ~mong the earliest to aggregate artworks all web Sites and develop exhibitions. and thelr curatorial practices were able to enc;ourage new aesthetic; experiments. Two playfUlonline shows that turned the mternar art community spotlight On previously unexamIned formal Ingredients were orgilnlzed and produced by Ale ei Shulgm in 1997_ FormAn [Sl-S~l and Desktop Is [55-Sa] cake their subteccs from elemental aspects of imernet culture: the web farm and the computer desktop. Form Ar~ commissioned by Hungarian arts organIzation C3, Included works using 'forms' as a dominant motif. Forms are HTML convennen, chat appear In the guise 01 menus. checkboxes, radm bunom, dialogue boxes and labels: they are often used when fillingOUl web-based applications. surveys or qUl!monnalres Small. interactive sections of web documents. forms have a concepOJal appeal since their coment is often submitted seemingly Inca the ether (though mare likely to a mail server or web server). The range of projects in FormAn .hows a varied exploration of the possibilities and properties of forms. For example, In FormAn 10
SI
L .

111m an 12rnpt)l' field b"npn Th ...... $U I~

m on p LI1h•

did

words ""~ u""w.:sformed lnt.o bill ...... rd< of IMg. lett ..... wah «ncdonm H""lngtlte ""P'''''l' 10 be higllly~'ment~l.nd "per> to l.rb!fr:s.:and ~milteu" alike. is a I.lI:rqW~.or many Internet artpr'Ol." .. ,

international art scene. treme~ On the positive side. web-based expositions wer cheap to produce. as long as one had access to progrJl]1mong . resources and server space. With little but at herr enlQm: premlSe."o server space to host files, or even more minimally. WIth a web page programmed to link to other net art projects, one could build and host shows easily, assuming the role of curnror and exhlbltion-5pace proprietor wimin a matter of hours A key f'!I' Innovation was the reduced amount of rime nee d e d t a moun" . II ked to mjlor unrnount aFtexhibition, with projectS able to be n bl (ar . lt art centres or other nodes in seconds. This rnad e I paSSI e k ·thout belng curators as well as consumers to view artWar WI h rs while restricted by geographical distance or gal Iery ou .
• . • r<

dilktOP
InUitfAc:O

Is the mfjju el~monl et iI human. mlldsln.

d6J.In:Op It: yuurlilvuyday v.lu.ar IInvlronmflnt cr•• Mup IIi.n lJK"tf,lilJ.Jlon oryourofgll.nJ idillacp h: In. (30-0 aryo ...' £Qmpuhlr dOll(top if yvw .v8ryd&y (ol"bJr. I.l'\d joy CllI'SU"C'P l:r YDur o-wn UW. mUII~lln dnkklpi 1$ytli,ir (:;tItlU!!

dUktop ~I vvur window to the d'g'fl." WOrld desktop II your nt~1 ,top '"'0 ..,hlui' f9i1J1ty duktop rl_' renaclion or your !l1dlyjdu.fIly

de rktop I~ iii s'odu r:Of d'''~'''ttJIpll.rlllr ..nr

d .. IIkl_QP .I'll )1'"0ur
'1;1 runny
1;11

dll'l-':'u~phi d~S I\.tl)p II 55 AI""cj Sh"li'in, E>,pl.n",(cn pqe, ll.,ktop If, 1~97

yo~r 'tion
-I

PlYttJ DIflIlIyst

dIlillSk1C1p II YGIU r IIWIt hI! [_I:IlB'r dllklk1:lDp II' YlCIiur- rrnil' fj) tither pilliGple dtl'ktop (Ili dO'll'ln 'Or m S·ttttlllrJeJ n dO'iktap Jiltie mlJllllrnbRn. UliI! mGdh,Uti biJlwa .. n t;;nDnt .nd .... rv ....

Irllrlll~UOn!l

80

,
II
r

F-

-;~

-- ... e• ~-~_._ ....-_ ..----.......~C)~-._ --.... e'

~ ~ ... ~
' ...... 1

g,.._
.u~PI.~-

e ..,
"t- _ _,

••
~
URLAn by Arvids Alksnis tney are used to Crea e figurotive sh'pes, a Flag. faces. a castle. Viewers Input maten~t where they can, dick
around a nd browse
[0

"..

t~

...

f of.

i
f

...e...

9I' .£;l, .~
CJ

--D

i ,,
I
_...

undt. eventually. they are lell: With one small to go, Kass Schmitt's
CJ1QOSe

radio button.

and there is nowhere create

[53] uses forms

shapes that 5l:,,&&erclumsily across the

f -__, 1::1

-• _ 1--.

....

..L .
"

• .• -.a

screen. By unitlOg ,,,is",, under a formal COnscr-alnc. ,he ensemble of works consticu[Etd a prOleCt of medium-defining value

DeSktop Is [Oak d"le cC!lmputer desktop as Its cen tra I theme

Now common requires interfaces standard completed it an Interesting currency premise amC!lng computer for an art proleCt when users, 'desktop'
what made

some hismriciZIf1g in order

to recapture

Desktops

are the basiC has Populated even

that exist on i'-apnIC computers home or office computers)

to

(10 other words .

he .ompuler

turning 00 J nd no appl,e,ItIOlu are runmng apph~auons

with files, aliases or shortcu~ If tney are often peripheral, normalrzlng by writer 'cathedral" architectural. the computer Steven Johnson of the internet

and hard drIVe and value. Descr.bed

folder icons, desktops are significanl for thew pre~alence, and for thetr meUlphori(al Interface
In his book

for [echnophobes

Interface Culture as the

are Simultaneously It seems apt [hat have been outpaced for entertainment
IS

age, desktops

artistiC and semiotic.

Nowadays, of desktops

the 'desk' or 'office' connotations by the widespread

Use of graphic computers

and recreation. In Shulgln's prOJect, -he desktop material of [he exhibition and often Its stage In Desktop is. pa rncipants dlrectedness. In a work Sorne submissions followed a doctrine each one using the desktop

rendered of goal.

the

as a dornmanr leature

leased OUt Issues 01 personahzanon

and privacy, like Rachel Baker's daskccp [56] wlrh Its coyly named folder 'Bakers Sexuallry', contribution, folders, meaning one another, applications Overall. in-between Others ..like Garnet Hertz's (511 overwheJmlng and crowding them, were chaouc and optical, With colourful Icons. and documents this project the discrete and FormAn find some works that comprise

° their

striking a balance between and within comrnunmes

56 Ra<heIB,ker. n••ktop for £l<!II<OOp ".1991 57 C~met Hertz. Detk«>p For O!:S:h(~~ 19'7 1.<. 58 Nilt>lle Bookohin. De'ktop 'or Ouk,." II. 1991

arusts WOrking tn an IndividlJaJlSI mode

or networks.

Another

important

early collecuve protect was Female Cornelia A reaction Sollfrank, executed with a small to a 1997 net art comperltlon
OUt to

Extension (1997) called fxlension Hamburger criteria Sollfrank

[59J by

team of programmers. Kunsthalle, identified

mounted at the Galerre der Gegenwart of the Female Enen""n set cnuqua [he tne museum put forth and address what and .. Insecurity of 83

of judgment

as a 'lack of competence

5i Com.,li~ Sol/frank. FMtolllftt.".,on, "97

.,
OJ

'"

...
u
X

l-

VI

60 11010 4 Th, w.b St.lt,,,. 199, jj,ougb Th.W.bS,o!lo!rn" m.ny (unCtions., dlBlc JlJUlt"r.lf.lons ::f1ow Iile braw«" <01"'<1')' for re"callng the arehneeture .iIInd Infoim:JtlOrl d!'sign Qf .lure:r:t.ed \l'i@1::i ,Ite The :Sn'I::IrilClrt:leJ. represenr l... l~ldOJlI d
Pa&iIb. w "lIe the
oil In totcoflnectl
i.I~

InterestS as Opposed

aesthetIC, publ" or educartonal Ones

The Web Sloiker offered an alternauve to conventlon~1 browsers

and was de5igned W map data differently explalfllng connecuon. between web sit!!s. for axample, and offerrng Views of web I'leighbourhoods Industry standards lnsread of orgatllI.lng Ja"ascl'lpt or Im"ge. as do,
It

..

liri1:!:50 ;lp the l'n.kJi b [J twee.., m the stre

pilge"

prodUced readIngs of HTML hml<ed

to text and links, thus enabhng the USer co v,cw web pages and content on an enllrely different Interiace In 'A Means of MUlilclon', an essay accompanYIng !.he release of the sohware, 'browser Fuller alluded to Internet E plarer and Netsc3pe NaVigator, whJch Were at tha; time engaged Opponunlty

In

the highly publir:l7ed

wars' (a b:tc(le for marker share), and suggested rlre for and pCtentl~1 power of alternative sOftw;lre
WOllt [0

those who show, curate, adequately

With

categorize
experts

and judge 'let art who are (ralne of the new

Wllere do you of a 'ompule,

go 10day?TllIs echo o(loca{Jon

IS

pre5umobly

net

an. those

deSigned to sugge>110 the "ser Ihot Ihey ore nOllll (0(( SI1!,ngIII {rom

tradirional art, need an understanding on pracncal experience. Without characteristics consideratiom to collect HTMl data automatically were uploaded competltlon from around

men
ar
oOllm(

collmg up frIes, but hurtling roUild an eonh "mhdded

this understanding
[0

imo a glgarJ!Jc (todemork 'N' or 'e' WIth the power o( lome YOfll(!OU,

of net art fa II victim

of the curarors,'

the aenhellc

Sollfrank

used a ecrnr

rnarerral

progr;m e Ih I

via search

engines and reco and entered

[0

cosmological roree. II IS rhe lecllmcoJ Opportunity o(rmdlnJ: ot/le) way, or deveJopmg and using Ihls stream o( dora !hO! pro~,rJes 0 storrmg palm ror 1/010 4:Th" Web Stalker The mOlerlal 'OOl~~1 o(lile web (Dr !Ill)
group
IS

Viewed mamly os

ClII

0ppOf"llmlly raliter !lwn as <I hjswIY As all

into web sites, Over rwo hundred server names dalming be w

HTML is received by !he computet os a Slrenno o( dalO, Iller ISno[J"ng

3rtrltl

to the museum's

under fictional the world.

Calling attention

to [he genG

bal~nc, ,ale Ichalso Jlbelt

among technoartists, to female, Sollfrank's Chicago's legendary created a symbollc fictional) artists.

which was at the time around project work recalls, among Other~;'

The Dmner Pony (1974-

body of work and a legacy of rem

Browsers,ASClI,Automation Inspired by the free-software

Clnd Error movement

t ha t

u"

had been oper.l01 I since the early 1970s (its central aCtIVity was t he dls(rrbu[ J 011 C . software and its source code for adaptation . p urposes]S' (r,t! pope 'G reen and artist imcn 1~~I, Matthew Fuller, programmer Cohn er in . sra rted to develop an artinically orrentat ed web brows . ised1lt» . working under Fuller puc it. 'technologkallnnovac h he prern the name 1/010 4, W' 1[· tne general -'-_ ' !he Ion wa s class wa"",e. time, J At [he

Bdtish trio went on to create Th e W e b Stalker [60, Navig;r[Orct almost all users viewed the web th rou gh Net5cape corporate Internet Explorer, products desi esigne d according (0

84

to (orce odhenence to the design instructions Written mLo it These Instructions lire IInly (ollowed by a device obediem to diem" In their work, Fuller and colleagues forced the se I' . .. em nglt generic and almost invIsible presence of COnlmerclal b .. . rowsers III stand as rnatertal Itsalf to be reconsidered: nor jUst a d IStrlbu~on tecbrnque or filter through which artworks could be v' leWed but content In [he public sphere, fair game for perceptual and ' a conceptual scrutiny. In his essay. Funar also linked the s ....._ o"""IIre to what \O\I;IS being shown In museums and galleries: At die same vme as !he proJea was SJWoted withm conrernp .. I 'd I t ts d (. M . rQ~ ort. It IS a so WI e y operarve 011 ) e a It Ost obviously illS 01 verr /eas~ II piece of software. How can this multiple posruon be cmoQd by on art-world thor is srilleffectively In ttlrol/lo the nOllon autonomy of the objea? Anli-ort is always coplUred by Its P lerul sel(-placement wlthm a subordinate position 10 thaL wh,ch opposes. Alternately, the deliberate prodUction Df non-on IS oplion but not necessary in thiS context.. .. In~tead, this pro Cl re/(}tlon~hip to Or! thai at times works on a baSIS of/nn/! nOr alliance, on d or 0 thers sImply re(u ses to be excluded by II thremeJl5 co rewn{1gure enrJrely whot illS port The 'A art Another poss.jbi/ity therefore emerges. AlongSide [he c Clnll-ort and non-art; SOmething else spills over: IIOCiUS1-ar Influenced by theories of mass media, Fuller's pr Lion abouc 'nor-Iust-arr' is that The Web Stalkfr spe(lficall~ sohmrt

62 JOMh o'u" .......:oh"". c ""mk Ih.Wcb, 1001. The ord" h". rebull, wID. i. norm.lip digital \lPpllotJon ... n Ina"" of phy"",' l~bOllr: Cn::rnJ.: di(~I~b is -:Ii brownrth~t rBqul niL5th~ turnmg of d "... rlre' to funcncn Bn.Jtl.r~r· Co he n n phy"""'1y ,r<>un'" the In'e'ne t, whlch 11 :500 oft!!'~ ,dlili"iJ"!!Iierj withe m Nfil!'f(!ol1c~ Ihe a c'tl..l.,j I" bou I to lI!~om:mlt~~ (!uch,;t$ compIJUi!:"mJllu"-c(ure) thilt make Ir pos.slbrl'l 6J Kauelpunk. 5cJmufnJ ren1l1r. 1001 In... ltilbl,.• Jeer projects II... [/I, Web SI.II=, .dl'dl\ced

p'ogr>mmcr>,"ch.s K••~.lp""k
d... lllped pr>rn<es thJt .. ol ar ed ~nd t'Xpcdmenmd wi{h the b ser as a dynamic.. a:'nlQ~t IC:U'PUII"a', mol,.~lum unto iUf'lf

np~

CRANK TH E WEB
b<;

l<!I~h

8nJ

r""(1II'l~!1

or

b...expenell<ed c. • m nrc' rurned an IIHlde It !h~ PI""'T'I' below). til. dlJO.~cltjng ..,hworP prompt)
t

t"""

h;ivu ,iLlaue be>uty

quellJam

ab""" ~ondIDc"o>d

l>eil;,"'au'.1ld

fU"01<>1I3111)'

art more generally. should be used and aSSimilated In lives and behaviour: that they resemble both Other I, mass media, such as music or television, and tools, s. cellular phones. The Web Stalker made a dramatic impact on Its au fully functional project with a strong conceprual if no agenda, it drove a wedge between passively consurnm web conreot, and uSing them rind cheir constituent Ie

ople~ 01

magesot :II1d HTM, individual With a computer and network connection could use It mechanisms such as web sites [0 d,scr-Ibute Its work,lncluded ,t on discs artached to Bmish magazines, and used stickers to Increase awareness of the project beyond speciallzec art zones, The Web Stalker IS seen as an hrsronc work of rwo addition. I genre; besides 'sofrware a r r' 'browser arr',a field devoted to the developmen t of alrernauve forms and means of web browsing (examples Include [he 200 I protect, Crank ;lheWeb [62], by Jonah Brucker-Conen In which the browser becomes a mechanical. not vlrwal, tool), and 'darn mapping', a genre that carne [0 prominence in around 200 I, comprISing
1I0lD 4 took advamage of freew..re

links to compose other kinds af Visual structures. Be,ldes apenlll! as an artistic practice, The Web Slatker wa51uell capable of both production (of images) and distnblltJon Indeed

up programming

the analogy the project makes between day-tn-day reception of information and experimental composition bnngs a new perspective to other works in different media. ma[ soughn<l create apparatuses for production and recep~ion, such as Sill" l VanDerBeek's Movie-Drome, Or radlo- and TV-based afts11kejonl "'50 Cage ,s Imaginary Londscape Number 4 of the I.. s or Namjun! ed~' Park's Parlidpalion TV respectively. But unl.ike these other m based works, The Web Slaiker was able to proliferate- any 86

pro/ens

In

wlnc

the sn uegy of processing

.nd placing

Information rnro new formal compou tons IScentr,ll 's' ~ ,·e 31 The Web )lOIk~1 wluch had Its release dose to lhe Browser Oay,n 1998
In Amsrcrdarn

<:

h~pr
I

A an event span~ored by tho WJ~g S

'f$[

devoted

to browser art - a rrned to prev ro create SOftware whether Or mOl" aesThetic mnontlon

ar 1= and progr.lmmers pursuu of functionality engilged directives

During t!, e same period controbu lions cevrces Interdunge) tram 0

to

a number of a rtlSts mad P'Cloqal for rep

~5S P,

the field by Isola ttrlg other computercod

ASCII (The American Standard the standard

;)S

COde (or Inr

English characters
to

numbers.

With e~ch lener

127

IS one or

these forms COmputers"

which makes It pcss.blc
t

codes 0 represent rom one computer

re

to another already

uk C051( combine It H,. established

3nd form~1 ~nalys,s to cr eare prOle(l~ that elabo poss bilines and aesthencs frec ........ players rhat convert re

mO~"\g Images mto A

and spr-erh The best known appllc~ Ion "I Its softl'. (he corwer SIOnor the 1972 movre Dl't'/J Throat Into
film turning
J

iegendal 'I porn

&S

11mmto J I;}rlle te'l

Deep 45[11(1998)

. ••
, Tl'

,I

'~~Ii
6, J,a .. Vuk CDo!e o..,p • 5C.11 19'911
mO.jl!

"'

... \~"

-.

rlrst..:lnlinp. ASOI

ola~er dl ... pliJr""J~· U1e t~tufl..! roo'"'J

Co~ic. who worked with Luka Frellh and Walter Cruijsen game console. explained their choice of materials

van der focused VIewing strategies across rhe boar preconceived noclons ab • d, regardless of out a partIcular genre's . If CaslC used canonical III a!>sthetrc merit. . ms as SOurCes for data and compoSlt.lons. Americ.an aniseJoh S. Visual . n uncn Jr (b 1963) production of iconic Images as his b' . . tilkes the leet In a project ",quiring eOns for f II 5U I' In Every Icon (1997) [66]. . . urea Izatlon Simo Image-makmg process autol'l1ated b th I' 'I prov,ded an ye 3 gOrl,hms of c code. A n a simple web page h pi d ompUter • ' e ace ~ grid of th" _ thlfty-two squa res. A code runs or 'oue • ty two by = CUtes. and the a flutcering ef blade; as the sohwa re b . Viewer sees an all-black grid O. egms Its progresSIon towardl ,. . ver lime. the program displays all possible combll')ulons. The arnsr eStimates rha t across s Ih '11' evera undred [n Ion years. the black-and-white elements w II " . (. I rnannesr every Imag~ ,nterested but less patient parties can manipulate [heir CPU s system dock for previews 01 What ICO L. , ns ram tne gnd emerge In 2020). In a deSCription of his work publish d conlUnctlllln with the Walker Art Center's 'Th SL k ( .. . e rloe 0 the View exhl~ltlon 011998. Simon posed the questiOn 'Whatare the limits of ,hIS kln.d of autOmation/Is It pOSSIble to praCtice Image makIng by eXplOring all of Image-space Using a computer rather [han by recor~'ng from the world around usl What does It mean [hat one may drscover visual imagery so detached from "oature"" The
• , ~ 1'1

on developing a display of Deep A SCiI on a Pong video to Josephine

Bosma In a 1999 Interview for ezlne Te/epo/is:

We deeded to work on a porno film because o(the close up,. You use an Image with a lot of detail, but it will not render well in ASCI' Oco~ . ose ups In the porn Industry ore about 75 percent of llie I'Isuol conlene. Ti,ey are good (iJrASCII. Then of course: which porn mo~ielTho[ Ivo! pretty dear. Fin;!, Deep Throat IS the only really welJ.knQwn Porno mOille. Second, fI; IS a twenry-(ive-year-ald film so it has a history Tilen chere IS thiS whole thing obou: pornography being 0 hidden indu 1ry, nobody reolly talks about it. it is not (or kids. II is not for decem opl e, bur ocruolly the economy o( pornography ;s qun« serious. Porn ophy makes up abaut SO percent o(lnlernel contents and traffic ,d some his!!Jricol research and discovered a very beautiful coin lee You ptobably know o( the game Pong - the first compUter gar Ike D@ep Throat m theporn industry, Pong was the {Irs! comme I y successfUl moss producrthat triggered the entire industry, Til me indumy in America has earned mOre !.han the film Industry,,, fee, (our years in a row nDW.lt just outgrew cinematography. StJl/,' Illhrlt hidden, II is au! in the open, it Is not Immoral, but it is nOI W!(i II Qr! or anything serious. Itt economy makes i{ pretty serious in m, nion Here comes the coinddence:thase two things, Deep Throat POGg were launched in the some momh and year:June 1972.1 PUt g hardware and Deep ASCII software together to ul'Jderiine If rtll In June 1972 [of] a new civilisouon.
Beyond the choice of Pong as [he project's The dominant pastimes hardware eep

t:.. ,.,

66/D

Iman /.
199]

ASCII's green-and-black, pixellatedappearance

graphiC interlace

1 -0 -1
!.. f-L - .r..
: r-

-::::.
-1.::

•rt-

"II ,II
H- H-

Gillen

recalls th"

me's
gaming

An leon de'mb~d b~ a az k 32 Grid Allowed Any elemental blockal whl!!? Shown. Every Icon

and industr iet

-j_

and porn are telescoped into one grainy filmic project. '" Ie at [he same time denoting a Structural component of net a '.heti(S. ASCII. as sub,ect matter. Cosic translated a number of movies Ind art projects into ASCII. with formal strategies similar [Q those at work in artist Douglas Gordon's (b. 1966) projects uSIng f1Im,sOc~ as 24 Hour Psycho. In Deep ASCI/ Cosic situates porn in the realm of art by calling attention to its particular filmic strategies, such as its emphasis on clo!>e-ups; It further removes Deep Throat fram!hl ranks of mere smut by presenting it as raw data that allows for a
rhe~orjca! context far different from the cinematicoriginal,ln d1B

Ih~

grid 10 be colored

way, the work also funcnons of CUltural artefacts and farms

encouraged and exacerbated care fu I consumption.

as a commentary

on the circu!~~on that is both

of entertainment

by the net.. In dramatizing hi. own a work that ca IIs

the artist creates

for more

--

Own.r Jahn ~ Slma·I'!. Edh,fon N um Dill,.

J,

Anin', Proal
SfiJ,til'lgnQ'lI:"

J.!nw'_',

1.1

Ir;t,q;l'

~.'oooo

pHI

"

90

work's strength computer

Ues In the tension between

its OlUtomatlofl and of a results are ala tUTle

;mpossibly gradual results. The standard - thar while it! programming is inverted
In

expectations is complex,

delivered quickly-

Every Icon. Produced

when very few artists or gallerists could manage to sell net art,

Every

Icon was in (aa m~rkecable; It lent Itself to the produCtion wirh irs discrete
St3rting'pornt

of unique edltlon5, each inscribed set an important Confusion several projects precedent,

and buyer's name, which were sold. This model of finanCial v,abllity offering net artlsts and consumers to mainstream art m~"kers" often characteriZE the din
U~

aUke.l desirable alternative

and technical breakdown

experrence of using computers

and the nee. and are addre~

by Jodi.org (rom the late 19905, One wor when

IS

http://404Jodi,org (1997) [2], takes its name from 404, the

code for occasions

server cannot

find ret'juesred I

(usually web pages) or sections; 'Unread'. attempts

to

unsure of their status. The proi~ and creates futile exercises

the notion o( interactivity lnteract

acr

'Reply' and 'Unsent', Each one

frUStra

by

censormg

the user's input, 'Unre by the USer, 'Reply' location

removes the vowels in data entered communication participant. in light of registered 'Unsenr' erases [he consonants archiving complex memories

(IP addres
by a n

ures d
ful
abour

from text encered of interaction, between

Perhaps beyond the reading of this work as one can cor lind computer

r I()

descriptlOflS of the relationship

-a relationship, in which routines

and diuppoimment

of misunder5tartdmg,

kdol'on
I'

are typical and standard af files and directory of the browser;

<I.S

Another Jodi.arg work, asd(g.jodi.org, capitalizes on

habits by takirtg the sequencing
67 Annie Abrah.....,.,I My NG"",
Abr:Jhanu
Inod 10

su

ures,
angi~

OnlyH"",

1'J99. I. mi. "'pef'menL

3fI>w~r
'Ibch

visible in the history wmdow proscenium. windows and screens

its hidde

Users are likely to look first at the flashing full of code fragmenrs system, however; patterns

~ number or quentaru.

as ·Wh~f.palpable"rm.
p"""onar.ty belund me '"tem~r Idenlltyl', restfng "'<08"'lIon and sTn<1!rfEY, h2t I> ."'" and what w ~5 net, In eoV.iToflmenu Ill«! IRt: (In..".""" R .... y C",",) chan.oI, Using fokee a- mlolJ "" quesdon--and~"'5Varer ,sBl:5rcn!f .. 'he In ed [0 esc ..blr,1I if peoople could ,""cog.tz~ her, Clut 01 four u..,,.. all ailed Annlo. The resul",
:!:ugg,en thit: normal ,j5pem

that defy oc ,I~rfocus lies in th browser made from file

The more cogent descriptive

naming, Directory-structure are the backstage, repressed

history, where one finds alphanumeric

data, akln to scripts and direttions,

" core of asd(gJodl.org, memona. IIze d

field.

in a more Internal and restricted

Parody,AppropFlGrJon and RemIxing

The collective ®TMark explains that it benefits

or

[6$-69],

legally a brokerage

corporation,

,"blecti.,oy, such ... per""laIlty .nd opinIons; bec.omlE "t!"urnJtud In

from 'limited

lIablllty' just like any other this team 01 artistS, the sabocage

manyonline venues.

company of its kind; using this principle, whose name is pronounced

'art mark', supporu

92

- or as they might PUt It. the Informative alteration - of corpOrate

products, from dolls and children's teamfng tools co electronic acuon ga rnes • by channelling funds from Investors into 'mUtu:\I funds'. set up to pay for the producnon of speclfk 3rl prOjects by 'workers' The group says Its bottom fine IS 'co improve Culture. rather man 1[5 own pOCketbook; It seeks CUltural profit. nOI finanel'" While regular corporations function to inc rease wealth for shareholden, sometimes regardless of [I'le Cultural Or Sial Implicaoons. ®TMark works towards Improlo,llng Ie; COnStit enl3 lives. sometimes at me expense of corporate praCtiCes ®TMark projecrs frequently stake fresh ground for iconcdasuc and anti-corporate activity. though rhey ofte! H as blueprrnts or mscrucnons: 'Produce a documentary lin ti1~ IncreaslIlgly harsh realities of the Amellcan workplace an economy to the rtse rn mental illness Within the Amenc populanen Perhap5 compare With Europear, rates; perh 110 discuss "offiCial" corporate solutions - Proz.ac etc _ wu II

wr

m. \iE[~a: ODBlitm11iID ~ !1'l.'t'lAl HOS1ITjlA~DHjDTHEnAIt~u: £RIW rou[Ulltlr [J!I~IYEIlSN ,"Olml

WE WERE FOR ED TO SAY THINGS WE DIDN'T WANT TO.

LIBERATE U !
Barbl.
I

vr~I

..3tI"n
1~9]

Il"btlJ rfOO~ &1 rblC!

.mp:uwo.

chi"8 Qm~.lg~.

, d s.a.MO fr<>m
v vE'U!1iHlS to

t11 e

Welre building
a better vvrench.
",It dl!<rnsed
(CIn~urneJ"l
to

Idealistlt nnd ridiculous WI[h t~"" serres of COmmands. ®TM3rk Interventions appro InI,lL tile IIlstruCtlonal nature of code Ruher than allOWingIilgahly Or Pl<lctica/ICY[0 cancel OUt their particular pi 0gl1's.ry(! Vl510ns of
festival.' Plvorlog between
SOCIOty,

context

Film muSl be ~cheduled as part of ~ m~)or I egl mal rllm

®TM~rk prOJec[>

OCCLIpy

an Imen~e space bttween

pO/ltlcal dl;'sJre and action like works from the 1960s Flu «us group, such as Yoko One's IIlSU'ucrlOn$01 La MOl1[l Young v '~I scores, ®TMark actiOn stlpulatlon~ srand On the" own whethe they are enacted or remam unre.llized
A ~lgna(Ure t.1CtICof®TMark ISthat arusts
I[S

repreSenl'l{l'c~ Or

I
68 ®THark. UnW!!d. f'rom ~ti.",· prvmOllor»l m.. "n,I<. 1999-2000

@tmark to YOUI Bringing IT

\IVVVVV.

rtmark,cOrf'l

present themselves In genel-:JI With fOlke namCI and bureaucratJc job tides One reason (or chiSpractice. 3S DaVid Ross explains, IS 'to shjft Identities, rhlde] then aesthetic praWCl" as Duch~mp did. declaring whnt they're dOing as non, rt Beyond the framework of Identity shifting, however: hes 3 mOL e contextual motive. Irwokmg anonymity 15 J way co underscofe the protections accorded corporations Sinct! their own incorporarlon In [j,e mld-1990s. ®TMJrk represenranves have shown a genius for deploying graphics. publ,c,\y. parody and confUSion by stagmg Informal.alllances wlell other artists and activists. and SCrllt!!glCally wleldh~g press releases, domain names and mailing lists in conlunction with those alliances. Their projects and those they co-produce are among the most publiCizedill t pra.nks of the last decade: gwbush.CGm, a falJ me for American presidential candidate George W. Bush dunng the 2000 election in the Ul1Ited States; Barbie Liberation Orgl'lMillltion f6'ilJ. an Intervention that scrambled the genders of Iconic AmerlCJn coys Barbre and GI Joe; SlmCopler Hock (1997) [70J wbtch Inserted homoerotic Visuals Int0 the popular computer game The Sims;

and TCJywor of 1999 (. grass-roots campal ' dispute betWeen art group etoy and dote go responding to a legal li In . Ch apter 3) . ann e oys, desc'lbed Vuk Cosic had (jrafred his Own CNN headll of the 'NeL3rt 'Documenta The curators contemporary focused h nesln Onour Per Se' conference, but hl~ cloning of the

X' Web site in 1997 made~'n~ ~ h dl .. ," "',o,e ea lneJi of this V8ng(,ud and prestigIOus exhibition of an. held every flve ~ears in Kassel G I , errnJny. that ye~r on the Status of the object In 3rt, had uk e n
to

he daring step terminals net arnsts contrast

InclUde Internet

an bodl on thetr web SIte hrghly problematlC by ome

[e;jt_

and in the actual exhibitiOn. - the rrU5tration ro the neutral

But the Il'Istallanon of tnternet was that lestlval orgalllZcrs had other aruS[s for tl1e"

In Kassel was considered

an office envirOnment

In which to show onternec ~rt.~star spaces provided To poach 'Documenra

InStallations, objects <rnd canvases.

COSIC used a shareware progr;un that cop.ad almost every fi E: rrom the official web Site curared byS.rnon Lamunlol~ (b 19 like Sherrie Levine's photograph A(terWalker Evans and oth appropri3clof1ls[ works, Cosies clone of [he site Cliled DO{ Done (1997) [72J, articulates the [echnlcal capabIlities of

reproduction
oil.

and raises questions

about authorship
In

Wh,l
Jt

"""A~+ Gay Gamete Donation

Levine's

work articulated relationship,

feminist positiOning Cmic'5 cione seemed

OffiCIal

70 ®Tma.rk. S""Gp"" Hod 1997jTh"Sim. br 1"I",,;.ln<) ®Tl1>.rl< dr.1nnell.d SS 000 from ~N.... ro'lt .h~p i<eeper to , prog ra mmer Ie r In,ertmg hi. 0 ..... ereu Ci COI'1~n~In to M:3XJ.!i Inc.'s ","1""" compu .. r &'Ime TheS'rnl WI1e ...... !h~ 'congglcu> mlOdl.· proietti desCDi>odonC~pwr 4 die oU~ln., (If p.rody.
",edi,

hrstoricaj canons

by uSing the proposItion

'after

to denote;) to denlgr~(e Lh

hierarchical original

subserviem LO;] Slovenun lab and then the arusts dornam: nccp:lfwwwfjudmlla org vn d
by offerlOg it 3 web address Descrlb.ing Documem.a Done as a readymade, a manuf;]ctured oft

.tI'I!"'~
.. mal

prolocc. .uch

U thiS

on. tend", be-conrrcntatJoml, dlreu 'rtte",enDQl1~ 71 Clover LIO"'1' Coy Gem'Le. 2000 T.rnQJ I11edlo pro,ect> .uellas tt""'l'ply many 01 !he techn I4:lUe:s. a.»odi f.ed worth p3rodlYI fl"rlcrm.nc .. ""d , (ti.i.urt; In this =e. GIlT d~m)'$tifi05 egg iLl'ld rperm donation. Industries and d.,."I, how actlol •.,. C!JI 11"'1 rervene 11"1 prote.dures; wt-tlch In tho Unlrod StiteS ""dude 'goy .nd res~"", DNA'

prosaic object that becomes reassigned as an .. COSI, announced thar net artists were 'Duchamp'~ ideal children' Coste also Cited archival and access concerns as well. 'Once upon a time. 10 September of 1997. the web maolfescaclon of the "Dccumenra X was taken off the web by the management So. I did the copy roac
PSstill tl'le only publicalty available enough, granroots complete artists' one. This action speaks loud
IS to artlcula[e

My nexr idea In this department

works by ne[,artists
[0

Initiacive where as many as pOSSible sets of would be toasted on DVDs and make rmrrors, 'Drawmg on the
'to lorm his

Gam.,,,

given away for web masters rCi!dymade,

artistk inscription provided by 'Docurnsnra

that, online, all material Leveraging strategy eXIsting was fair game.

as he would with any other source, Cos", SlJgg!!<"red

an as

recyc I a bJ e d ata w as also

n aesrhenc

of Italian collective

0 100101110101101 ORG (also known

Q) (@

CD

doc"m._~ta x ...__.,,- ..

...

Io

;1

o o

!o</IIWkfrc o roo ro I 110 10 110 I.QRG. 1J 1999, ~'t'IIri'rMQrbl@fIl1,.",."" t.u~.. ;odjodl.org,,he arn= noled thn lhl!'lt" n!rrnxe! s~olil~ ,be Cil~~" ~~ln5t web art ... ""rlgk~ Tbe bu:t,ue-fl~m Q f (or-, 0100101110101101 ORG group hoTdJ "m~ h as <om. ee )G!rlICi n, , t ."d culwr. In 1<"",1 I )1"& .. h., rouar. lnl.tI'IHU I~ yo" are re.u.lng II tOIE!':f;p. moaning< 'h", Lh~ ,.thor dId

IIpP"'P"'''"'

o s

m.~.' r....m 01"

m,. ,

as [he Q Is) [73-74], which in 1999 poached nOt o'1ly ~ome of the most recognizable ~n Sites online, InclUding exh,blflon sPace Hell.com and Jodi.o'g, but also merged ICOnicgraphiCS frolT)well. known works by art1sts Ale ei Shulglll "od 0110 lIalina. In ,hI! 0 Is Hybnds, the use of m~rerial from the net.art oeu"re 15 Itself reused. and cop)'ing Is COnjOined with m~klng. Underl~lng this work and Documen!Q Dcne are the softWiJre COncept5 of'culung' and 'pasting', Which lire two of [he rncsr baSIC c:apablhClesIn computer operation~, the ability CoCOpy entire mes Or Image~ With simple Commands or keystrokes. In the book Lunguage of New Media, lev M.novlch notes Chat mall)' artlsu the DJ, for example - comphc:ne the nOtions of 'cunmg nnd pasting' by saying char [heil' art is really in the 'mIXing'

n'e

1401001" \\l1/li003

&Iaw'!I1

m~

rOllOI.O.RG. 2<698r6986,

This pOte'1tial ol new media Operations comes to fruition in a series of workl by American lIrtlst Mark Napisr tb 19611 Napier's The SJlredder r76] and Digilcl Lcndfill (both 1998) 7 respectively tear up and aggregate web pages based ')n the URLS that Users sugges~ HIS ;num rions were not plagianslic. IJnllke [hose of 0 100 10 111010' 10 I.ORG, nor were ehey IImlred 10 the immediate net an Circle Innead he drew from the work of "1 ti5L!. in other media, including Jackson Pollock and Arnencan fTllnlmahsr

72 Vuk Co<;" O",,"m./II<I Done, 1997

98

land aniS[ Robert Smithson (1938-73). methods as hIS Inspiration "Information"

to call attention

to the to e p and

materiality of the web, A former painter, Nap er Cite. PollOdfs for The Shredder: 'I wanted "content" the raw material that make up [he "design",
OSe

77 Marl< N~jer. RI~(. 19'19.nlls wort< of bra_"" ~r1. COOlbonmg HTML 1''''''0''1'' ,"0 ~.rl. ernbl .. mail «>!1>~nlp~""of!iho _h. u.",~ th" brow,.r, p>rtlClp.nts do
no( surh.lonr bot
ClI'"

0f!p0W l><I-.

of SOftw1'lre and rhe graphiCS display, It Is "raw" only by VIrtue of the conteXt The Silredder creates.' Though any web SIte can be 'shredd~d' and results will vary depending on how c:oloLJrfui or COmple" 3 this material IS a construct site is, 'shredded' pages share a senSibility and eVoke ab5tra~ of web eleme~ , ORGand
I her

or course,

of che web and use [hat infollITla(ion directly

:W[OflOrnOIIl~

expressIonist pamcmg In their redistribution and division of [he screen. Becween f9'17and 1999,0100101110101101

see .... b I'll'" (".. ur'"g th~ deb... II""" >no I"'phlos) fronn p~"'" u><~ de<wunore.

Blissea: [another Italy-based, anonymcus

collective) used appropriated

art and aCUVlst o the

materials to assert a dimel

soctal reaJity easily obscured by online culture. They aide exhibition and Installation of work by Serbian a ,·ti~[ Dar~ [78j, whom they would later reveal to be fkrlonal. Mave,
bIography and CV, deSCribing h IS attendance at art schce

Belgnd e an d ltal"" wer~ (jI'culated online. His work. also ava/labl e onhne, Included photographs of staged ''',olent at:gressions' and murders in the former Yugoslavia. These Hllggering Images qUICk~ g;lIne d no.'oMerv and one was used as the Cover photo fOr an -ralbum by 3 Spanish hard core rock band Maver Yr,I~ engaged IxIth con~eptually and po!ttn:lIl1y.and hiS unforgettably gr~ph,c Work was mcluded In seve, al group shows In Italy and L,Ubl,ana A media debrIS ~ppeared documC!ntmg Mllver's perSeCIJtlon oy
Yugoslavian aueheritles,
J

number

of ar

mag.1IIne.,

Indud

r~'no

Celes/e. picked up on the nory of arusnc freedom OImldI p S"'~ and v,olent rule Mavel" and h s work were held up ;u e e of free speech and e pression MeanwhIle. th artlu' .. co worsened information cl,.,ulauld descnblng nls arreS[ II connection WIth II series of murders. an acquirtal and tho Imprisonment. HIS dea h while In Isola [IOn In priSon Will In early 1999 On the web sal'! thill 0100101110101101 C maintaIned for Darko Mayer. the arnsrs noted rhar It "" Step' [0 myth the Venice Blenn~le that year mduded .1 t 10 Maver as a O!lu~lty of the SerbIan criSis It wa~ nor long BJennale events honouring Maver that 010010111010110 G and Luther Bllssert revealed that the artist did not e tst works attributed [0 hIm have a far more dlstur b,ng 500 ce files detailing crual murders. rapes and i1lrOCIUC§ Thi prohferiltlon and duplicatiOn of datil In works hke Doc; DOM and Tile Shredder were associated with an ill"tJ.'iUC and' I freedom. Seen In light of a related prOlect such as Dor~ (199S-99). however. these prorocols create discmbod d exutnsie experiences, Indeed, the Dorko Mover pl'Clnk I
t"e anarch,c. Impersonal aspects of the meerner, and ~

Mapping

Auflmrs/up
to asserr

IrofUthe s~rne pel ,od ~~ In which lOla gel and {I:' could be f, • Ir Copied OIndprolifeMt d. r qu« d new methods lor describing ~uthal ship Jnd $ para ling Informallon from
V~rlOUSJ1ternpu Dar a Mover SUM S[ [h:1[ the In!' n ml~lnformatla" On 'nnov. uve, rn dllrm.specl(1C d scnpUve system IS offered by the 1997 project Ali/rlIhDAppear~ 1q C, e~ted by OU~ LlaUn,l. Agoll1oAppeors begins on the 5(1' ver of CJ J Hungarlon medm 'nSUtll[!! but Its n~.rarrve, abour ~ cou n try girl and J tech.savvy 'sy.!..,dmm' (or 'system admlO1Hl'Cltol' an employee responsible for COl1 'gunng. adrnlnluf!nng and maintaining computers. networks and Soflware systlemsj Cl"ilvencs dlfferen web p.lges hosted

authorshIp

of verifying any concrete truth In a sea of data

by" hany of IOWrn;WonJI

180100101llQIOilOLORG

domains .,nd servers

O(ten_ r"e UR15 thcrn~eJve5 move the

Oa,*"}.l",

r. 199~99

OIOOIOIIiOlOJlO/ ORG

~,..,.,,".ed

!hrlw M...... r', I Ie lnd

'rna,... ond documont> ""I,,,,,. The 0 I, cWm"d Wl 'hI> ........ phOto ..r !hrl<o Mb<r ~nd h.el/><d to .tru~tu ... th~ onhl1 0 "m ouy o J 1m l~e I'rose.:ulLOn:u>d deot/l D<r .. " h"fll,gnc t/l~ r"nllICineou, p"ntq5'_;m1l ""dmy.nl COtJr."~9 of o:nhne ~nforrnil1io:n ndp""_
M."e,o

.. ,."..,. b7 ",le.uin~ """'""

nilrr.lllve along. as one notrees When looking at [hem assembled http://WWWhcre.ru/agatha/c.".InesI.1yanymoren{1.I1 htr.p:flwww.al.com.agacha/~[art!. nevy life htrnl hnpJlwwwd,stop,a com/agarhaltr.lveb.hrml httpJIWWW2.ornesSI/-lf/lltimaJ/agarhalt:rnveIS. J lot I'ltml hnp:llw-ww: lupercomfagath:J:!wan ts heme.hrmi htrp:flvvww.ljudmlla.orgl-vuklagaehalgoes On html
While files can be copied. theIr loc~rlon~ or address $ cannot so liallna JUXtaposes the unlquenes5 of digital comenl wh,eb, In faCl, is not uni'lue and always has eh poteO[lallO be copred w,th Singular addresses. Other parts of her narrnnve are rcvealed In

80 YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES. ....", OIl rhe S...,. 200' Oppo~ 81 TOUNG·HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES HoI(8=4A~IKh e., 2001

error window3, or via floating rext in the bortom

of the browser text - other claim th 5 . at Compare (arms With cinem;Hlc ones are more Incr . IgtJlng. Indeed, well before the Internee C3me Into being Arne' , nean Wr'ter Mark Amerika (b, 1960) had prOduced experimental fiction WOrks that derived from Screen aesthetiCS He bOunded onto h [ e net art . scene With Gmmmatron in 1997, a work th~t employs seve I it as a multiple enery-poim hypenf!l(t . ra Hrategles of narl<ltlve: first anima don; then straightforward hypertext; then m audio and ani ariOI1 formats. aU With varied graphic layouts As With most hypertext works, there is no clear "near [ra,ec'or • y [0 a te tin Grammatron, Later WOrks would Include even mOI'e formats. such as music. as Amerika continued to broaden hIS cecflnlque USingthe circuitry of the web and Other forms of mass media femihist hypertext aurnor and code novelist Shelley jackson a hypertext (b, 1963) publishes e enrng n1any of her texts via wtgate,

~rame as well as through figurative graphics and block-IIk.1' ftJrn ' "llJre and linear landscapes, adding up to what IS more like a prosC~IlI~fll or operatic stage. When these are ali linked. the projen unique work that Is effectively protected critic Josephine Serry points out in an essay pasted forms a from plagiarism, as Bnblh
to Netilme'

'Llallna Is highly conscious of the lOCation and names of dlgll;Jlfill!; seeing them as the onlyindel( plagiaristic environment of originality available. In the thar one I~ verSI rn hoy langu
It

'
Wlrlg

of the Net, where anyone ceandOl ~ any and uncompromised reveals an in[eren

web site, the artist's URL ISthe only guarantor the "original", most up-co-date work Her work also repeatedly

of the
Ie.

name of a file is its location and that, in this respect. literally controls the movement and behaviour - an exOimple of the new penormativiry Extending the fiction Into the address

.,ery
lnibOll

TAKE

of digital

of words ;n [he I field anp corners

0

browser, Lislina Invented an origInal narrative. strategy, b, the ways in which a. web site could tell a srory.

sofr;w.are and pub/j~h[ng Company that delivers pages over the net to paying CUStOmers. One of her text5 freely Mailable on the web, an autobiographical readable work called

The &dy

(1997), combines highly i[ derrves initially from

Hyperlerl. and Textual Aes-!hetlcs

The narrative capabilities endowed protocols intersection architectures underwrite of virtual and narrative by sofrware dimensions and iote can be Iialed cove edes
IS,

texts and diCkable. low-fl Image

a large map
fragmented.

or her

body, which lends Itself well

co the

hypenext

many text-based

werks as well. Tf
ill In

fo.rmat - the layout informs the Identity of [he work CUlm1l13[Irlgn a i multi-dimensional and OFten arresting that r,ead. YOUNG. COllecrlve. has HAE CHANG modelled HEAVY INDUSTRIES, a Korea-based
IS

in a range of ways, and one salient strand

relies on the Hypeqext

THE

WASH

of words, known as hypertext. and is strongly archives. of electronic

a Singular form of hypenext

In format, Consisting CHANG

deVOId of intel<lctlVlty

the dawn of the web altogether, historical evolution

linked to the Nel5c

in the sense of clicking or moving a mouse and,s closer to teleVISion and animation animation. conSistently of a screen of Scored musIC and rimed HEAVY INDUSTRIES' projects YOUNG-HAE

American

In tho uepl towards developing hypertext authoring cools based on 'e model of assoclanvo thinking. Hypertext works were described by Nel!OJ1 1960s. ~uggested creating digiClllibraries of texts and to'
as 'non-sequential

including Vannevar Bush in the 19405 and Theodor

use a clear, large typeface to jar che normal optica] field lnro a n articulation of the vector chac can connect ar[IS! lazz Score~, and rushes of CHANG HEAVY pro,ecl.S on Its web ilnd Spanish as by dassicaland

and viewer. Characterized INDUSTRIES'

HTML and textual surfaces, YOUNG-HAE

works explode The narratives propOSitions.

writing', but on the web they are also often and narrative options. As we saw
In

the flames! of the web with literary of the twenty-one

111

characterized

by multimedia

the last chapter, Heath Bunrlllg's _readme,hunl

and Alexe, Shulgln's

Unk X both pivoted on the overwhelming plethora of hyp.erteX1 domain names. TypIfied by branc h' structures, IMg . . hypertext workl generally extend a narrative over multip Ie pages, s pa dallzin8 the .
text by in Irregularity transfarming and dispersal across we band pages. more filmic. often a rext into something

Site, SOme of which are [wadable

Korean,}apanese

well as English. val'y in COntent. Ram en cht: Sea (200 I) dark personal reckoning, whIle Hal{BreedApac:he renders a lover's private langu~ge. Ocher net artworks
[00

(200 I)

[80] narrates a [81J

relied on using the Simplicity of hypene>« between poweriul sites. obiects and people. identifications between

While many of the claims of Irterary avant-gar d·~at Ism Circulate in hypertext circles have precedents

emphasl~e

relationships

In hiIHorical uses In d0

Qlia lia/lna's early works and AgatitoAPPe,ars close attention

My Boyfriend Came Back From we War [20J

[79J rnada

the codex (book) form - for example, the Idea t ha t earlyMD ~ but used Protestants (ended rarely to read The Bible cover [0 cover,

l1arra[ive and the interaCcive Screen, telling love stories whIle paying to the scale of web pages and interactJvlry_ Will-N. Testament (1997-presenr)

[82J.

in which the artist bequeaths

her

105

narrative World o{Awe [83]. LaunChed In 1995 W. I rfur, clean, well-executed futuristic I d• arid "{Awe mixes t an full of Imagined visual propOSItiOns and b stapes W'tl1love let ters 'I cy org cn~racters Ka'la"ek sn I publishes new p~rt.s of tillS Immense k h '11 . war . texts and Imerf;)Ces t at VIIel are between the rant<!Stlc al'ld L I 0(, ,e!'Wor dly and mec.lphors of [he desktop. forgmg a hybrid post-hu .. . ma'l voc~bulary For her mixture of rich, personally wrought myth I o Ogy and Iletwor'ked platforms. she has earned !he mcknam r' h • • eo r elnlernCtsMa[Tilew Barney. and World "(Awe its Cremaster
co ou
L

8l

Olla l;"'lIn;L 19'17-l"" se nt

Wjrl-N- Twom.m.

online projects engagemen~ of appro)(imately

and possessions, reveals social and prof~ u$ing a single web page and hypertext Ad
r

1I rnent oadl

frfty-sl)( lines.

In

wh Ich almost every let

as a separate file evincing a handmade. laboured project. Testamen! memorializes borh digital assets - fl'om the at
number of Lialina's ICQ (an InStant messaging tool

~N. une

I ro

tm e

files, to enure works-and the friend, fam,ty member or lIeagt1f who will keep the work upon the artist's death. The will oper.lle5 on at leart three levels. One is a tradulonal story of mOft3I,ty 3nd
age'ng. The second ends.
[0

includes rhetoric

of the law and property

The third explores the artisnc Inscribes art cbjects

use of language for conceptual

vitali1:e or awaken a non-existent

with value derived

art economY' Lmlina

from the social or
[0

Intellectual cap,tal her fnends and colleagues br,ng on her Work. Similarly, lsraell-bo-n. New York-based (b. 1967) used the epistolary 106

bear

I
10

artist Yael Kan~r~k . mode as the baSIS for h er 'magined I

Remodellmg Bodies
&dll'$lnc. (1996) [as]. a project by Vietoria Ves"a (b. 1 59) I~ 9 ccllaborauon with Robert Nideffer (interface desigoerl,l<.en Fields (sound artist) and Nathan Freitas (prograll1mlng), .... Ith sponsorship from ViewpOint Data Labs. a maker of 3D bOdy While StOted! HobbylSl tOok on the mild eh 101 curiosity-driven home page, ocher prOfects C ah cter of a
. n e roplC "'era less neOtral, BuntlOg •s Superweed Pr01eel (1999) f87J t de ' an rlclear Ar{ Ensemble's serIes of Works 00 blocetooolo",", 'dd i.. Of 4 of farming, reprOdUl:1;lve technologieS and genefe' ress e"e Inva.'On b

models. ~ought

to revalue and

represent

online marketplacs Within a loosely corporate

avatars by Offering '0 scrUeture. Th~

'Inc: in the tide is a pun on the many definitions of inc'lrporall;tI - a company StTu([ure. WI thcut body or matenal sub nee,as well as united Within one body. Here chough, che fen ,( economic incorporation is doser to <I net COmmuni' 1odelol shanng and trading - nothing is really for sale, and l accumulated through usage The web installation. '" chatrooms and showrooms. asks viewers tOllssemt from pares. chOOSing colours. textures and Ideali~E'
Ahar launching their first version of the sue In 199 her collaborat-ors were Inundated suggests WIth requeSts fr people wanting to use che sleek bodies as avatlr5
III ts bOjj}

1y !)'pfi
nH~d

m rmiinces web SI,e5, two of [heir many artworks and [11 s 011 the b,otechan commercial Complex whkh [hey call che Flesh J\1ochlll , employ e misinformation and parody, caUtrlgattentiOn [0 the dlssemmatlon of hinoriCliI data about reprodUCtion. fertility and its embrace by companies Whose Commerciallmerests are Jilted with eUgentc~ 5upcrweed Projea Use"sanalogous tactics ofhackll1g to perform an rncervendoo in specific bioleciloology prolects Reacrtl1g [0 agricultural COmpany Mons,ar1to's Roundup herl:"'::lde and ns plan
I'

cOmmercial interests. The highly charged rnaterlal& of Critical I. ArtY Ensemble's SOCiety of Reproduqjve Anachronisms and 810Co per'o d

to develop genetically

modified

fOOds, BUnting and collaborato

chat che producrion

of self and nepresenQ

IrK
on

the net can be closely hnked to apparatuses and community.

of

COfT'

Vesna '5 participatory corporation IS a defiber.1I bod .. of corporate marketing and development of
and of the mechanisms of online cernmuruues,
810

Jlogut Ib04l~ Createll

(199B) [86] ISa more minimal display of Similar sysr

by Hea rh Bundng and Natalie lerernlienke, tms pel co horne pages and tha ner's manifestations of the

J
f

Biot ch Hobb)'i

i\ [lJll~line.

wonderful range of personal obsessions has a pa,rt In the demystification of biotechnology. The site 5 ' which include project guides for growing one s owr
L

r agendl

logs In and
[to
I.

f
f
j'

s
(ilrerf;(Cl'd (0 iIt,uwhll
clOflt

rid"-I T
I'QIilI

lillltlfJr.u

fh,ellll

..d ,.

'II~!J"'1bV "Ii!'li ."

b3o:Ir

I'1l:It
1.1.

"1''' • ",.

cloning-

are meant to encourage

the avernge h 0 bb

eIIpgl r
'

iet 0 partit:ipants in the field. I n a manner typl 'cal 0 Jeremllen"os en:.1~1 d5 to t he dominance of comm work, the webzme rcspon . . k mlrronnl oi and expert voices throllg h a Iow· fiI, tongue·ln-thee •• vre In II)" their contents; it is also character i . of Bunting 5 ceu an sue . . II!ge nee through parns redistribution of corpcrate mce .' h companlf ,
With biotechnological faux sponsorsr hips from blorec etlOn, edillJilI &A se d has Ml Biotech HobbyiSt also offers a malTIn,g llst a Q Intervention. With
0 , 0

debates. expan d Ing rhe cur"

l1li,." ill' I'IUIt.Lll!lh n, ~ ,hl'l..!lr.. 4"" IIjJLiCI:;:I ... Fi.... ''''411 .. ,""II! t'l.rtrlt. -IIr .. Y~or-'I;ij.a" ee... lurr h ~lIViI!'r 1"ILr' •• b.llI~ I" ~ lHlt I!U~ 'l:br _1', t.k--" 'ra... Itl1"~"~', b:f.. '-It ot III fIhr." O.-~ .ldru U.JII .. -r'f' O::AA' 1;t"o-J .. ue .. w t _n ... I~

!I!.~.r~

You art

lIoi iiJOrtL.

85 ViCtoria Vem. 10 collmar"tiGn Wlm RDb,,~ Nidl!fler ~o Fields and N~an Freitu. &dies IIIC.. 1996

~ and links. The prclecr was never f u lIy developed anrcialln We1 . points rowar ~~ewm~. b 'ncorpora~ng been m~intained, but It leading debate and dialogue on b'10 technologyidi YI atit'm ( k5. a • • industrial lnformadon With the arns (S' own 110m 108

109

Rachel Baker held a launch at the London InStItUte or

Contemperary
<I

Arc in early 1999_ Their PrieSs release Included from American hacker technology biotech actlvist Mfcha~1 te~hnologl' pace 0fsoftvvare dissemination transformation constituted heavy corporate development in thiS fleld and the eVt d. In31'y gives us the means to adOption of MP3 as a COmpaq, fleXible format for ' of high-quality audio files. gave

dramatic

quotation 'Genetic

Boorman: oppose

massraor ~

chis unsafe, unnecessary

and unnatural

I hOpe

Way [0 D number

thar this SuperWeed

Kit will empOwer others

In their actionl

of eXCIting tools fOr sharing and mOdifying music frle~_The or music Files and chelr dlstrlbu[ion music and artiStIC property on the nBC large-scale acts of Interven CIOnin the permlssion_ clrClIlts whkh 5eek of

We are engaged In a bioloEical arms race with CorpOrate

menoculrura,'
(Oilseed

The kit, whlch does actually eXist, is Pictured On full of different rema,ns BrasSIC1'cedi

tile web sice as an open briefcase

Rape, Wild Radish, Yellow Mu:ocard and Sheph rfl generally

S.po_ p"'J'a. 1m TIt,.

bn.'=e full of • ...,ds. sold ONline, .... s In,,,,,ded bre.k down the lIIu.n", of <lMce Jnd ",,~ouragQ popullr J)al'tidpllDO" ,. bio",."trficd.m~

IV Heath 8untin"

to regulate crleat.ive use and shanng. Not onl)' Wer'e reCOrd soles hit significantly by Internet alternative radio practitioners
till

Purse). While biotechnology specialists, capacity to share Information In fact. Supenveed

In the I> Ids of

'I

mUSICpiracy. but communities and enthuslascs

OJ

'D

511perweed Project centres Project

around

the inter

were able to grow

and galvanize a parw:ul.

bby

an extent

prnVlOusly impOSSible. As

resul .;) Significant

Is fOCused On publiCIzing and

dam, ciung polls which Indicate that a large majorlty Citizens are against genetically Innoccous kit, sponsored modified plants. The
<

number

of net artiStS have caken to creating aural analogues of the of the medium" One example is

largely Visually based el(periences ngly that raised questions S.ld to be the world's

Alexei Shufgin·s ]86 OX (1998-presenc) a bour authorShip fmmthe forst cyperpunk ilnd SIgnalled Shulgin's departure

[88j. a cyperpop classIC netart

prof en

by lrational.org"s

CultUral ~

Agency (one of BUnting's initiatives)" helie:s a poliuca VOKes are not being heard or measured processes. to dramatize The developmenr commercially counterbalance produced in existing d producl have I if" herbiCIdes

nsm
ef [n,1I

In the diglLlI envIronment scene.

or a fun(tiona!
interests

cra~(
~tended

rock bJnd, 186 DX ISactually

software

a computer.

which plays Songs by famous artISts _ InclUdIng The - USIng text-to-speech

Sex Pistols and John lennon

the fact that corPOrate and immune

OWn, often separate platforms

from democf3[ic elaboratt",

Sexual Personae sses.

aterul

and chat to stand up to them requires for both speech

BRANDON

(1998) by Shu Lea Clleang (b. (954) was the first web

and feedback.

site [0 be COmmiSSIoned

by

the Guggenheim

Museum. Irs tlele ....... s

New Forms of Dis!ribUlJDn Other fragments of cultural data began to circulace B erw~e

ew Wilyl
9971"0 on ,h.nneJi

COurtesy of internet 1998. mtJsic scarred and formats, traditional developments Communities,

tools and applications"

[0 emerge

dismantling related

br0adcasting
to

pnnciples

net and an d p Iarforrn s . Some of tiles. various arns IC pracnces and d~ . 'r" larger-sea I or even global muS C e d ten wou Id-be online bl1,13cal . d t'rver~(O

in new onlrns d·IStr)b boundaries• oetween the In L.

such as those of experimenta I music or mlcro-n I .

[0

thac offered alternatives en(erprises_ (called 'neccasters

. ASIde (rom content,

anf s jtauGId ew . stat I proliferation 0 n siles rf'Olll sec up thelf own radiO ons.sc a . d. 500n energized the medium. 0 n ma ny early art ra 10 • and . , 1998 - including Radio 90 inltla IIy run by Head, BUl]tJnAUsuo d ') really on Iy nee d e d encoders
b'

. colieilEues at the Banff Center In Alb e.rta Canada. anok an .c~ . . ,s Frequency (I OC - ehe .userI to The w I< Collective Rad,oquaha IlsL t role in programming or CustorTlIZlI1g the media pay ..

llJl1

inspired by Teena Brandon, genetically

i!

WOman, who was

murdered by two local men In 1994 because she "lfed a"d loved as a man, Brandon's Story was later pOr trayed in the 1999 Amencan film Boys DOn't Cry, Cheang's BRANDON e plOred ISsues of gendel, Identity, Crime and punishment, challenging the VieWer's Ide~s through mUltiple Interfaces, Probing CO2 "including question-and. ililSwer .sectiOns and finional narrative, Was supporced by \farrous striking images, such as pierced nipples and tilrmo-covered bodies. It was an ambluous and incernaCional pro/en that '''c/uded many live eVents and, though te is no IO'lger availJble online, lhe Thearricum Anatornlcum, the Amsterdam venue Where some of the project's performances tOok place, does have documentation, With Its USe of bOdy parts. BRANDON shared SCr.ltegtes of repetition and disassembly of bodies across virtual surl<lCe5 With another impor I:;jm Work of rhe I<lre 19905, Bind/girl! 89'). Created 1999 by Amencan artist Prema Murthy (b, 1969), Bind/girl IS premised on al/teral pun an the no(.lon or 'avatar',ln an interView Published on Rhizome.org, Munhy explained: 'Blndl is my avatar Not only IS she my alias In the virtual world but <I play On the Word [avatar] which in India means an incarnation ora Hindu deity. the embodimene I!l( an archetype. In this case she is the embOdiment of the "gOddess/whore" archetype Which has hiStorICally been u5ed to Simplify the Identity In

or women

and rheir roles of power In

"proper"

place: The crOSsIng of technical and religious r~lIlJre~ in helps [0 CQnfront certain stereotypes. has been

ehe feminIst context

An avatar deri\led (rol11 a film ch:Jracrer. Mouchene

evolving the web SICe of [he same 'lame since 1996 [92J In che 1967 film directed hy Robere Bresson, Houchene IS an angry adolescel'l[ In ehe French pr'OVlnces,

an

OUtcast at school and

subject of town gossip. On ,he web been recast as

obsessed

51 te,

che rebellloLls teen h~s she was [h'n:een.~ear.

a Dutch

one af1d, in Its e~rloes[ Iterations, Forever (rolen

3S a sad-eyed

wieh suicide

old, Mouchetce's

kitSchy persona

\leers Into [he senSiitlonal. as the field 111 on the web,

suicide and child pornography

'Ire Outlined WIth unsettling Sound Im~ges in chiS proJect, reproduced IS~ Psychologically broke character

Clips. innuendo and disturbing

which

an

image is mecha",c~lIy

""aught. unsettlinE tne sl te's ll1ysrerious

Olie. Revivlllg a filmiC personality auteur, who only recently

to identify himself, gives lhe neo-MoLlchene problematiC persona

japanese

a memorable,
on

artiSt TakUJI Kogo (b. J965) was a Collaborator and video as the bases afnis

Mouchette
projects

and USes phOtography

incernet practice. and Videos, such that renders

His platform

Candy Factory hosts a number of Kog $ photos o [9~J and Who( an Inceresting Fmger per frame

thar often orrginue

WIth phYSical locations

as Joyful (2000)

Let Me Suck. It (200 J) [97J, ha\le a degree of /mensit

chern almost

like slidesl!ows.

His presence

as an

n MClu<'h"l1:e M_hef!e.
I~~~"".~t

OPl>o'~ cb"" ..
9l Candy FactClry .nd YOUNG. HAE CHANG fiEAVY

INOUSTRIES. Hol",,"u,. 2002 The delrng of. cOlhpl1ter paru fQctary form. Ihe <I", ol.t<! h" cltd",p of thl5
forehoc!mg cell."" '" Ucn. YOUNG. HAE CHANG HEAVY INOUSTfillES
bnngs
Its

. the artist po!e! 8mdiglrl conSISts of a n array 0f P hotos II of royocativeand nu de a nd In sexca IIy p he decora[lve In each, strategically place db' In d'15 [tradlucna y. [ bol/zlngtile mark worn on the forehea d 5 0 f Hindu wernen, sym pnva p.lrll k [he te spinW31 eye) superimpose d on t he photos, mar Hindu oblerva 1 f
socieo/: other South Asian women of che bodies with taboo Murthy wrote this space! nc an d ex·terna! forms 0 I confined to . in Bindi's enllne blograp hy,"Whyam here -10 gQ f h At first I [OU ght

j How and what d a I nee d to gee out 0 10"" woulo 5J ~ h

signa.tur'l:' anil'ml

tlOn

and

fend""" for d .. ,I«>1mu,.c to beM on gl'Cl;II(0.,"'8"

beyond my boundaries!

tee d

,I".

me, arm me with my weapon.s. Then J rurne confined me ha\le let me down. They conunue to keep

no 01 to religlo , Butbilnl n [0 m1

--_

WPIIIIIIIIQ

COIIldy n. pmJ.'"
~lJpJ:"

f<i<1:ory

J"rM lOGO. mternet arnst derived from his Interest In cellabera: artists from around the world. and hrs proiects are supplemented With transcripts of email or media el'. Accumulated, the Images and videos, like the gorge Halbemh (2002) [93], done with YOUNG-HAE CH INDUSTRIES, testify (0 Kcgo's exceptional compoSt[jons and atmospheres.
distinctions

tg,",

th. book bprtl!ltSJohoM,II"r d1».u, '0&" ~~hQwn"'J PI'<> e<:uon., J'p,n, S03P II ry 2000),:1.1 "'''II .... m.
",!<eM rl'<>1n

Opptrnt.

,e.

96 Candy fa("tory. &![o"lfM Sm e 1998,T~" IBn ,'UQlI ... ion y' .... 01 c",dy rn",a'Y" firs! ."nlb ~"" which WU"'iOnl,"d by T,ku , ,(ogo In 1998.nd took place o japM Wc.k, by Jahn /1dler (IU'" ""'h l'lea,.,.) and Mouchen" (F",sh &. BI~ were >1.0 ""h !baed Oppomr~ 91 C~no'y Fartory and Teuu Tal(lIll'i 1'11,,, •• Int.resu"g fmgel J."t M. Suck /, 200 I. Vi" ..... .0 0
.,dl!(l;u,d phooog ra phic UI'bleaux w,<;)l unmphl<th:u@d are <ambln"d

talent f '

In varying ways, the arusts considered In this ch r drew between imernet art and other pracnc y fOWling on res defining materials and traits, from the web br wser (0 tile computer desktop. ro the net's slippery authorial conventions, Kogc's photographic and filmic renderings expose [he Mtl" another way, as a delivery rnechanlsrn for rich media, J bro1dcaJ1 , 'I platform nor dissirnllar to television. lncreasing y, U! 0f the i"'frnl'
to creare a ' fTV howe~er: Beyond the capa blll ines 0, "nd net was highly decentralized, making many f orms 0f In(era(~on intervention possible. As will be seen In the next c hapte~ d1e!e • , equivalences between the net and public space wouldmoo\ll(! some of me most interesting and highest-pro fil ncernel art Ie,

would derive from its ability. like television.

space and culru-ar arena,

Intern"t r.,'ms. Th. combln"'on of gorgeou, lud! vIsU3Is With rna,,!

"omespuo 100r.
Kogo'work

I, iI "g".~ure

of

, 16

Chapter 3

Themes

in Internet Art

Irr(owor

and Tocuco!

Media In ProcUce

The 1998 Instalment of ,he Incernadonal feStival Ar~ Electronlc,1 a trurh at che hean of the Interner _ ~har b~rond (he rapid flow of information and Increased ease of Inrernc(Jon ~nd communICat.ion, the global economy which W3~ tI1nvlng In large parr thanks corhe boom In che cechnology Sector, Wijs now
revealed

defined by Inform,ui('m as much as If not more [han by phYSical The Internee's capabilities to produce, exchange and duplicate Information In largely anarchic packers pur it at the
commodities, centre location of debates about economics, networks and Informatron
Its

The festival, which took place ~nSeptember at in lim_, AUstria,

Usual

represented

the beglllning of an Intense Every year,

[0

period In internet
Ars Electronica

arc dl~course

and prodUCtion

orgalU~e I~ symposia, installations and reb red events Whereas prevIOUS reJrs had memonalizedrhe eXpanSion of net CUlture wlrh OptImistic themes like 'Welcome to the Wir-ed World', 'Endo Nano' ~nd 'Intell genre Ambiente', J998l cherne was the more ormnous and belligerellC 'lnfowar', There were a number of ~pectaCular; hlghprofile Installations and interventions presented ae the festival, and
their examples delibenuely blurred Imes between an,
actIViSm,

chOOSes a theme around which

parody and policlcs. While the 'Infowa,' symposia had been Concluded by mid-September, lu participants would lind themselves embroiled in a number of fM-reachlng events and campaigns durtng chI" following yea I: These would CUlminacewirh Toywor, whith WOlfgang Staehle called one of rhe 'graa test works of the 20ch cen tury',

'Jnfowar' eXllmtned how informational. SOCialand political phenomena Interact, Gerfried Scocker: the festival's crearive director: described [he cit/e's significance In an imroduction [0 the 'Infowar' mailing list:

II'

Increasingly the vital significance o( the global information m(ros for the (Unctianing of the international finance morkets cOmpels establishment of new sum:eglC objectives: not obliteration. but manipulation, not destruction, but Infiltration and ossimilatlo 'N '. as che tactical deployment ofmformo!JQn and dismfarmouon n, ! erwOr' orgel~d the human mind, These l1ew forms O(posl-rerrnoriol cOn'llcts h
' c •

'z:
' Ond

One

tacocal technique

manifest

at Ars Electronica they charred tlon, evoilling experr a sinister

was haCking, with vrsitors progra mming computer and after access [jon to

Hackers were set up with eqUipment Brucknerhaus.

iJ

m tents on the lawns outside

fcnival hall in linz, where collabora gained libraries,

about their echics of anonymity.

standards and open-soFtw~re

programming enchusiast):, several high-pronre

Chiefly

na ve for sam e time now ceo sed to be the preserve ofgoyer~n lent! their mmiHers orwor.. NGOs, hocken, computer freaks in the I
C "

I'

• t>i'ieVet

hackers

reputl.tion

orgamsed Crime, and lerrarrst orga'lISOtlOns WIth hio/j.tec/j e~p , 6 (rt"fore now che chief oGtors in the cyberguerilla mghtmares of notlOllal

,-

",

~IV'C~

Of

cases In which they gamed unauthorized of corrupting are called 'crackers'). standard While

systems for [he purposes (mese kinds of hackers

data or stea Ung mforma the genl'!ral wielded measures. Indeed.

services and defence

" , mlnJSlnes,

lecUIIl)'

popUlatiOn may halle been wary of how hackers

their powers no one far more

'Intowar' had its COUn(erpan: at tile graS~HOOts level influential term 'tactical media', articulated by Geerr Lo
David Garcia in 1994, frequendy memorialized used on mailing lim Ii~
'nlrTlf,

ro program

across and beyond

secunry

expected that an imernet

artist. Ricardo Dominguez

(b. 1959). would

receive death threacs for his Ars ElectronlCll projecc,

hoc.king chan rhe ability to crack certain

in essays such as 'The ABC ofTactu:al M< upon at the

'The DEF of Tactical Media', and expanded

Ind

kinds of programs in antlciparion Theater

were the.

Minutes conferences In Amsterdam. 'Tactlcal medj; ..... by 19705 'ti!cticaJtelevjsion' practices, and In partlcular theererk.an Michel de Certeau (1925-86), who farnoi 'tactical' te describe ,he invisible practices of consumr course of everyday ufe. Garcia explams: 'We theorise revolution in consumer electronics had transformed
(rom invisible into visible practices, of the primary rather ways in which people than simply the obiects Turning tacciG!1 m were becoming

rnfying messages
p'red ormance

left for Domingue.:

of his planned

wich che Electron,c

Disturbance and Carmin

[99J.
Theater designed the
like

rench >ltd
~e

Dominguez.

who founded

[he Electronic Disturbance

Karas;c,

Stefan Wray. Brett Stllbaum

Ormance group as an heir e of collective

to actlvin
of net-based

and theatre performance

traditions the

Lhe
[;1(0(1

Gran Fury and playwnghc many

Benoit Brechc
functionalf~ onl'n.
I

cavely. like
od}' s field e to as
1

works
Theater

"toone ,b,ew
r~1

-rom,c Disturbance d '0'.

of modernity:

'Tactica

or action,

Uses imernet Dominguez's

to extend often

Part of a Widespread

'WiS

an indivldua l-centred approach eo critical intervennc

Igltal Zapacismo'.

. e campaign prOject. called

utilized the capabilities of consumer

resonance for many arttsts working

devices: and il h with emergent [

orrnces
'1log'ru

kM, developed me aCClvist vocabulary of dissent by incerie ' the web sites of M ' P nng the F .. eXlcan reSident Erl'1es[ ZedliUo, the Pentagon rankflJrt Stock Exchange, DurIng SWARM's de ' .d

'ram b bas resoe~;c~~~:t

99 Electronic Oistu,b ..nee

Th""u,r.l1.odN., 1998, FloodNet drffpred r"'m many "r®TMark'

.and-corporate campaIgns 11"1ES t !!1lg4gemen[ ....... govemm~nt. lth .~eof'<l"'l:e" Pan: ,on«ptUill on 'lid pI1I'I p~rf<>""',"ce .rt. Fl.odNet

~.onoI"."""'OI...-...p1""_
D9wn1O~ El)T'e
~

~16.~
~T

/I 'n his Unz hOtel

n .~

:;';:~de~~:~
"

Signale

OCCUpied ,some

of the targeted phone but

III'rfl.'ln

'tl

"h
"".dI'CU'I.cmaiFtoaWe:r.~ l~l. Fklu~l
Q4J.o( 1t
I

J.~. ilt.ft'd!l:Dl_fJ~

'j

prO/eer senou /v h ,ST' to r e extent (y re eased a counre I( .pplicatlon~ thar run ff h r-app er applets I!(, ernment agen
IS

e Pentagon tOok h'

room warnIng him [

guez

reCeive a menaCing

Stop

th

e performance,
chat the

US

"...-on Dtlhe

~ll

With

web

brOwsers)

wrth arts af"e.le(tro:nlc. o.fvH d""I>.d,e~ce·

to

pro""" reclillm.d In.!!I'" B' space

__j iapatiJt,il Trblh"kM

'''1T-

'1,r.71,1

ltal.o conwibu,ed

TheTwelv~Oars .rOmslma,

Q1np>lgn, which helped "to)' to win I", ba<deWith dotcom eTOy$ «eel', '261.

premIse of 'Infowar' <h h ' OWever rhetoricaJ S(Ocker'~ ",ay ave seemed' , , governments and mW In writing, rn practiCe J Itlry reacted to dl ' ana ogues With force Wh til. 5rUp[IOn~ in their online 'e erth E'I ConSidered the projeec . • . ,e eceronic Disturbance Theater milS art was Irrelellant. A s media Could not rei n action In the field of 5pe I I' Yon the ethics f c a IZed :Zones Ilk c more Open or me ®T 'e arc festivals. re Mark, in attendance to . "'ward that Year, Used Its ex

er software oft; d. , en use In conjunction [0 neuter SWARM H

Ot

are Small

I,:,dge the prestigiOUS Info Weapon

awareness of the ca<hpa'

'"

- tenSlVe mallmg lists and Sporlighr to I Igns and co ra se unter-strikes against the EI ' eC~ronlc

ThIS alliance was followed bya ~ nOt"er the awarding of the InfoWe<lpon c h as and honours to the small Mexican town of POPOll Tw rhome ! a . entleth Century Fox had filmed some scenes of the blockbuster fil sUrp(ising gesture: Tironic in Popotla, building a giam cement wall U,ar CLlt h 111 off from 1[5 beach. and chlorinating [he crop of sea urc~t e "II'age IIII\S that PoporJa had fished for decades. In reaCtion, Popotl villallen a Wall with fubbrsh and marl" a media spe rltan;c a pelle fOr ' It PDC", in the film, ®TMark honoured Popoda I r Its • resisUl.nce co real h igll-tech descruc at play in chis decisiOn chllracrerize and carpora[e
WOr
ill"(' r
[(;It

Dlsturbancs

Theater.

decoratedthe

of it. While Ars ElecrrOl1lca awarded effec[ technrques 'symbolic lew-tech The cwo srrategies of®TMark ace cracked comprising

I~OUl

as a whole: instltutianal

Work

open, and is-sues of capitalise ideOlogy was Mongrel. a Britain-based ethnic and rada these tactics to expose Individuals of diverse

Also in attendance who effectively combine and class. Mongrel for this project

r bac
dyn.

nds of race

had alread)! gained an lnternatlon Harwood (b. 1960), a mem of Ashworth

from Its i1W3rd-wlnning CD-ROM of 1996 Reheor301 Graham group, collaborated HOSpital to create
In

with the inmates a work about

patient

life uSing fly hospiral

which a map of paoencs'

skin is linked co docume In the CD's liner- notes, (I and at [he same rlme [<01 machine filled with fllrh, tI fancaml

lives as residents at the maXimum-secunry

as deSCribed by Harwood
'assumptions of normality With a clean comfortable and the demented, inexpensive. This cheice 'machines'; production security in the effort of excluded of format opened

ork, ged

edJ us
WII~

its hygienic procedures human relations'. underlined [he doors

CD.ROMI
deliben

11pacund
0 Ul~.

are easily distributed

and straighcforwa Mongrel's computer

Jse 01

Rehearsal o( Memory.

cechnc logy and

of a maximum-

and windows

hospital. work took an importanr turn when the group bepn Heritage Gold 100)
~~Itl'~~lt TUfl"l

Mongrel's

[0 make sof-cware and web sites, debuting

. freeW3re .In 1998. Hentage insrallatlon.

Gold. part 0(·M·ongle I's Ars ElectroniC!

found inspiration

c:.1.ndatS,

5:l!IIuru

in Adob~ r oper9!lons 0 Phetoshop and questioned the supposecdIy neutra I . ," . . graphics tools by creating an lmage-rnarupu I>1[10 n [001 nch wnn . g co loursdfromc( class and race mechanisms. Instead of chOOSln. IJ NO{Jonai Heritage,
100 Mongrel.

earch. ,;rnd
I1Ir~~jn!l

UIIO~IUt

.spar1$.

cafd(.

H-e"

paletteGold. 1998

blue, green

from categories

see or cy<In, (or examp j e - use rs woul Th k an d Japanese. e such as Caucasian. BJ ac

122

eernrnands of Photoshop had themselves been pL h a '1[osoPd cosmetlcally changed to reveal an ideological basis for I pe. 'I' ll1:1ge pro d" U(;[IOO an d ma",p'" atron, N' aliono I Herilaae c .. onSlsted 01 gallery installation of (aces of vaned ethniCitie5 S a appendages called Colollr Separation. Street POSters and a and newspaper. In an interview with Matthew FUller L d ' On Mongrel member Richard Pierre-DavIs (b 1965) " I o~·ba!ed . e"p Jlned hi view of the confront<lcional mask images: 'I believ .1 one of the most defining aspeCt[sJ of tile wh<lle P"tllema5K 10b e
L

• ewn rnasl<,s

mask: Mongrel's Matsuko Yokoko/I (b. 1960) nnd Gr

'. \Iv; h.'1 to wear at che pornr of entry mro Britain, It represe U a h . n [ 'ask thaI I wear repeatedly as I go about my everyday actlVIPI • , e_ hiSIO~e~ multicultural state.. And [hen it also represent[Sj III I. uk that] mongrel "as [Q wear In sourCing resources for d11~ p t So you see the whole Nallonal Heritage project is a consritU( Jf !be

rOleCt In 1l10re wars than one; tha masks represent tile mask that I I

Artll ...

l'untellt

fi{'IIIJ r.l l't_•• i !l ..i!fJ1to :'VitI

lf

n'''I'''~l

kr ..hl.i

filu&r.Hn'fln"n
"',

.,

l['·fIIJ'I'l"jll~

..u1p'.Hih.

Harwood no~ed that [he preSenta[Jon 01 distlnct an ambiguous, visages in Colour Separouon shows how
Gold's mixing capabilities could suspend distinct rae mro malleable data. Predicting - in tongue-m-chee~ demand in the West for this software', they desert Gold as part of a '[Slruggle] to find images that deal complexltles ef the kind of Jives we are livingnow longer black or white ... :

IS

no

••• •••

Harwood did more chan extend the lineage of

politics into the net art sphere. He also described philosophical Now, dominom congrutu/c1!ory

tt aM
e

stakes of technoar-r Iesrivals and dis

racial and cultural groups In Illaely ar rnuallsed
[0

to !heir own u:chno-cultural-medio produn Bleached the ri~hl people

distancing. ~ymbolicolly105'111 control, restrict. and censor eyber/a

accepted notions o( orlK'''' rry andgenio!

has helped call into question allowing a fe-evaluadon

-----~
een co-founded by tlJe military a rlSes.Are We about to remake th I e arms dealer I h e s Gtery. migram-Iobol.lt p c ass! at Profited before from war .L. ' over~ deo!h dd ' uP lI.elr future rmd com Ii .' • a~ Isease? Or ate' we to dlr In ConjunctiOn w' ~ ~"te their deSires wl!h filth? cy
'[

IJ whl(n ,:.. e /s as the 'r. In,owar 'I eo"elSI1Y5 'a bottle In.• r;. bl power o(knowledge is managed as a pro",o e mo no/Joly 5(1(,t,,,

of the codes of co/rural pradu. on Just so IoIIi as this does not include the filth of uncom(ortable soooj fe/allons Given the rOClol/salion and elillsm o( mas! electronl( art events, attendees might still thmk that underneath Iheyre all suUlo~eGblfTlif mulliculturallet5-gel-{)n-with-each-other-ond,ger.-/mppy numbel hal {DI F; 'd' • a long lime been one o(che mom tactics ,or h ling ,,0 rd , dlfficull dM.l under a sixties-style love-In. Mongrel c.ulrures "ove (CJme lao longorr.fi ,•...r . in intellectual rigour to be (obbed Of(Wlth 11flower p U~hed up iii! IXI"~ dI
L

rell(' IWencieth century) tha; have rech"ologies from wh' h Ie newmedi CUltural Paces {cor tb S

of their gun,This
[0

seem
124

have learnt nothing from !he vag ed· 0(uns ,enWry 1f!S

((11 tne Storm f anee 11. 0 events around th EI ' lIeater. the 1m e ectronlC declarations of its rnemb ~a~t of Mongrel's installation lind the technologies prOvided ers ~,ghtened the Sense that new OV Strategies for real' ' A rs EI, er the next fifteen rn Onehs the fa Illng agitati(mal goals . eCtranlca /998 b . ee-co-face eneo etween ®'rM k un~er at , ar and t I. e oy. tile largely SWiss

D'5 urb

troupe ehac parodied dO(Com brancs, would prove <:el)[ral to the hign-profile tactical media event known as Toywar [101]. TO}'W()rWas the web sire headquarters (or 8 defenSIve carnpaign resUltl though It would be speCious involvement
[0

ascnbe them

II the Inn"ted .
1[5

a legal dispute between

etoy. which had been online SInce 1995. toy marker, The lartel' used Its to sue eroy for its dOmain nam~ 'pornographIc and a nar£h,c
UT

.,g rom

so e y to the birR of The Twelve Days ofCh(ls!mos. were dramatic' followlog rho

~nd eToys, a relatively new dOtcom business, which Jlrned to dominate rhe oflline chlldrens
substantial

price of e'Ioys' scock fell by more th~n rorrv pe

-r

of tlloUSands of Outraged partlClpallt5.

was slowed for a time, and Toywor received enorr

r cenr,

web me

fjn3nci~1 resources

from a round the world. The bubble of the IMternet

neus pu

alleging mat etoy's site contalned

ccnrenc chat thF<!atened Its business.

The lawyers of I"To~s w "I!

collapsing,. 2nd eToys declared bankrupt," after the mar et -vas I , aWSUltag~rnH etoy was resolved. Of Course, by POSturmg as CorporatiOns. s[!ndlng releases and courting
OUt

k !CIty

bl

iucces.sful,n tlus regard, and at one pomt a COUr[ in)UnCtion down the etoy web Site. Etoy solicited the Support of ®TMd THETHING. Rhizome.org and other hses: ®TMark assu", leadership role and. follOWing the call issued by etoy's Rein Gr"ther for a 'new toy' to fight e Toys. deSigned a game- s'1 e <np:!lgncalled The Twelve Days o( ChnSlmos. Gamepiay /Ocl rrcmc D,srurbance Theater:s F/oodNer " po stings on the nnanclal message de. all seeking to Interrupt ....ncn during the busiest sales period boards about [he web site ar of the year.

pre~s

media aUemJon. !!toy ~nd ®TMark we e

USing some of the very material they WIshed to critique and

Toywor highlighted some of the paradoxes of POh[i(ally

progressive. d parodIC work Acknowledgrng these parndol(es and InterCh~n e
0

fOCUSing on the often hIlariOUS cransgressrons

[99) applet. as w I as

made possible by such pOSitions, is pan of their work- "'ppE'i It seemed corporations that while e Toys exercised the legal nghts grJnt e in che Unusd States, anrstS and like-minded grass-roots multl-hcet~cI

the tOy-seller's

The

ults.

were also capable of medIa manipUlation Or the [dctKal use c medi" to create self-consc;ous. analogues of corpor~te power That TOyw()r. despite irs v"ry
J

legal stakes and the SUbstantial rnorues Ilwol~ed, was calie'J 'game' by Its producers brought on by IIlternet against an enemy itself as 3 method art communities absence suggests a new drmenslon to ~n p technologIes

tt

USing the prernls~ of fig

and defending space. as well as the FlaodNc of perfo,"mance,

applet, and an element

tacnca! medra assert

struggle bin [let

for sei<:lOg or reclalmmg public space had been devastarad by a more serious conflict
/iStl

Toywor was an exhilaratIng and empowenng

rn the spring of 1999: the NATO bombing of Kosovo. The not.:lble of Yugoslavia. based partICipants on such as
NetTIIT'C

a nd especially SyndIcate (Its focus was on Eastern Europe) was 3c::companied by ernails from those who stlllilad mternet access. full of desperatIon, fear and anger. as well as by documenraoon and clvUlan targets was paramount.

ot

the damage to infrastructure for friends and colleagues the NATO campaigns

WhIle concer n

(he negative drca of

on imernet

capabilrtres and mdependsnr Europe: 'Sm.,11medra was to share reporting, like

media also becarna a tnpic for disclisSlon As Geerc Lovrnk Wrote about the silenced voices from Southeast initial response Information among most communities may be "tactical", but they are also easy co shot down' Though ttle and create possibrhrtas for mdependent

the hosting of the 891 Radio Station (based rn the former Yugoslavia) on Real Audio servers, artists also began to make

practice

of 'dialogue

mrough

work .•'IS well as through

M'(

communICation',

were central to ~he classrcal net

scene nse of

eVIdent In NI.'[ CrruclS"ljuke 52 The ne 3rt community

Bo

51] or the Mr NetArt competItion g nerol

5

had I'nallltllined

IOtimacy lind truSl for several years, Vuk COS!( knew Crltl( joscphlne Bosma, Bosma knew Oha llallO~, Llallna knew and had collaborated WIth Heath Bunting Colleagues. regal'dle~s 01 t'Ilelr opnunns or behaViour, wei e lust an email awa~. and likely to be seen at J lesc/valln the near future Bur a s !.he Inter net e panded ex:ponenually. and as partiCipants found themselves In different places 10 their n"es. p rhaps with c:hildN!n. con5umed by other events. as m~ny wert' by rh "Vilr 10 Yugosl.'lvia. or by mora demanding personal responsibilities 0 11m thl5 sense of community beg,
10JT~or S<hol. 190",.. . 2001 11to gIVe w

y. In an

e$S~r 'neLan

Year In Revi

Nec prOleclS about the 1999 bon,bln r earnral works like Teo Spiller's I Was 0 Soldier On lilt basE'd works such ill Miklos Legradr', Kremer ~rtiu Trnbor Scholz's 79 DIlys' (~clr[ed In 2001 It!! was nOI launched until 2003) 10JJ COnSI$[I of Yugoslavians presented W,thOlll descnptl .. rllnks conductJng live mage searches relating r f war The artwork compares m dia debFl~ ab culled from news sites. wnh ScholJ;'s beautiful lunon documentation of post- 1999 Kosovo e anions 10 the bombrng of Kosovo and to To) e 0 Iy efforts 10 make use of the mech3n1sms of M lY protestors. Including those who parncipar
In

response

State of neLan 99' (or the net culture ,ournal SWitch, arnst and
to

progr.lmn1er AlexlIOder Gallow;ry noted formal srnfr..;,Wrltmg rhar 'net.arr the genre besr known by the work ofVuk COSlt Heath BUI1Cin,ll 0)'01 Ltalinn, ","",s dead Endorsing chiS vrew W31 .1 and
qUO[;ltlon from German h,ld
WI

101

OUI

culture seems

men

dS

net ar historian Tilmnn B~umganel. who early as 1998 that 'the first formative penod of net
to" close. many levels of change were

to be OVe! .

e r.
VI!

A.!i. Lhe mlJlennrum {am

a(oOl For a teart. !.her 10 net was Interest

e ed,

Vidence of growmg InSlltulional rt, In 1999 [he Z M rnounred ItS SubHanrl~1 'net COndi[Jon' show, and Tate Brnam ,lnd Tare Modern began
commiSSioning net art New York'~ Whitney Mu~eum of Arnencan Art hired dlgit.1I Culture magazme Inrrlilgerll Agem founder Chrlstl.ane P~,ul as 01" adjunCt new media art curaror, and

the Jde

Baule of Seattle (part of a protest

III

agilln'l the WOI

Ii'll

tIOI'l). mobilized Via the internet to oppose

1 Fund and World Bank poliCies towards the Ik OJUfrngcountries This widescale rnobillzauon enllne 1 offilM tests, of which Toywar was one e ample. set leftist ad atel g;llnSt stalwartS of the established marketplace and wor d order These conflic;u were elaborated 10 sever.JI instances as lnfoWilI'S
fum

dOOJI III

be In the 2000 BlermlaJ. '0 I a 101 Times' was scheduled by the S~n Fr.mClSco Museum of Modern Ar t to op n 111 200 I The Guggenheim Museum also commlS5lol1ed onUn an and began Its valuable
announced

that net ar t would

Art [n TechnologlClI

'variable media mltlaave', in whreh CUrator Jon Ippolito conSidered

(irme Mrl/ennlum,W(lr

(lod the Datcom Crash

In preYIOUS chapters we saw the emergence

0 f dlISCU rSlye mode r.

aUdiences and each other A sense of autonomy or •p rodu(uVeme d ' margrnalrcy,. as Rhilome.org founder Mark li 'b e C<I lied II.,In n
I8

such as milillng lists. bulleun board sys1:em~ and con ~ erenc es [hll d ' helped Internet artists to bUild and sustain"I Vita netwo rks outSl I liIe an world and to generate fruitful relations h IpS W iell both .

and conse"ve ephemeral and contmgenr new media and conCeptual artworks, Vuk COSIC. practiQUy a folk l1ero In Slovenia. was selected as the (oul1cr(s represen[;ltlvl! at che Venice Biennafe, Meanwhrle. several years of optrrmsuc In teener c~lrure had produced another kll'ld of aura for ncr-basad an. Dotcom design shops seeking to create more sophisticated or innovative SItes for dienes, began to support 'research and
development' projects that were also consrderad art. As demand so did the tools for web sites on the part of most bUSinesses increased. Status of Inter.JC[ive design. At the same time, production

how to preserve

While nOt J.nd codmg st:ln d ~ rds be me mQI"l' ~ophlnlc:.ltEd enh tl~. In[ern everyone em b,.c ..d high producuen-valu -, art;;' IormiLI seop benefited 'rom (he new I vets of e perIls

II(j

decor fl n:tIIy, I"n"., (( #fie and popul 'ity wer cl arly Oil he nse dat:! U St:I llsncs web s,t e ZI on.or-g m:!lnQlns lha lile "-

~ -llllon sues In 1998 and by the end 0(2000, ~o)(e d "~e,,,

~more
[I l In 5. umes
IlL S nil" regJnere db ~ In[ere~ted I" new media art, lrom cell ege gr::ldu<lt"s w~o

th

til [number. ov r tluny mll)'on e wet wnply II lot ..nor .. PfOPI mmes star led
III

swdl d new mE1fr

r1 at

prog

In

th rn d I leg'

rln profeSSionals .... ho de-c,dl!(j to Or nd s .lIs re produ~lIon

to

hos

e enrs ~nd (I;nu'l. p

re ean:h,

~nd runs ~ number 01 em~IIII.lU f

hnoIO&'e5,lm18 1. I<IdlO,'nd I'thl1ogr:1phlC tol pcmses (0 the broadened cli",u or. rled Whl c
and rtiSU. would argue th~( the tightly knit eornr

11 pm

WJV

of nut JnlSU who dr .... r-om so/e w r eng,ne,mng

d $Ign nd [hll' fre. ~O~w. r I' move men! S III d

1'I'IOs ha.d d'sappearvd

I f rms

cud

others

Ie Yin, W3tered-down en emb • ced more e p3n51 and de e long WIth the ell'lll n~ ollTlJ'
'()11

programm
rn

r M. tiel W'\OI W 1(1hJ~ Ll

III w.l< arched

"rhl d ..
l

leg.le 01 browu!t
n lon~ OrR'

;art such as TIll" Wi b Slolho, Into lIIult,p' " pcrOj C In (hl~"

or

the

f pmgnmmlng.

promor, .... lth d bUf( d In an h

elOmal

~nd nUll!!"ng more dive 10 and populous

had thl' i!ud,encel Inere sed mlffilod. and resources

cgmmUI1,Ues

olrly 10ntl;1f Pouma',p,

typed by [hE' Y'ew t and

G,llll'cy In 1999

took words

ponendally, bUL mor

oph 5

til Imern t 101I~Iell:lnr r .,

'or programm.ng h d I':volved lOG I.. Stilte of net arr 99' GalloWiI)' observed , J. Pwp1~ warn mol!' rha" emil" They wan[ nl'~ mle"acel TheJ l'Iilnl it apps a" OPplK;OIlo" SUp!!nOT to Om!!'" In 11$ IlPnrf' J . Th!!) II1Inl ro elrope rhl! of1lme All Ort mP(/IO Involl'e con.Uttlnr:s, and ~ro<Igh CO""U'O'If!:f '~atllllty 11 bom. Net.on. (the Jodl-lfI}"-~hulglrH>unM~ net rt 'fear
[

In

Rev,e

•L

tit;

Imal:l!l and audre, flOWing d'e re5U1cs ontf.) tilt' screen wlcI,out In adhDr nr [0 UadluonJ.I P;)gl lormu While ri,e-Web 'illllkN 15 typlt.1lly conSld(', ed 10 ~IJV chJngl"d rhc Way user s 10"lIed at
bro ..... sl1rs ~hd web DO could gathe,
~Itr~

H......hole enuucs

NNOn!OI

treated the

lOt rner 1.5 highly ~Ilual and mu/mn"dI3 economy Irom wh,ch .. I rJ\~tS ,~od r..org~nIZ them Independently
I(H ......

Instolll PIO"~l2002) (

h, Ii IS kin [0, g~m ,.cum

. lacform Is another project . by Wisniewski . m unicatlOn p. -comrked by (Onn ectlngdispersed so-called data places' (diffe~ . ,,n, It wO mputers can nee ted to the network) co form a matrix that Was

In and goes auLAiI must be shared so !hOt die user h05 a precedenllO study. From th,s learning. Concrete know/edg _ thai ISnormall

u-alnts of geography. time and place. inslanl re (eawre d p redator; (hawks) and prey (mice). which wer~ "~aces able to move be tWeen different data places and communicated via In.ta nt mes saglng _ enabling them [0 recognize ellch other and gaugemov ement • distance and shape.
fco e from the cons

considered 'p"vote' con be reused.

- Con be Irafls(ormed

IniO a

weapon,

a IOO~ !hot

Dl1ta'VlSuallzation and Databases - - access and gathenng of materials was one dirrH'hsion Scru ~lnrLlng of an Impo rt3nt work called life_Shormg (200 I) [lOS) creatt> by OOIOlliOIOIlOI.ORG and commissioned by new medIa Il;Itor 01 Steve 0 lea a t the Walker Art Center's Gallery 9 in Minn 'Jlis, U1 I•• ~ tide ISa play on the term 'ftle sharing', in vhard driVEare made available over an Incernet c nnernon (many music-sharing applications rely on thIS e hnology) The pFOJeCtturned a 100 10 111010110 I.ORC ucers into an open 'server', or a computer accessl] rCI! nternet with no passwords or verifications needed mventlng the entrenched protocols of navigating' Site not engaging directly with its raw contents and the ors d It), the collective adopted an aesthetic that left J HO agmation, stating that 'the idea of privacy is obso A I format for psychic autobiography (the project de (rom ersonal Indexes of 0 100 10" 10 10 110 I .ORG's paru J1a), harmg made available all kinds: of compurer data ii' umenranon, from their net artworks to personal 10 Jne all In Li(e_Shoflrlg, the artists deslgnate the ever-repl !'ling curnents and data as reflectlans ohelf and as art obi Wlfh a CQmputer one shares time, one's spoce. one ,s mem 1)1 adolle! proJ~, but most of all one shores personal relationships _wng . crettlngO( 55 (0 h~ (reE "CCfSS to someone ,S computer '5 ch e same as ..
Mmnesoto. p<lrtS.:Jh
D

010010 1110 10 1101 .ORG's SUPposition thar ItS compUters' contents, framed by IdeologiCtlllntent:, could be viewed, reused and deployed suggests [hat. for Its members. human psyches. experiences and bodie$ can be refill!cted at least In part In data. and [hat they are indeed themselves ag,grega IOns of daca The

t11earrlcaliZ<ltlon of a priva te computer's comentS and Work.lngs is one example of a Wider phenomenon - the t11eUrtcahlauon of all spaces, which has been developing Via the rise of entertainment culture and che expansion of teleVISIon med,a OVer the laH for-ty years. Since the 1960s.3 slgnificant body of ar twork tn which media anemion
is a focus has elabol'ated

on chese themes

In fact,

010010" 10 10 110I.ORG·s contention that 'privacy ISobsolete' has an analogue in Valie E )(port's Touch Cinema (1968) r 1061. In which the a!I'Cist..... alked around Vienna With Curtains COvering her breasts and enCOuraged passers.by
to

reach

111

ilnd couch [hem

Export, who ca lIed TOUch Onemo 'an e)(panded movie', sought to questiOn [he boundijry between public and pnv'l!e space. as well

her culwre. We ore not interested in the faa thor: a user ( '" 'study

I.ORG's personality'; rather. in !he shoflng of resources, Its a mor:!er of politics more !han (If'PSYC holoml' /IIHQ! '" , r. oMiy (f show. II's not like looking at Jennrcom t a we IIknown web Slle, . Rarted in 1996, in which a young Amencan woman lets a web (Om t rr!cord her every domestic "cUon]. The user COil IJ til' whalll elmo! jfl !ze our computer. No! only documents and safr_wore, but also ,!he •• mechanisms that rule and main tam 0 10010 /JIO/O/IOI . ORG:u,e ,J. . .. re/otIons with che Net; the stTolegles;the tactics and !he trias; U'I cotrI!l' .• 01001011t010110
j

-'. CDntacts with InSUUJflons; access

132

(; s, L to ,un d··we flow

of money u,o

Mediated inform. non's porous refleCtive and ab ' srraq qualities. and Its role 111 shaping rhe sublectlve e pen·en f . ..:e,orms a field of imernet art loosely know 3S 'data Visualization' The reshaping advanced of information art-makJng. has been a motif for many decades In sl1ch as Hans Haacke. lynda Benglls Artists

43) offer 19 rich legacies In thts regard. While Haacke made Work pointing to the Interrelations of matter. social reletlons and technOlogy, SerrJ flalN!!d~nd tranSitory
15

(b. 1941). Richard Serra (b. 1939) and M~nha Rosier (b

and Benglis commun rcared the proceSSional. the late 1960$ particularly

3SpeC15 of changes in form in works slIch as Serra's Props series of

or

Benglis's For CorlAndre In the ways "truth value' to point

j[

of 1970 RosIer's work

111

relevant

manifests the dubiOUS nature of

any given medium's used photos documentlhg e one·way structure of film. In Life_Shormg, the bour technologies,
as file ~(ed With cornrnumcarlon

The Bowery

Two Iflad~quotl'

DesCflpUve Systems. an Imporqnl

and
["'1([

proiect by Rosier Irom 1974 7S

OUt

and

elide HereOti'pe~ of The codes of

the economically power Imbalances.

disenfr.mchlscd

shann

IS

documentary. to broader concerns

text and image in that work are themselves subjece The area S of (merest of these and one of the dominant online analogues,

11110th become entry-points elf-reflection

into the work. of a medium popularity

artISts h,we countless

through the aesthencs

Ort

for many new media arnses was how new technologies varrous diverSities of InfOrmaCion Natalie Jeremlll;mko asserte and rhe body polirlC In a the Museum of Modern An !edlnoiogi~' can 'feme

well known via the contempor~ry

of r

might c(l)mmodlfy or neutralize

e sian around the world. In Life_Shormg, a work in th

hty. dial
ne

In early 1997, artist and engineer the connection between [echnology Politics'
t

met genre. (he vente of everyday functions (ema'l. f ruzanon and documents) gives birth to a new form ordmg and what Ursula Frohne calls rhe 'media mise eed for rhose who understand the premise of UrI' .s
t.on oho~eurism conditions many of the interaction Ole kind of b

lecrure called 'Database in New York. Technologies ore tangible Ulerefore be used
10

g, the ~has
d, IOUI

50CIOI

relauons

ThO! SOld.

make soclol relauons longible Team%gles

ill I perusing the 0 100 10 1110 10110 I .ORG web me. Gr

100 101 110 10 110 I.ORG is nor conducting Image.>.However, the group's dissolution colleague and spectator.
IS

een on most reality TV shows, nor IS Ole user ~"eing ~ participanr

sed of the llnes bet een

and rnoruror, and public ...aver;loO IOIlOI.OR

and private acrivity (such as email) in the name of [ransparency.

a polkicfzed

strategy, one akin to the open.sourc

to users' privately owned locked software.

WJl'1t SIte

Those who do not G

to comply with the stage that is the 0100101110

Rave no choice. however, although

the.y are given oblique

warnings in pop-up windows internalization and permanence

that preface the .s[te. might argue [hat the

. of observation

010010 I 110 10 110 I.ORG members tI"'~irweb Site is in line with standard conditions on the Internet. 13'1

no wnJ[I'ie10

secur[rty an d dacaveillan(f

135

lppl"OJch [0 t.lC~ling On 0 th

net ~ mOSt nOIOrlOU~ ~(ourg,,~

'Along wllh porn, one of 111

Int rn [15 ace 55 to n '0
S)IV

{WUl

sp

"c I" On (h(.

Na.ll "nd I h~ e rrl U c

Su

I;

gav

rnrnents

another lpproJ h
periorm hk a w b ~eJrch
mu 1ll1g words

without

(.lCIJllI\flc~lIom

p.lt ·shlp· o. doughnul.

One get~ st.1nd.Hd I 'Jrch (!fIgm. • d llke renr .Hld (""'; 01)[0 On~ dl

results of w b

PJr."~

If one': en! ,. l r 'KI~'ly char '..,d

WI

'N;uI'tll
of (hes

r(,sults JpP".1r u.mdJtd. bUllllJset~

pIg s [he Will bl conlroru d

h ... I

'nl:"1 ) lIS ccnsutenr

(oh I !(o/ldllJons WIUlln wllteh we waf. and Imagln .. au
d '!Illes. 10m concemt'd
WIUI

. nd neun .11 to Is an
0

iJJ[

01 til

1m, rn
Pl!~

'1$

n unwlrtlflgl Nl'W

ho'rln,ll

rh

I.m

U.1C' 0

I .1Clll HI I cot

l ~j /idec·born lrrrn /O\h On III 1971 rnd 5 In

fJrnwI, r"nde v!SIble', veral uSll~lfy rnd In~I~,blo: rebtlolidupl
In

"~ow IKhn%gy

Ii dew:

ileneQ deSign ~hop um"

IInl ~I wher. o"rrorrhmg prrarlfy I] gov n III fom101 n and where UlI' camp/leormg tlnd POl,lIl:wng prOJ m I)' are':11101 ma/lud Iam mler Hl."d In Ihe ep,l(f 'R'Illl«hnolo les Tlus mdudri .... ol g !S t«hnl1l h olld hat dol'S nOl, what gelS coumed, and .. hal Ii
1/1 pol veal (abrlC af!ht II1(ormOIlo" ogc 1And whol
! I I! (dlt ~ made In a ...'IItre dl'l>ersl!y IS
II' (anSl/mplion
I

myudled 'mp!

b~[w en PO..... md N
Will, .1

Infor,"~ uen

rh. ploln I Til.) Ru/t (200 II loq Opr fung rlu

rum tron

Rille ,lIow\ UI r, to Ill" rill' ".lmc~ 0

place where

t'Cl1nOmlc's • 11

board
. ta

of 'Ii

JCO Ddl lrld

or

Col"

Llflf..~10 Jddltlon~1 unn h.1\

'ndered In homOf!('neolJ~ do (arms 'den Illy' that mo~(

son Llr • IN sb r'

0" 1

JI rh pO!ltl~JI don.mons ~nd In, p~ I

Y

and ...hr

emljcnko's ob er ... ucns a

tiCIHI

0'

made ,he 'pphro

II

Ih· p. \t

y',ll~.

'0" h,s w b 01 10(1,,1 lnd

systems of the information

;lg., involve dJ. Some 01 th [he ncn-neurra a parue nd

prof Hlon," r 1."I[IOnshlp' Antlth"r dl,IF.r.tnlirom Thl'Y Rul~ t~JI('d Phlltfrl & Fmonct.'s r'l'yc;ll. rh,l\ pha tlt13ttlJlltJ I 1(1,,111r1c!1; ~ ind rnv umf'nt Th e styl cutl1d b~n~ /P Marg.1n Ch~1
In ~ PJI

r s COntingent on broader

politlC31 ~nd social co

10

Ite

shnr« tWG bO.l. d member'

and qll~ntl(''-Ilion small Icons Ilk 111 III.' ;,nd .0:: 2000). rang rt!lcmbl.1nc('

de

eVldtnt In works of d3Ll

'II

vrsualnanon

rigorous, spc!'l.lhzed
Jnd bl
Ie

dl,lgnmmrng

dl work

tlu, vein calls Jl:tenuon

rtc of Joft xr ys,lncorporaun leas s, bear

.1 5

n arbItrary natu", or 'nformation In (he s me way that an jnst.llloltfon creates

J

office ChJJn

fa,

od

wings by Am rrcan

rUuM.1I~.LombJrd'119SI

reflection, the IOC rnet's limits construct these constructed relations

"",jatlonsh,ps p roiec t,ot.ed

user 3I1d the medium

~tOryb03r'dS

Mongrel's Now",' 5elecuan. a se~ ch [001.

Iups Th e
WIt

red 5USp,C.ous tI conn '(lll1g sc~nd Is, gOY r nrnent offiCials and big busmess Tne)' .11 also r 'mlnl~H'1ll of corpor.ltE~ e
Who chart dlllgram, or flowcharts d
SIgned [0 preCIS

Out or the group's obserYlltJons rhJt the net, access and opacity for self-publishing. propag<lnda.1rl panicular rnatenal
w.lS

h Its unrestricted

Iy lh kind

of ImpentlVeSIJt

are

c:fiec[ change,

re5h~pe e perrenccs

and conrrol
J

promot'ln& rae la I ite

CC)[U;11'1

a magnet for reotyp-el ~11

fl!pr sen~tlon UndeMritltlg On's wor~ technically won d3tab35e of IIIform~tlOn about corpor-He board members
A 'dat3b3se'
15 ~

and other offensive race- rela ted

membet3 GrJlll"T1l Harwood

d Images. Mongr~1

3I1d Matthew

this [l"end. In Matthew Fuller's words.

set out to IOU h the project offers 3 f~s

F u IIer

prc:ograrn, usuall~ \earch~ble. have produced subject

01

thae aflow~ users c:l[egorJe~ called

to rru Jnd match 1II!orrn3tlon from different 'fields', and a number of arnsts databases: as either a metaphor.

work uSing

medium

lev Manovlc h has argued ln T/je Language o(New Medlo that [he damoose Is a dommam new media (arm; The mO$lD b·v,(Jus D·omples are popular mUltImedia encycloped/as • ~ fi coJleaions br d e,.mtiM as well as other commert;/al CD-ROM (or 0\10, thor.(eowre coIID-ons o(reClpes, quotatIons, pholoRrapllS, and so on As defi'Ied by ofl~inol HTML, a Web page IS .sequenUollis[ o( sepOrate .. unoues, dig/col video ciJps, and linkil!o other elements - Ie- bloc'ks'b "
OLV

J. ~~=~j

_ -. .......

..

fle D,iO<S of M,s, Te ....en-de / f

0,1 ~
l

Loa.

Jan Will"m TerwEn PI", Tar",,,,,,

Mrs

TerwE-n"de

LaQ:!:

PI~ e
2000 >
Tli!lU·

"-, "

:i,tgraphy
The Silk KO,."ono

~II ,t.em< Viewed Item< IneEI(

lroo.

<i.Olen

Al!fln Turner,

IRie~ Fem'"

nil',

pages .... As

CI

result, most Web pages ore cOllecuons of separate

SII.lling! '" <ollobl>r ," Hi"''''l1urt!ugh. tJ Itt.-." 2002 Thll ill' l<>pitdd>"bu e. reo; rurfDdJ", [fJem.e~in
....... hQlory,

l!

IS a 'ollemon numerous /Inks to other sites (%ng Wilh a searc.h (unction of COurse), A SIt~ o(

elements, ,•.A site o((} major search engine

or

was

m,

I»'

0.-"0 ...or. Out 1l<D(f;n 1Ol1", With f,d", Ott "1M .Itor\%rl~ \V.rI ' O<J II"0>rI lIIIp' "'lI1>k. ",. oreues
o.G""~"I", ClI~~n 01 19~ O.

° col/eaion Of options.
Manovieh diminishing and and depletion its narrative-orientated

a Web-based TIl or radio stotron offers collecuon of VIdeo Dr oud,o programs along with the option [0 listen '0 the current Droodcast.bu[ this current pro(rom is Just one choice among many other programs stored on the site. Thus the troditronol broadcastJflg experience, wh,cil Consists so/ely of a real-time lronsmlssion, becomes lust one elem".m m adds that, be~ause the web is always changing. far OUtw".ghs

*"''''M."o~hn''d'Qb • t..

~(''''fIIjl'"
~

.d.ntJIyJOg ,,~d ,""",I. nisin",,, ,I figures

grOwing.

its capability as a database

The net's rate of change. growth forms the basis of f:1 (2) (1999/200 I) (IIHI3J, a
qualities. by Swedish-born sectfons addresses arns t Lisa jevoran by using IP f.ve of dam by one programs given to I'egistered 'Every' and

Work of data visualization

19

Ib-

67). I; I (2) picrorializes cannec·ted - 'Migration',

of the imernel

numbers, computers iterations 'Excursion'

rhe unique numerical

to the net. The work comprises 'Hierarchical', 'Random', contains thousands

- and every visualization

points, in which each registered stich elemem. called 'crawlers' to aggregate

computer

15 represented

Jevbram: explains how she used software the data and compose

the interface:

&low"
111 I..i<> JI!¥lmitt. lo",,,,cc; 'H

~ crawlers don't stan on the first address going co the end; "ad they searchselecced sarnp.les of all the numbers, slowly mlng in on the numerical spectrum. Because of the inrerlaced ~re of the search, the dal:1\base could in itSelf at any given pornr ')nsldered a snapshot or POrtrait of [he web, revealing not a but an Image of the web, with Increasing resolution: lpossible quality to chis affecting work, akin
[0

There is

the futility with

" john Simon's Every Icon inches towards the wholeness of ,festlng every imaginable icon only to be constancly mari<ed COlTlpletion.In the case of Jevbrac['s work. the interface to Inrernet becomes the internet itself. The ratio indicated by t:l[le,a pixeJ for e.achweb address, results In a highly dense
Id, yielding somewhat insolUble results. The scale of (he web

the pixel are balanced in an unc:omforl:1\ble tension. In the F"rtlry'i[~ration of I: I (2), a landscape emerges and the work
1;

tends.towards the imagis6 c and repreSentational.

According

[0

Jevbratt: 'The variations in che compleXity of the striation patterns are Indicative of che numerical distl-Ibu[ion of web Sites over the availableSpectrum. Larger gaps in the numerical space indicate an uneven and varied topography, while smoother color transitions and more eonsis~ent Iilyers are il1dicaeive of ..II 'I" a uVla -or sedimentary; flat-lands in che webs IP space:
Uses In che work Anemone or~ank' I

(1999) [IISJ, anise Benjamin Fry (b. 1975) h

" hUb,creating VISua metapb ors co represent web traffic on a given a I n A ogy In(ormation sets ana . 'I e![Ween natural sYStems and online Whichtakes' ~ ' SIm,ar Work by Fry is Valence (1999) (116) , In orlllatlon_rkh 0bjects, such as books Or web Sites,

14 ,

8d 126 2820
15970

938 126234 l26

no

Opt>;m.t> I~

BonliUTl'" Fry •

ames had attractive, !PPOrtUnities boasted show-stopping

colourful

surfaces,

offered

role-playing and also In fact on a players own

and dramatic

narrative

possibilitl'es, spaces.

architectural art's most

the CUtting edge characteristics.

of three-dimensional

digital deSign. Game environments distinctive a game li(emlly depends compr'ise

crystallize some of interner

chief among them interactivi~:

player. Creativity

is aim "leal, as the hacks a nd additions In these open games. a game's parricipanLS'

make and share within their communrtles

a Significant to come

part
tram

of game Culture.

D'

'elk,

.JnJII!

:n1J~

innovation

is encouraged.

and users are expected successes

rc
and

their own conclusions about

op....
t

and failures. movement of spatially As Lev and popular,

min

[1m

These ideas exist within boch the open-software new media

an communities
chac inflects

that encourage

feedbaCk

critical disceurse. based narrative Milnovich writes IIll'1TAAIMvkRhorm<l

runwn;ddcnl =001 R_,_ou·jOl.mc 2001

Finally. game art explainS a mode many online experiences. with movement

in The Language ar New Media, 'In most games. through

and "I5L1airzes Individual pieces of information,

nteract wrth each other. The data-visuallza.tion rmat, The more ofren a were! appears,

based on he S0m.vare away

I"'

narrarlve and time are equated

3-D

space, progression
modern literature, i'sycnologjcal Jsychologlcal

through theater

rooms,

levels or words.

In COntrast to in

and connects each word by lines 11'1 tl1ree-dimenSion a (he further

and cinema, computer

whIch are builr around and movement return us co ancient lands co and

tensions

between

characters games

faced tram lhe diagram's centre. In this way. Valence is .bl VIde a general overview of the structure of informatior
en text, highlighting, as Christiane rween datll elements Paul points out, 'rela ob that might nor be immediately compositions

space. these

ny .hlps
>.

.orrns of narrative
'"lovement

in which the plot is drrven by che spatial rhrough to defeat these diStant

of the main hero, traveling

ave the pnncess.

o on: Internee strategies of games

eo find
artists

the ereasure,

ehe dragon,

d thn eXist bene~th the surface of what we usually per Other database-driven

often deployed

forms and internal

are based on ell

of random sounds

_ In

to dissemiflate

images

or Ideas.

wor] mdebted to John Cage's scores

ndam 'and ~~Julm

l Hl4Il,B.okchjn

ae« Mortality (2002) [117J by American duo Mark River hidden (who work under rhe name MTAA). songs by t TIle White Stripes are divided into samples equal to one
revolueon of a 45 RPM record. II,tened
to

In Natalie Bookchin's Argentinian

The IntrUder (1999) [llaJ, a story

by

writer Jerge luis Borges

is

propelled

by the playing
the short Story

of various seminal game models, The user lIstening

to

from Pong to war simulations.

These

1.33-second

clips c. be

the audio file that narrates

individually, or every sample from the song call oe so that what was once a f~lrly is synthesued t€l become

heard in a random sequence,

harmoniOUS and cogent narrative

something that seems full of more diverse and unrelated contents,

The

reverber;Uions

between

. the musical scraps an d the orlgln.1 "

song suggest; a Stifling of a media form ( musrc bY data base means, ic]

Games
• Though few other projects shared the high econom . IC

stakes d01

1999's Toywar Campaign. gaming has developed

varied field of ilrtistic practice.
14-1

Into a lively an

H5

, Besides their poten dal forfun, .

must be an active participant, catching, shoo(ing and so 0", in order to hear the next instalment of the story of .wo brothers who love the same woman. Part game history, pan experimenr I~ applying physical relationships to words. The Intrude,.enrlches the c;ommunicatlon and literary palettes of games. Commercial games, suqh as chose for Sony Playstation Or Microsoft X-Box, rely on ceams of programmers, designers and
producers. and require significant investment to be developed.

Arost.S and g<lmen began to explore and domesticate their olte astcrushmg rormaJ backdrops and Internal Contents In a field or 3ct1V1ry COIlled modification, or 'mods'. Vlsible forms of Interveneion include the patch, in which one can change the 'ppealdnce of a game's character and ItS texrure maps (or backgroundsj. These and other mods sometimes acted as forms of tritique, material methods (or diversifying a game's "trcs or rts visual aspects. American artist. eUratOr, writer an -ner Anne-Marie Schleiner (b. 1970) desC1ribed these possrbli
[ntervrew
In

~,ltIi:
IlD Bn>d1 Condo _Z."d

1'i'9\1: 'I am interested art audiences

in

[!'t@

notion of art as

I lire hllcklng, art with a llrltical agenda that .seeps OutSIde th

darias of prescribed and engages itself With
111

er public (i.e. the gaming public). Art that flnds cracks

n~ on of gaming and art strategies

Iillrlr·l[tik!lp",). lrr,lu"01I,,,ri'" M''''~hlelo'r.)'' ml (oad"" I""Cc.llyro~~sr., p

~"'I~rby Anne. ~,.,,'nd

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• Cr:oic\!1f1g 1.nl"'MtAof

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~""I

and hacks into foreign systems. I also want to invite a era

"""''l''!m"''Y pn
h S!n\.. C:~<ed ... &.IIhl Wilron T• ...oM:rno

nrer ..
eto

by providing artlsts wr

- nd techniques developed by game hackers and exhlbnm e patches created by garners as art'

low,
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1-17

hle/ner's web site he~ own work and curatorial Indeed, on Sc _ _ _ [lve engagements with typical gender Ideologies rorects are crea P h · f games, Her Anima Noir~PloySkms (2002). and "enOp 0 bIII0 _ . • _L Melinda Klayman. embraces the hybrid forms and deyeloped Wluo anese (In/me and rewards players for flirtatiOn char3c[IHS 0 fJ ap , and muWiI I sex-po sltive In[eracCloAs, assailing rhe sexism or , arratlVe5 of standard gaming fare. In Cracking homogeneou.1l .. .' the Mue' [122], an e>:hibitlon organized by Schlemer, "niSI Sonya uake pla~ers; rnto buff, tough ·(rag' queens Roberts rnade Q I ueens) , who seem sufficlenrly physically endoWed (a p Iay on d rag q to prev a il In a n'l match . Also In the exhibition was Parangari CU'I"'S

E.prleptlCV,nIS Potch for Marathon Infinity, a shooter

a

game; in tI1"
I ect

a lrere d verst 'on , fluorescent pulsating pixels and strobe lights

player weakened by overload and exhaustton. in the exchange

BecaUSE!

gaml

wlture has thrIVing subcultures

of patches, [ displays. 0
Jr 10W

and other graphics, the works enter into wider populancns discourses. and do not remain Ironic or stagnant the Israeli-Palestinian is an experlmenr communities Microsoft's conflict. Stern's Summol15co Surrender (2000) Intervention. ore recent exhibition exploring erotic games and digital BI05som House', Schleiner notes. ':1included screenshots dlglt.ll folk art medium. Within their online communities,

In narrative

USing the onhne

01

nd

bran movies made with nude Sims Skins. Gaming has bet'

of three

medievfll-themed

games. So"y'~ EverQuesr,

using the Stern

Asheron's Call and ElectrollfC Arts' Ultima Online. game characters. space, screaming the g;rme pleas fOr agency from an
[0

y the roles of critics, curators, and artists, distributing tl me mods and collecnng and reviewing others:
Los Angeles-ba.sed artist Eddo Stern (b. 1972) endowe arranves with political realism in his digitaillideo She!kAIl 2000)
114), m whiCh gaming's shared

Nn

Stern inserted ccrnpurer-controlled game world as a live periormance actions says this 'm~y appear hke qulxorlc

online, and offerrng 'free' use of shared characters

edges WIth desktop'

'til

enthralled

fan , But these actions also Serve

and assert

hijack the game's

and combat coexist in a work based on documented event

point" suen Girl ~p

space and context performance: Introduces

newfound

public space for street Summons co Surrender and

it

A cyberpunk-inspired

project,

sel-f allusions,

alcernatl ... interactions e

model of

resistance
utopian

In[O ehe nostalglcaJl~ medieva I and homogeneous of those games. take a more rheorencal (Urn In Trigger

backdrop

Enemy encounters

Happy

(1998) [125J by British duo Thomson (b, 1969) and Alison Craighead
12]MelindaKI~man f~L2001 hnofthePXII ~ow BI"""", H<Iu,r' cu,..,.d b, ~.5ch~n r 5IllIr "';hI dura.l i-Liltll KJrt· u'J(1e.um!fy d'"rlij~l bntl lIpln$t Yi1fJOU) "el
o-ea.OJ~'WItham;'~tnOtNef
3{

& Craighead.

Jon Thomson a version of the

(b. 1971) developed

1978 Space Invaders, a classic among video games, in which the invading enemy is not an alien Ierce. but rather quotanons from
Michel Foucault's essay 'What is

an

Author!'

from 1969 The gamE:! one's safetY amid

(0

challenges the players' accentlon spans by forcing a dilemma between reading the quotes and preserving dropp.lng bombs while shooung beth), Hypertext at them (Il proves very hard do

-pon Tho pb)'.rml~e. !he girl uow ~he Or sh•• <tu'" lhe ,""P'"'''''' 1l LIlt rIih' lim. by <ildd",,,,, <h. fbwor; bin 10,mE
.a point. mab:s m ~ Cl'Uturl! 1I\O'_ln ....,_

""'ani»

links deriVing from the quotations

at the top of

the screen distract even further; BrI(lsh writer J. J. King wrote about this frenzied envlronrnenr as a comment on the artenuon strategies required by contemporary technologies: 'Trlgge, Happy 148

1S

H'J

~oming from [he point of view of a young black male trYing HapPY. llu,mson
&. CrdlghUd.

to

survive Inner (hoose proceed eliminate community

GIL)'

life in the nineties,

hence the name

. You

one of [he stereotyped

[0

characters, It also aims

after which you encourage the black

battle the forces of evil that plot to convict or

[0

ap~a

nCB

you from the streets. through

game culture

that it is possible

to break rnto and

different areas apart from mUSIC. and create games that have got some thing co say: If many games rely on stereotypes exemplory Jodl,arg's

htstoncal conflicts lor their premise, as BI"ckLash did. SOD (1999) radically modified the clas src computer game
establishing abstracted approachable. spaces for gaming. However, the targets Within the one
IS

Castle Wolfei'lStein,

With a jaumy score and limited palette the game space at first appears minimal environment supposed
to shoot.

of grey, black and while,

it is difficult to ascertain and easy to get lost

In

Its dl,orlenrating.

Kafka-esque

space. Combining

confusion. interacnvuy more primitive,

and a all
ling

simple graphic environment, core. The ways In which with feedback personal
o

SOD hints at prtvate emotions.

ItS

the while taking gaming back to

cornputerrred

arn sts

have worked

wrrh games - c rea

into cornrnurutres

new material for free widescale distribution and political and less homogenized a new dimension
[0 an e

channel s. and lI1f1ecting eXisting games With more

COM

ten t - have helped

:owards the basis of a future information

economy,
we're I

to produce

rscmg entertatnrnent sector

n:enllon. preCisely because of Its scarCity. may become ommodlty. The most successful constructions,
II

,may be those which in generating

attention

and catchlr

e. un take the reader's fmger off the trigger' The player mons among writers. texts and readers, or face destruction the fictional of artist and

by that te1(t Indeed, by configUring the game in this way, [he arn

establish an homologous relationship

Viewer, Or arust and player.
to

between

opponents of gaming. and the tensile relationships

Which Foucault's essay alludes.

IS

In Trigger Happy. resolution between these subject positions

seems ImpOSSible: the most appealing possibility anomer round 'Crac.klng the Maze' exhibition. was a web-based a player chose from four stereotyped
thensle ....his Or her

to play in the

Mongrel's BJackLosh (1'.198) [126], which also appeared

game in which

black fighting characters,

way to freedom by killing police and fasciSt

chara(ters.

One 01 the creators, Richard Pierre· Davis, explained how the game depJoys stereotypes: 'BlockLosh is based on a half truths and hardeore reality

combination of stereotypical

ISO

libraries of code or "artie I . ,.. u ar prOjects I h the revisions and modifitatlo b ,n t esc collllbol":ll'ol'ls • ns Y vaned p , ' Incorporated, With the suce 1l logrammers are e5S 0 Inu as a operating system (an operat'" . popular open-SOUrce a com flu tel', on whrch all Other entr~1 application 01 prOgrams run) aut h orship pa radigms of the fre f ,e econOfnLC and e-so rw~re mov innovation, diverSity and collabo eme.,t encOurllged I'll tlon The award I f prestlg"cus Golden Nita Award' to l.inu ng 0 th~ I999 I~ at Ars EII!ctr0l11Ca L t~t nes to Itl. Importance as a din , ' mo e m~frll\ 'or (reauv ccllaboraticn Proprietary software. I e , n companson-Iorexam Ie Adobe Photoshop and Mlcroooft Word c., I P, , ",-"ce and PowerPoint " dosed to rnodlflcanon and expen~ive to h ,. , pure as!! As German cnuc Dieter Damets explains. Open-soure' , • e SO,tw a re is a bottOm. Up system. while propnetary ware IS.~ "top d ..
g sYStem IS the c

tn

represented Microsoft

by he precise notaucn Ccrporation.

well as the proprietary

or a clanLCal( • ompo ItlOI\ as software developed by Btll G~tu~ lor whIch ,he secrety of rh _ sou monopOly' Beyond the Irle I

- OWn Strl1tlure

raove art, according to American artist and teacher Phil! ter I< 'art practice where the artist creates a process, su
t of natural langcage rules, a computer

IS the basis of a capnahsr

program,

a rnaclu

01 buying (ommerclill software he concerns, ral eel TheWeb Stalker, that With its lllnited sets 01 comm
funcnons designed software who has published of experience" engineers. inspiration distribution inspired for use across a Wide snle com Inhibits experimenranon and autonomy

er procedural

Invention, which is then set lnto motion w, contributing to or resulting in a

35

egree of autonomy

eted work of art' Fluxus projects and Happenings, whlcf d on scores or instructions.
lcal precursors have been recognized
to new media-based

extenSively on how 'soltw,lre fo known as soft users These tll" I r str

a COplCsometime

forms of generative

writes of the need for ccllectlve activity among soft artists and computer nurturing Fuller. besides a diverSity of tools, 'ould

th software art. many Fluxus projeces problematized [he

tne artist by removing his or her physical index from the reduction of the artwork. Art generated ay software can lad, plly5 IcaI Im pro~isatio nallati tude of a Happe ru ng, bu lGin va ry ccordmg to e1fternal data conditions
If a prolecc of software

from the successfu' organnanenal and collaboration.

free-s 0 few" :recom m u 0;1 5uch as rh el r reposuc rre ty.

RUnme.org

or user inpu •. In addition and refined by on the or

art is open (that is, its code is available 0' art IS premised

[12B1,

which Fuller helped orgam,'" Developed

open to edrdng), It can be modified. adjusted another user Some online software endurance of rnechamzed algorithms,

as it was by the distribution initiatives

databases cornrno by a team "f JrtIIlS, Kaulmann, Ale the w severalmrerl feedback and

free-software programmers Matthew

such as John Simon Jr's or designers.

and writers -Amy Ale ander, FlOrian Cr Thoma

Every /con,Othel"5 draw attention to certain mechamzed

routine behaVIour among users. programmers or rely on vanled input from users. British writer Saul Albert described as appkable
to

Fuller, Olga Goriunova, lor software

McLean. Pit Schultz. Alexei Shulgfn and The Yes Men based repository art foreground. paradigms keyword
IS

the term 'softwOlre are' One important influence

of the open-software

nodes. downloads

'art: that is made from, uses, or imerroga~eS

indexing. In con tl'~Sl to a traditional exhibition or gallery Included a re diverse. enabling various forms together they suggeSt, of functionality, shareware and programming

software as a cultural form and context'. free-software movement.

"ncouragll'lg the deveJopmenr of software and generative art

Source'. free SOnw"re and its communities IS2 organize around

me

Runme.org shares art WIthin an artist-drIVen dlscunlve context While the proleets growing dominance of sound. Image and textual creation.

Often identified with the rubric 'open

1111 I!" "me n'l' soltwarc on ""'p"'imrr. 200 l

as an art genre. With the model of wab-based discuss distribut.ion, Runme.org offers an alternative to other and archival models. such as Rhizome.org or THE THl many works in this field. software art's proXimity [0 Ir methods creates an important foundation. A/phobe( Synthesis Machme (2002) [130]. made for ;. television ne(Work PBS by Golan Levin (b. 1972) with I Feinberg and Cassidy Curtis. allows users to conslder dimensions of typography and handwrlung by develcpu typeface based on 3. direct mark (made with the mOU5 despite his prowess as a programmer. understands th activities online need not be devoid of handmade. direr urse
<;Ire n AlphB.bet Synthesis
StJt"MIl'.I!¥~ CoDnt..lCil ..... 1ot~tt'*'.1 ... n ~ "'1)1'10 dot ~cm ~JlU!r..lji'

Machine Fonl Archive

... ,d

T~fI

A.rl:Zl

a.:;l:'Wo.ck.

.h~lt.:r~.

vlGl'to:r~

HQg;h_!,..
IJ

ill
II!'

c:..ti:,a

online .nod cr-eed

flD
·;r-tS

.b!;'t<a In.

pe.t'DonelL.::cd 1

~~~~!~r :!a;:~e:~-=!~g rliLLy •

•

·non,Se-l').l!:Ie to""" I'I'h.~b

,,u1h

61pbQb::ot~

r~.~mblc

.cOhUIHI1..

I he phU51ble
or

of

clvl1114tlQru;

euc
I

unrnedlated line creation and experimentation" The mar gesture of creating a letter, while subject to the rules 01 that turn it Into an alphabet. suggests a different set of posslbll res, unlimited by proprietary word processor typefaces. War logIn film and TV as well as software. American anist Barb.,,, L![t30zl (b. 1950) began to develop software that would help her ImprOYISe with film and video. citing existing resource:. as inadequate "i d 10m orp hrc 'I would rather make my own software (whllt I term hie ,omeso!! software"), because the commercial ,ofrw",re [ at us .h d rcre ro do Wit price. That price has less to do with money an me k .f . gofn)ywOr a different process of abstraction: the active rarnm .. . i(e5 of DeSign. within ccnstderanons dictated by Irrelevant pract
154

i, ",-.,'1..0,
-j

:lliI"lOI'l'_'''

11) ... ,

~rl(l]

.14 I

J'" ~ 1 -~ \.'.:.1. ....

By.lo.""ClJ1ym'O"U' !t4 • ., HI

~tun

8y D.b

liIt"r 10, ~r1Ol

_'1_'
il~

l'I'I"v

g.I'IJJ"''''I~O'''' 10 2'00:1

Sv

.or

"".\1' au,
i lJ! li

~o-;:;;I.:I "'6q'lol"I!!1~ ~OO]

lattanzi's software

HF Critical Moss

[131 ene of almost ten pieces of J. techmques of Hollis

lreeware on her site.

rs based

en the cinematic

Frampton (1936-S4) in his 1971 film CrilJco/ Moss and noteworthy for its particularity. AV3ilable lor use at no charge by anyone who might want to adopt his or her Quick Time flies Using the film's Idiomatic style. the work undoes the ges!<~1 relationship t software and mass funcuoj1allty that characterizes apph<:adons. As Maahe"" Fuller notes, 'Software !ten mto bemg simply a
[001 IS

between

most reduced too "f pT'e-exlmng has

for the achievement

m Beru
_I e

lIy formu late d tasks: (b 1973) of the British group Nul'pomrer eli .ofrware for composing music. as well as orked Installation-tum-performance perverted
I'

QQQ (200~
dlsperw in the

based On the

me Quake. The actions of che geographically In such a way that they appear colourful pamterly gestures exploits,

am Id!>t abstracted game as a

a spaces, Whereas ",urderous

the actual Quake player. are

QQQ presentsthe

_e spao;e for Image production,

The beau dful and

Ul3tioos of Quake position the work on an arusuc e between gestural painnng and gaming. 2002 exhibition 'CODeDOC' promotes and commissions f American Art, curator how different processes ce md expression for the Whitney Art; internet an at the Whirr Paul sought to the twelve three po
III TOI'n8ot ts,

Christiane

of coding rondinoned

of one idea, Cornrrussronmg

QQ

In space', Paul stipulated opposed exhibition experiencing former usual focus In software encouraged

that the code should be the object

JS

ubrnit code mat 'should move and connect

to 'what It produces' circles users

By
0(1

thus reverse-engineering

the

functional works. rhrs group

I

to

e amine source code

tself before

its expression,

on the 'CODeDOC'

web Site, the

'In

was II prologue to the larrer In her imrooucuon [0 the project, Paul linked code with aesthetics and themes evident In of from the layer of data and (ode. any "digital been produced and instructions

of the 19605: 'Even If [he physical and Visual man! estanons digital art distract software image" has ultirnarely this layer of "code" level which connects expertments
III BottoV>o Lattan:zJ HF (,_
M=

by mstrucuons
It

and the It IS pn!clse1y a cO[1cepmal

that was used to create OT'manipulate

to previous arusnc

that constuutes

work such as Dada's (b 1928) (hat are

with formal variations and the cone aprual pieces by John Cage and SolleWitt of IrIsuucclons: As a form, source code using different bnguages

Marcel Ducharnp,
"'''''''''''.pplI<O '"

based on the execution interpretations

~ """""',

Rm. 11301

Is revealed as a highly malleable Instrument, and artists'

are varied permuratlons

rll~h
r;r\niHlt-

I
'..h

if pnOlnu
prinl

l)'ll1111_l

J,

I I

133 Saw-ad Brooks.

GJob<ll City. ror SaWa

Sa"""' 2002

the code for exh,bltlon

Wll(ottHrn'1

(from the 'COOeDOC

at the Whim")' Mu.eum of AmenC3n An:}, Us,ng programming lang<J>.g" Perl. Brook>. d, rpla~ page' of the col,ne Yl!rs,on$ of three n"W,p~pe".Hlghllghtln; SroaOls"

'Ill

l.oe:Ml. IoIlIdl ~

,meres' ,n 0:11&,,,,1

tJ!chl\ologle. - and the <o(:laL poliuc;a1 "oo:! phllo~aphlc;jl ,~5Ues tI1ey ...... e - this proje<:< queStIon.

.." ••

",,1Ib

rh relative llU<on r::omy Df .... ell

nCWSP"per lind tile _yin suc.h publiotlon.

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J.IV"

or lingo. While

Sswad Brooks

uses Perl

Glabel CII)',for Soskia Sossen [1lJ-1l4) and Camille Utterback (b 1970) works With C In LlnescGpe,cpp (Ill), Golan Levin's Nus 137 and Milnin Wattenberg's Connection Study [136J reveal code "11th JaYB Far from dehumanlzmg texts, cede shows I ts latrtude
lor mrencon and personallry;
In It

is political

in the hands of Levin, and hyperrdtiOn,l1

state; some

ele.;<ln[ and terse when written by Wattenberg, Utterback's contribution. Finally. notal! software explorations
In

an exists

In a funcnonal

of I[ remains purely prcpostttonal, of functionality Graham discussed works.

Moving

away from the

Harwood's

and visualization In the preViously London.pl (2.00 I) [138J exisr.!

it
IS simply

an evetll"-Ss objectified form than an appli«l,tion:

for processing that: calculates

IlS Camill. Une.buk bn... opo.<PI> 1OD21(""", '....

'COD.DGe' WI;,....., oxhlblt>cn

script in Perl (a language designed (OIl"S[5 of a program

Arc) children in London who have been,

,exl). London.pl
lung Gapaci'l' of words,

the collectiv"
In the artist's

11u... m

ur Amoricln

I.t "'.

'beaten,

enslaved, tucked, and exploited

to death' since 1792 (at the ,ime of I

IbO

U'l.

.fI.t..n..~.~
Ilft

"111.1..p.t-ion~
~f:I.

'Q.-~
It.rt

In
et

A..a.d t1uJI
'l ...

do

no~

'.pl"
Or
-t_

It .....

"'P'-·.~~m

ot an) '1'1_

~~'lIloq~
t',{101

aut.bar-

publ1.h.I'Il"
...

eaae"'f"ft"~'"

.t.\.u'

01

."Y

c;:.Qtmt.'r7 (IT

.:itory of
Ot"

\It'hori.t.~iII_.

ot.

I"'t=le.~.rll.i.!"i'

l-h

.h.lr.a~tCln

ttt

't..

rt.:tJlt!ulI

bOIJ.od,lil:l ••.

AJUttllU4b lA!11

"'''

11. ....

tt.1.0:1
DOt. ..

Ia" .... 1I•• U,r. ..... '~Uilo

Ito duo
ot

tII't

.1111 f)QII_iblD
••

.Hila,

~.n 1:1at, •

.t ••

t.nat:

I'

oll .••

COUnl-1'.l

1'1 ..... Il10 ~.t ".11 of

egApL"h~

v • n"I~"':I
OUt-IttI.

... I.O~ t

1: ...

111.

Mlr
lit

"PPl'o.'."'-~'l~
thi. t..1a ••

'1:_. ".

1•

,.."a "~IIII' di.plo-ar-.bl.

j ..".

avl.·;

'",

Britain's Industrial Revolutlon)_ The vital stll~istic is used co time a

M_C:1.a.r .. ~ i.(11!! tI:I

ot .~

~..ttl ••
1,,1 Lo.d d.ltab.It. ...

of

.doC'lLiII.nlL t:or

scream - the collective scream of these child ren -

1O

be broadcast

in London in the hope of redresslng what the arusc Cites as an 'imbalance of imagination and innocence'. The consequences of the Industrial Revolution are also <Illudedto in qumimons from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. which are remixed in the code along with the anise's premise and the Perl commands. In this work, code calculates the formal consequences of the artist's prescription for England, Er1gineerlng and runctionalityare designed but sidelined, and the work insread draws arrenuon to 1[5 500311y inspired inrernal content. It ISthe concept that gives the work its strength, not its rna reriality, As Christiane Paul noted, there are parallels to be drawn between this form or generative art. software art and earner art practices that changed the relauenships between the artist and hrs or her work of an, like those by John Cage or Sol LeWIrt. They, like other conceptual artists, opened up spaces between symbolic represem:ation and enactment. Software projects such as London,pl are akin to works from the 196 Os that amphastzed proposition and intention viataxr-based projects, However. the

IJ1 Gol"'l""ln,Ax~, 1001. OnT,.. J:rn :OWlet II,,,,,, tilt

'COD<lOOC' ~lbnlaR octile Art)

circulatIon 0f London,p! and many other works of software art within free-software contexts as well as art zones gives them economic. technical and SOCiologicalvalues different from art
101

WIll",., M.,....,.

or .>.menan

objects or e ... nes. Perhaps the most apt metaphor e

Is that

London.pl, and software art like P

roperty

It. can function

like. a muskal

In the public domain, without

copyright;

It travels ea~'1 Iy,

and .5 free to sample and build upon.

Open Works

In their own ways, London.pl and 'CODeDOC model of open software knowledge In which users
With

represenl programmang

me

can modify or participate

as author, ~udlence ~nd of internet users. Who and basic

critic BUilding on the general knowledge Ilke uploading and downloading dissolve boundaries be.ween Mark Napier's Digital Londfrll[7Sj. metaphorical

are likely familiar with online communication art production

funcn ns

data. some artists which explored

sought to the form

I

and audience

material of the web by having Visitors chuck web sites m which users could evolve complex rely onessen~ial to the surrealist c.ontributions text-and-image

'crash heap', or Nam June Paik's ParUcipalJol1 visual structures, these Some In from their audience. collage technique.

thee ex corpse' so named after a fragment from one of [he collab formed sentences. In GlyphitJ (200 I) [(39), Andy Deck (b
developed an interface
10 which any viewer

can modify or

Visual elements function defence, across used by

Its ccllaboranve

edge Is that u ts designed to or software to protect

III

most firewalls (hardware

lines of private

.nsutuuons

or companies from par·taking

data or prevent

employees

leisure acuvrnes)
111

A sirnfiar work
programmers of graphics for people
13'1 Andy O"d< Gfyphlb, 100 I .AJthuul;1\c.cmln e:1eorm:nt:!. in ttku; p.... !U,~been foxed by Deck. Indudlllllcolaur Ibla~kano wII,a cnlyl.nd " ..... on h.ve th~ f~om <0 c:!unge tho md""duoJ glyflhs that rnal<o up th. IRe .no tesee rn.e~r own m;;n1t Oe'5lgoil!d to fufltdon :a:c.ro!f:Smon i1f"e'N'lkls., Glyp/1iD beat'l.'mli>n 'e< to g0'3ffitl In It> iI;>1'O'Opn.oon of pnv;,u;. 'J>1tcforf" ...

IS commummoge

lI41', launched

1999 by
Ie collage tools

c a I c and Johannes uploaded by visitors. to form ralanonshtps technologies

Gees. A democra around eccentric.

as well as commun,cauon the.r parncrpauon,

commUnimogl' offers large-scale.

vlsualluxr;lpOsltioIlS.

,.ct

If internet

allow for frrendly encounters of social and creative pl'ocesses rendering

around
can also them Graham

image maps, the rhetoric dram collaborations highly documentary Harwood Inscnbes create

of their critical potency, or formal. An Important

[143-144],

work of collective In Amsterdam,

1:0

SOftwllre. Nlne(9) (2003) collaboration

created by Mongrel's
t

and cornrnlssroned

by the Waag Society

Into a social conte 'knowledge

by allowmg users

simple multimedia

maps' (hac can be linked to

•__ C9.[11_m UIjj""",

<luI'''''' Commuo ,,,,,,",,,1', g"",.d

Wi

So.:/(IW "gin 1',i'2lo~h 0". Amy ,Francas "hlni and ;~rl.n Wo~: of Fu;tiu r,er~rm er$, Cll;l'f1lmu"laJ 1~L.t.rt. }OOI LIkc 001 er .<>ft_ ....prol~<" d', scr! .. d oncl,l,

,,,,,,,,cd< !""r
c(lecOI.Ild

e, 'Valuing tIi e iiO!!li\t!onlll, I., ten ctJ'i~ ~ r6~lon of id... In <he ,e<:Don ~ tld.<I ",1>.1, "''' .. ~ do
an: II:In cam,pll.ltcrl'. ror
-!-Jl:ill"l'lpl'c,

~bOlH

pla(,;Q an'a'l~t.u bc~cen::!L pilnU:;iP:,rlC who 1l"~D thil.t'cornpu~c.r art al'ows p;eoplc ~oshi1~.lfl ccmm.unlc..1'Eie' :Jnd -;IInod,~r whose fart"n-g,ht bell ef tS tha I: 'a n:: i!'i 'art. CDmp!JU:I r~,are 10011:

thos~ made by other p~rdcipam:.s. The ilnks of Nine(9) map. are

Q

'ccompallIed by aU1:oma[IC:aily e~e~ated ernails that arm t 0 create g ~onl1ectiolls betw",en users: at the same time. Perl Script>. ~eilrch _, ' ' ' out other shared features across maps. Named after the dlff .. '" er~nc~ in years between female life expectanCies In Jamaica and Sweden
to

the prOlect ..... deve,loped in reaction as most graphiCS and media production

another

soclallmb"lan~c Like '1nd

sofrw~re, such as Dlre(tor

for experts crowded

0;

Pho{i)sillOp, are de$igned almost exclusively communi mage. till! prOlect is somewhat to 1:I1e eye. since users, have published

lind di$orijenta~ng

medleys of snapshou

other media. Nln.e(9J has the tempo, scale and visual dl~er5lty ,,[,

scrolling view of a City street or crowded

meet. xnd not one knowledge A
(.I

park. Thac ~Il It~ bor I~r\

map takes precedence

the centre

over",
Nine(

ler

ut> a poiltKal aesthetiC of aqualltyac like all (he software

of the wor

works previously

discussed.

'Uest.> that the cornmuntry of the internee can and shculn ocrH11ed by expanding the ranks of who can use It, an Crash orZOOO 2000 an emergence of a number of books and ar:adem' u-ses on net culture and related subjects mdicated that orms were considered an instructive and vigorous mte r e The rncrease in Irmunacional museum and festival m urnents to online art. the ongo,ng support from rneu
ent es. and the formation of new forums

In South Asia an

Amer ca registered Widespread recognition and relevance u tors eagerly took on internet-based work and found y,. exe(,Jte e~hlbltion5 in 'educational contexts and a slew or 5 venues. such as Eyebeam in New York. rhe C-Le~elln Los' and Cornerhouse ,n Manchester, England. Museums and ga also sought to keep up. thetr staff struggldng 1:0 deal With th~ technical issues related to CUrdling. hosting, displaying arld'
mternet art. even as many 01 their work rouunes were beto

ng

depende~t on tools like email and web servers.

become more customary
1Tiiw.:Ii rn laQ~ (f'I

By2000,lt
or

to peruse the phorographs emulator,

nf grn!..lrn-

~l'"'h

dccumenrarlon

of an arlin vra his or her web srte, but the

c:onarlll"f,

nll'\of :t1't11,oJc:.~ willi nln~

prospect of m~lntalmllg technical enrerprlsa,

needed

[0

""'I" p~. oro,fle)

from the mld-I'il90s was.

much more speciahzed,

preserve softw expenSIY€ a' d

flt>1>'>«<1>oI ....
~'i4 M ongrnl t"-......., 'm.:.i;e5. rrtFm NI.. (91, lOill. TO.. H""g<S on til. left ond """n lrom til< "'" F" 'K,\lon&SN,r. "'~ 'No CamPI";f r<:1p<ai~

At the same time. however. net an suffered p31pable IOlsel in prest'll" and funding alike. The collapse of the AmerKilJ'l market
In sprmg

rIgI""

~wck

2000, after yellTs of prosperity driven by mformation teChnology (slOee 1995, more than a third of Amerl,an

e{onomic growth had resylred Imemel

from information

techno!o

eoterpmes), brought with It a sense of cynicism about the gy

The market's bre'akdown led to milJor clltback~ In and funding sour(es natlon~lIy endowments

in tile United States and rasuleed In a mere

by the Republican poli~i~~ In

comerYlltlVe climate in museums (these would only be exacerbated subu'quent ronsrsrenc tralectory

years) Unlike television and film, which shafl~d a mo'll of success as forms of mass media. the net demystified

was ramted by e.wnomlcfailure, Ideas AI. Internet-related rush' day~ were proclaimed oprloru or secvllues) entrepreneurs assessments of net

hype and m~l'kDt"I~1«

(tho

businesses

shut down in waves, 'gold company valuilnons, srO[1 to match

erl

over and 'paper milliona(f'es

whose wealth fell.ed on unrealistic

were dismissed as greedy and cpporui they pronounced the mternar cenrury, these ~ we'aken and l::Id~

Televls!on news specials seemed

an when

In the first few years of the twenty-first nd dl1tJnwVeness of rhe internee began

utd become rnarnfest as the earliest !lotions of the auron

to

et ar L pracnres moved closer

as arurnaucn and video] spomcs
to

other cultural fields sue" cncal medm, free software and film (I_e, rich medi~ forrnav
to

In Ole hands 01 artists,

the net wo

fren apprOl(lmaUl a black market, suggesting a panoply of

the legacy of tl'le doecoms and nee.art,

I"~ H~twood M0,,£ ,.1 1Inwm/O"",bI. f",,,,"' 2000 I" oIi!~ G' ~hl::.fi:n.t ~mmI~jDCU 'Of the
T::II~ "l"I«art
In lLlftl1~1!: T;J..'t!::

H._
I)f

co.~,,,.j 10'1'
Jue vmD 'SIt.!

thl!l ~I

""""n

Onll'l!

jncorpc;rn,ili-tbl.Qd dr.l~d"n!~

r'N!C;1 tI1:lt

"'!<IV" 01 <flo 'Br;u'h oJ,..., ,,",,0 IIiI,. hUulr, ",II, """"'oll.d ~ w.::d 1h!! mu~~,wn. e:.~QI'I t.hl! T ........ " "Tho <;OMlrUruon 01 Ibe
~OIIt:t:1J.Dn Bf';">h ~ ~~ i (:(If"I:ru-ua;.o '''''ffl.llion
.... 001 ,>0

... lw:;l."tlr:r c

.""i»

:lnd

Lh~

""""PI. QI 01;0""",1< pawo.

0,;>"1" "I: o!"", ... tk.,~'

,,,,,II'_'d Lh. po!lUo>

170

Chapter 4

Art for Networks

VQ),(!l:lrIsrn, Su rvell/o nee and Border~ Telepresence, September surveillance. voyeurism and live broadcast
rit

were
In

rnouls of Wolfgang Staehle's

lnstatlaucn

Postma >ter~ GJllery

200 I. Staehle had hooked up three Video cameras to creating IYl"Lcal. dyllic, stili Images char seemed I These three Video streams were rransrnmed walls, consutuung On

mm a castle in Bavaria. the TV Tower In Berlm Jnd the skyline of Lower Manhattan, every four seconds. via the Internet II September umntendcnal, IIbefrimd from time and dally I,ife, even as they were refreshed for broadcast onto the gil Ilel 200 I , when articulation documented

an ongoillg pittOI ial medication on media voyeurrsm

It

the terl cnst auacks

on LowerM'anhatlall,

the mstallaucn suddenly became l deaf,lf of [he role mass media Images could potentially take on Onglmlly nrled TrJthe Peopiro of New York and now known as Un!ltled 11~61, he work [rnadverrently] t doubled J,
IOUFl1altSrn and shared qualities ascnbad
[Q

[hat gen

re

(lnsranraneous,
life lntensified

medlilted).

an uncal1ny cornbmanon of art and

Sawon (Staehle's dealer]

by the decision of Magda

ItS

and the a reist [.0 lee the s creams continue to document each stage of the tf3gedy and October. a history painting' aftermath unnl the show c lased lus 'landscape
In

As Staehle (Old Artfarum,

pamnng became

This combination

of real world events and onhne surverllanre

In

mechanisms should nor be taken as rele ....nt or Singular only

light of cragic, public occasions, such as the events of II September But the attacks on New York City and Washlngwn DC did usher in an era in which surveillance controlled rnedl" environments and individual freedoms became heightened toprcs
for debate. While m~ny
artists

had struggled

With

the autonomy

141> Wolfgang U"~d"" lOOI

Staehle.

and privacy of internet spaces durmg the 19905, as coun trres responded eo the US·led pOH.II September 'War on Terror' by

passing more stringent and pr-Ivacy re-emerged parodled

surveillance and datilveill,,"ce laws. security in culcur-al spheres as salient Issues.

surveillance technologies collective Is Radical Software

The specializatlOIl of governmentill

In a work by the international

Group (RSG) called Camn/ore (200 I-present).

There are !:Wo

parts to Carnivore: the first, t"'·e C~rnivore Server; rncrueors

Internet

traffic (email, instant messaging. web surfing. etc) in a and provides the data results: the second
IS

speciflc local network

made up of client applications

by other artists who

VIsualize (he

data, such as Jonah 8ruc;ker-Conen [147J with PollceStale. Inspired by the FBI datavelliance software DeS 1000 (nicknamed Carnivore). CamIVO~ IS explained by new media an curator
rrttCt

C<Jnfl"~oct 1'lK: m.ol.h .. uen 'II e glob. eI, I .111 Jic Rod.

Benlamin Well as demonstra[lng dertslve comment

'how difficult and arbltl"ary the

'I>....

In ,',,'

fielding and representation of Information can be. thus making a on tne official endeavor to rnoruror inrormation e changes'. like ocher works In the da[;l-vlsuaIJzanoll mode. CarlllVore software suggests lhat there IS no necessary between information and Its interpretatiorl.
congruence

10 pholGgr>ph j long'IIJ~~ cl0Jll"l'1l f'I'tI,,,- p~"'OI$ on nu~nlngthe

! in OUf'

ml"dfil~

melr. tho
"l"o.ol"l..1nd

In 1997, SIOVel1J3nartist M:Jrko Peljhan (b. 1969) debuted hrs research Station Mokrolab at 'Documema 'in Kassel He has sinc;e brought the structure to a number of naeions, including
Scotland

Ihl,or

and Australia.

and plans

to

end up in AntarctiCli by 2007. and natural phenomena

A travelling lab fo telecommUnications

ISO .. un.mii.net ten.rl<\< Lim Woon Tie" Wei), alpha 3.3 (d~"il ofthe ""lk).~OOI. ThT, proiecL which p"""d'ed ,olp~. JA. ch'rted. walk from Singapo,,"
):j Y<>ng.nd to M'alily~a..

research" Makrolob hosts artists, scientists and tattlcal media workers whose projects focus on the abstract and intangible qualities of digital and satellite culture, including radio waves, atmospheric properties and the electromagnetic spectrum, Peljhan contends tl1at these are the invisible but actual materials of globalsoc'ial and' political mechanisms, and' that following these fields requires specialized knowledge and research. The roaming research station and its expansive body of data on the workings of invisible spectra, stored and conveyed on Its globally accessible' web site.accord this projec-t boundaryless status. The dispersal of Mokra/all {irldings marks a new dimension of specialized artistic activity and standsas a small-scale and pervious analogue of forms of gove rn mental and mil ita ry res earc hand s u rve illanee, Peljhan's long-term research on bordsrlass systems such as radio waves and the eiectl"omagn.etiC spectrum has coincided With exp 10ratio nsof othe r bord ers us ing th e net as a ba Sis 0 r poi n[ 0 f comparison. Tsunarnii.net [ISO], a duo made up of Singaporeanborn artists Charles lim Yi Yong (b. 1973) and Woon Tien Wei (h. 1975), explores boundaries between internet space and geographical organization, mapping their divergenceslnto a narrative. For alpha 3.4 (2002), created fur 'Decurnenta XI', the duo used a. Global .Po.sitioning System, or GPS (a system supported by a range of military. commercial and cansumer
III H.. i:om s.,.., unfing, 'g. 2002

applications that determines an individual's or object's {ime, location and velocity based on radio waves). As they walked from Kiel (the location of the web server of ,Do cum en til') to Kas~el (I le physical'location of the 'Documenta' show) in Germ. ny th - PS and a mobile phone registered their changed lotanons on w site installed in the 'Docurnenta' space in Kassel An earl! r w r

151 Iemes Bucld\"'>5e. r0l>. 1000.. rap. wh1cl11, d'ownlo.d.ble onto ~_'m P.i1Cf.:S~ e.ila~'~s USen. l,\O """ngtilon <h" dance .kill, of animated charaerers - by makillg til em pracase certaln di!)j-I'I::e meves, fOI"' exareple. Users ca.n cl1oreoZ'"F'h dan, es.
finl!:hed ;p~ifoll"miJnc;{; Palm PiIQiu, 'Or seno,

alpha 3.0, consisted ora. web walk-abouc in a housings! l Singapore. There, a GPS triggered various web sues to loa according to the wal ker's particular position, In n ongol 19 performance series called 34 NORTH 118WEST, tile an performer's use GPS as the prerequisite for a theamcal
Iocalexploration of a Los Angeles neighbourhood,

I'

""I,C~<h.
(1[1

their

web-based
withthe

travelogues,

tsunarnii.net's

li~ work addresse

I

sequ ~nlQ~ m ,,<her p""pie" F.drom d'~otion to tFill!' web ,or etnall ufOrllllts. the USes. ef the net envi'5liOfil!!dby .rtirt5 like 8u ekheu se are 10,,"1. II!!nabUng crea moe: sodal int~ra ~ on.::ii toke ."cl1nol'!gY.", a poi", of departure,

as an index of location, comparing .its abili')' 1:0 cont ric actual activity of walking through various rerrit ne

""t

34 NORTH fI 8 WEST is explicit in its exploration of physlCJ landscapes via computer tablets and satellite technologies. Heath Bu.nting questioned the releva nee of international
borders in BarderXing 176 171

[151J, commissioned by Tate Modern in Britain in 2002. In a srunnlng lnversien of the traditional

assumpti0n

that web sites are open and democratic

to

forms, criteria:

Bunting restrictS access

BorderXing (an easy technical feat, but

to certain and cyber-cafes nations whose and lraq], Bunting's by users On the web for

highly unusual for net art sites) according were admitted, as well as inhabitants

visit0rS from public venues such as universities of entire people are marginalized (such as Afghanistan

access policy showed bias against private consumption outside social spaces or oppressed site, the artist has documented includes a helpful web-based one point to another, crossing about twenty international poli.tlcai contexts. borders, his routes and strategies

The travelogue the easlssr way from on how to execute boundaries by

tool for plotting

and offers suggestions international realities While there

a journey, avoid guard dogs at borders, freight tunnels; it also demystifies pointing out various geographical a shallow stream, easy to cross'). liberties associated various communication

jump trains and traverse

(e.g. 'the border is just

are many Supposed and rr: the net become' of the internet

with the consumption

devices, in BorderXing

inseparable from national boundaries

and borders.

let's warchalk ..!

PllntQU1llt:b CIld· h ihould .li1.lfly.our~~(t .,-1\

G ~on

bolin~

'NWr.~""!k

(lfd Iizt.WI'w!n)'OU lind 111 win:fSI((tss :l.p1baif I~ at~ to(.lllCl

I'"C:Ider"~\I' 'Oo'o'n~
Of

..

JtlndiJrd

:P1i!B:11!'\emek"ow;fY-&lIh;!l"'<ei.~tJQ!1'JOf"~lOH'e_TclaIkir1g
-!)'mI:Idle1151.W~ WMt~l.kfIlg VW''IoOt "l\,ryeW"li~II~'I'TllItfw

Vo!T.MCII'I.")'CIU N¥l:l'I'I(Idc

E:llCw,eut

«!me

i1m&5

to dnlgn

WiWCh ..lld"n~'blac:kDlltJl!ln~lIi:co:m [.,"4 V.RU of pIn IoIJU IInd 5J"mbal

plll •• 1

-,_---- ... ref.

warchalk_!
IVMBOL '3i.y

,-.-----.._notes

------.--~--I
rn mu~m@t:c.ullure:.
I~

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Y.
that:

toYn5_tlotUl
de

fI'lOVement

Ifil!1 wfreli!5S

ilCCe!.S 'tones

U3mg ttabonte VJs:ua1ymbo\s s o.... e<I from bobe <ammuniqui). 01 th. G roa, Dep CWO" Markers on wail!!, s.i d'!Y:f.il.Fks or Storefront.s. Specify th. kind 01 >Co.", Prcvi dod as a m.e:.n:s O'r prov,ldlfl;g m n rtf! open pre5- tc tI2J~-arqmufli~(rom" Illu'''''<ed h.... I,. pockar,
rli:rerefl[~ OfWilTdialk.l.ng teens

6
... tf"M"'~
d.f1f1
ilall"<On

-_._-_

.. _---1

~
Ior."'tr .. ri: • lOll) ",rOOlque< d. I:".rre,
~ Bur.au "'EtUdes

----_ ..-

dOS'good to b. downlo.de<l.· primed alld used,

24.~.2002warchalkrn9 pccketcard
.1000kingrDl
~m.!Tll!infl.arlditiggMt:rOfl,

110.9
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MJ

178 179

Wireless In 2001, the use ef wireless networks

computers high-frequency computers:

them, as access points for Relying nodes. of and

0'1

-co connect co the net began to increase.

radio waves te communicate are anether amounts between

ac spaGe, an openrtant net art events until its closure in 1999, set up Consume net In 2000 .
media lab
In

'wireless

clouds'.

Stevens, Who founded B k

Landen

that hosted many im.po

and resource

wireless networks required enarmous Wireless networks

step in the dome~tication roams of electrical power

from massive devices that filled entire

. as a tool kit British wireless commun"t . , I Y prOlects. Most technologjzed cities have wireless cornrnunu ' .. . I Y Initiatives. In New York. the technoarr museum Eyebeam organized a series for various in Aug.u~t 2002 Autonomy,
to

ta portable

of events Artists Applied Camera Manhattan The power program, initiatives.

generate

a new kind of map of the city. The InstitUte for map of of and the Surve1llance

machines that fit in 3. bag and operate have become an organizing corporate Secondary demarcate hegemonies

Without much eqUipment action, since access.

to

and participants

from NYC Wireless.

can be private or public, and for artists they principle for collective control

Sumant Jayakrishnan

Players collaborated

on a colourful. textured

they open up net access to more users and thus impact the that currently internet waves of collaborators have taken up initiatives technological offshoot 'warchalking'
[153]:

that included wireless

nodes and surveillance points.

of media access to direct new considerations as well as in BorderXing, Contextual

physical spaces and diagrams was manifest in the Eyebeam

free wireless zones and tatget is the practice

know-how of the free symbols to

Consume. ncr and

'w~rchalking'

into community pracnonsrs

initiatives. One visual-based

maps of borders.

'wireless clouds' and other

wireless movement

of 'warchalking'

kinds of networks The University

form three recent European collaboratlves: Bureau d'Etudes research,

mark buildings with elaborate

of Openness. Capitalism.

[154] and

Mappmg a 'self-

indicate free access points or, as Consume.net.'s James Stevens cali.

Contemporary
institution operates map-making French artists' known charts and

The UniverSity of Openness. collaboration

for independent through

and learrllng

a Faculty of Cartography research

that advances experrmen 11 of media

Its

and events. Bureau d'Etudes is maps. Ind ,/

group that uses a larger association UniverSity to distribute

• produ~t~ fot {rae lone at the im 1. Just 5~ name of tn~ produc~ and your posta~ ddr~&s
~-

as the Tangential entitled Chron;ques networks

Media Skills. European Norms. MONOTHfl)fv

Logardere,

de guerre.

Topics of these map" A dense black-s betwc

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downloadable

map with blurbs of data and ICOl15, relationships (boch indiv.dual and corpor u de guerre (2003) II suggest Lim of media company lagardere visualizations as well as being open to Capl!olism Is a project aimed at 'creating

Inc. (2003) documents

financial powerhouses religions. the power of power networks

L.agardere,Chron/ques

graphic files. Bureau d'Etudes' are permeable,

interpretation London-based,

and inquiry. Mapping Contemporary long-term. open-source mapping of power relations'

a tool for collaborative the refusal of specialized extensive indebted art-historical practices

As British critics Brian Holmes and Howard Slater have noted, art zones and the use of ephemera roots. Those behind of Openness have

Mapping

Contemporary all

Capitalism. The University

to

and Bureau d'Etudes are Indeed,

such as land art, mail art and Happenings. the fields and materials of art-making. of experimental

of which expanded the contemporary

proliferation

mapping can be 181

seen as a convergence particular institutions sophisticated possible; a trajecmry

of several factors: an Interest

in engaging (lIf as a focus, that can

and phenomena; the development away from the Internet

to

data-processing

tools that make these engagements medium create representati0ns

towards tactics; and a desire shape and Visualize emergent as Jean Baudrillard suggested, be cognltive tools. distributing specialized information publications. Yet on another performances the resolve
to

collectivities

and territories, since, the territory'. the kind of

to

'the map precedes

Brian Holmes, writes that the maps of Bureau d'Etudes 'asplra to

as broadly as possible confined that was formerly technical
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In the course of this book we have encountered different artistic:: practices addressing and intervening in the commerCializatIon and cQmmodifkation of internet space. The previous section surveyed practices using the net to contest dimensions QfphysiGalpr.operty, organizations, land and airwaves. One strategy involved the adoption of corporate structures, legal status or 'official' business interfaces, as in the work of®TMark andetoy, or the Bureau of Inverse Technology. Concurrent with these corporate actiVities,

P1,mUtJc.«fI~ JlbaVl ]0 -¢ rrtJ4!"1 to"\, ptln. .~ l'Q~iIIl.li1uo Wfuwlhlllr ""1Io.1~,,,,,,",111c '~QI"IJII CIOOu n.'1If1ll1

h.irloQ!P il.n been III tbQ po.sses$loll of tile seller for twenty-eIght: yew Mr ObadJke'. Elackne!5 has ~een used pnmaniy III the Uruted tate~ .and lis fiu\cbonality outSIde of the U cannot be gIIl1Ianteed wille.cOW" a ceru6cate of au the nil CIty Banefits and W<II1IIIJgsBene6ts 1 Tlus Blackne b BllYef ' ., '1'1.._ BI kn .. b df ... may e us.d for c;re'lID8 black art • ....... ac ess may e us. rer WIlting cnbclll ssays or scholarsb.p abeut e olherblaw 3. 'IJw; Blaclw.s~ may be used for makmSJok es "bout blac!.t people iIJldlor lauglllllg al black lniIllorcomCortably (OpIlOn#.> may 01l6rlap WIth opbon#:) 4 TIus Blackness may be used for aCCeSsUlg fome ol6nnative aenon beneSts- (Laruted bme offer May alr~~dy b. promblled III some area s.) 5 TIllS BlaclOle55mllY be used for dalm! a ~I.ck per~on ,WIthout foar of pubbc scrulmy 6 Tlus Blackness 1n."Yb. UI~d ~aQcen for l~ exc~~lve.~ n~k .n~,ghborboods 7 TIusBlackness may be used for 'e~unng Ilwn&btto us. the lenns ~sta, bretha', or ruga m ,..ference to black people (Be sure to have c.rIllico!. ofal,l.b.n~"'ty on hand when US,"!! epuon 7) E. TI»s Blackness may be used for Ul'lIlling rear 9 Th. Bladmm may b. used to augment the blackness of'those alr.~dy block. cspecu.tlly for purpeses of pl"J'I'18 blacker-t!um.lhou' 10 This Blackness may be used by black. as a spare (UI case YOIU'on~a1Blackn es~ u wbuppcd Qffyou.) W~. I The ScHer docs not recommend that !Iu. Blaclmess be used dllM!! legal proceedu!&' of any sort - The S.Uer docs not recoRUllend that tins Blackness be used wlule ,."ktn!! <piployment 3 The Sell.r do es not recommend Iha' lin. Blackness be used III d.e process of nlilkmg or ,elllng 'serious' ru1: 4 The Seller ~oos not recommend thatllus Blackness be Used whd. shOPPIng or wnbn& a pGrSonal check. S The ScU4:r does not recommend that tlus Blackness be used wlule m"king IlIIlD.r- 'I.;] elasns I) The Seller does not recommend that Ilils Blackness be used whtl. vOllng IIllh. Ullltcd State~ l'Jonda 7 The S.Uer does nOI recommend that tIuJi Blackness be used wrale demandulg faane ss 8 11' docs not recommend that tIus Blackness be used while demandlllg 9 The SeUer oe. not d re. mmd that tW BI~Q".uess be used III Hollywood 10 The Seller does nol recommend ihl, th~t lckne5s be used by WIllies looking for a wild weekend ClKel~l Townsend Obadike 1#1#

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artists also sought to unsettle the processes of more rradlnonal ccnsurnption, namely buying and selling. 'E·commer·ce', the nickname for electronic commerce. includes modes of conducting business online, like purchasing products with digital cash. through auction platforms such as eBay and via electronic data interchanges.

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Many works in this gen re imply that identities are structured in relation to the ways tney can be objectified or commodified. These projects, with their arresting titles - Shop Mandiberg (2000-1) [159] by Michael Mandiberg, All My U(e (or Sole (200 I) [157J by John D. Freyer, Keith Obadike's BladwfSS for Sale (200 I)

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[160], Michael Daines's The Body of Michael Daines (2000) and

Darnall Ayo's rent-o-negro.com (2003) - are deliberate allusions to the all-inclusive properties of the online marketplace. Mandiberg is one among thousands to sell his old socks on the internet: his presentation of his possessions as a boutique is aimed at developing brand recognition beyond his own status as an

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Obadike put his blackness up for sale, drawing attention to widescale ethnlcity-based marketing and valuations. For sale on eBay for less than a week before being removed by the management as a violation of vending policy, Obadike's blackness was set in the Collectibles/Culture/Black Americana section amidst various figurines, records and old slave tags offered by
185

IS, l1ichaell1andlb.rg, Shop M •• dib,:rg, 2000-1

li(e can advance business and social reputation,These days those Who
161Hi III.. Ni.delf-h!lP· 2002. Th!> .<lvert .ndor<~' [am es Joyoe~ Fr•• eg"n~Wof<e,...rh era p.lltlc and comm.n .. on "'. prolifernlfon of web adveilis@me:nts for phaimaceunaIs. It is 13k-en frem So.own.. Prol"'" in which .rtists ob"",. th e s pedflollonJ of <CInd.rdl,.d web ,d •• nil.mon rs In orde:.r (,Q enc:our.ilJ:;E! crldc-al readin~ ,of :a.rJVE! r~i,5.ng an d crosspoUination ;IIlongcomm~rc,;al' and

claim black (riends and colleagues are on the cutting edge

or sodal and
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political trends. As our country strives to incorporate the (oct's DrAfricon Americans, you have to keep up. rent-a-negro offers you !he chance to capitalize on your connectiOn with a black person. Al ony gathering

service con bring 0 freshness and tension Chat will keep Ulings lively, This
adds currency to your image and events. We a/I go OUI for ethnic food every once in a while, why not bring some new flavor office ... (or all your (r ien do and colleogu e s 10 enjoy!
to

your home or

:a.rosdt lines_

In chis work. as in Obadike's Blackness for Sale, stereotypes and economic containers are deployed against a backdrop of artistic agency. The liberatory potential of these works resides in the
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American lives and, as both address their audience as expert consumers of goods and services, the freedom to sell. Indeed. the two projects also function to foreground a dominant contemporary activity facilitated by the web: shopping. Rather than escheWing the art marketplace, or more generally the shopping public. these works invoke the codes of marketing language as subsets of ths common vernacular, In Dot-Store (2002)
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other vendors. Obadike (b. 1973) catalogues himselfln the roots of African-American history and inventories the aspects of his blackness tbac mayor may not have value in the marketplace: 'This Blackness may be used for creating "black art", gaining access (Q exclusive, "high risk" neighbourhoods' and 'accessing some affirmative action benefits' (the latter with the qualifier, 'Umited time offer. Mayalready be prohibited in some areas'). In the eBay field,where vendors can describe the condition of their wares, called 'Warnir"lgs',Obadike cautioned: ' I. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used du ring legal proceedings of any sort. 2. The Seller does not recommend that chis Blackness be used while seekjng employment. 3. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used in the p.rocess of making or selling"serious" art. 4. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used while shopping or writing a personal check... .' Identifyingand comm0difying these racialized aspects into both active concepts and sterilized commodities, Obadlke's work explores the subjugation of African-American identity by historic and social conventions that themselves seem the basis for forms of econQmic exchange. Similarly;American artist Damali Ayo (b. 1972) launched renta-negro. Com in 200.3, in which racially objectified and stereotyped roles are offered as services. The project's FAQ explains: As we all know, the purchase of African Americans was outlawed many years ago.As times have changed !he need for black people in your life has changed but not diminished. The presence of black people in your
186

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toweis, emblazoned with the diverse and highly personal results

collective action the field progresses as a whole. Sharing and collaborating means learning from each other: Many internet artworks
Frequency Clock and some of the wireless-related

from a Google search for the phrase 'help me', censtruce a complicated and psychological identification between conSUmers and the things they buy. The adoption of a lifestyle, as crltic David joselic describes it, is a 'mode of positioning oneself socioeconomically, .. the preference for and the capacity to buy certain products ... the adoption of a wholesale identity', Here, the 'dotcom' or 'nerheadIlfestyle is alluded to in items like [he Lenticularbadges derived frnrn common cursor anirnariens. The coiontzarlon of natural spaces by new technologies is emblematized in CDs designed to be played near domestic or wild birds: on them, a collection of mobile phone ringtones.
Forms

take sharing as [heir premise. including Ufe_Sharing, proleces

previously discussed, These exist in dialogue with a slew of filesharing or 'p2p' (peer to peel") applications rhar enable creative activity as well as the proliferation of media files such as music in MP) format. which have given rise to fiercely contested debates about what constitutes property and which activities require permission within the channels of the net. The net vernacular term 'warez'ls defined by the online resource Webopedia as follows: 'Commercial sof[Ware that has been pirated and made available to the public via a BBSor the internet, Typically. the pirate has figured out a way to de-activate the copy-proeeerlon
or registration scheme used by the software,

of Sharing

161 Seb..."i"" Luetgert. Iextz:com. 201)2

In a recent curatorial selection of web sites for online platform low-fi.org.uk German critic Armin Med0sch, me founder of .. Telepolis. prefaced his grouping of artworks by noting: 'In a networked environment it is not so much individuality and expression that count but increasingly 'new ways of creating. sharing. disseminating and scheduling digital work. Through

Note thar the use and distribution of warez sofrware is illegal. In contrast. shareware and freeware may be freely copied and distributed, .: A riff on this paradigm is rexrz.com (2002) [16J], an
t

open arch iveof sometimes closed works of authorship. Curated by German artlst and activist Sebastian l.uetger (b. 1969). rhe texts in the database include works by Charles Baudelaire (1821-67), Georges Bataille (1897-1962). Theodor W. Adorno (1903-69) and more technology-orientated authors such as Geen Lovink, McKenzie Wark and the Critical An Ensemble. The warez on this site invokes a broad and progressive intellectual history. positioning itself as an analogue of software tools. Luetgerr writes in an Intrcductton to the site: 'There was a time when COntent was king, but we have seen his head rolling. Our week beats [hew year. Ever since we have been moving from content to disconrent, collecting scripts and viruses, writing programs and bets [computer programs that run automatically]. dealing with rextz
(IS

warez. as executables - something that is able to change your life: If texts like Baudelaire's Les (leurs du mal can take on [he character of artefacts or inert objects siaing on bookshelves, here they are reinscribed with some of their radical potential by being positioned as critical software. Music sharing. which has been blamed for a drop in record sales over the past few years. has led to increased assaults on peer-to-peer networks and file-sharing applications by entertainment associations defending 'proprietary intellectual property'. While [he details of what constitutes fair use online remain murky. freeware and underground projects have innovated their engineering and legal structures in order to preserve 189

AIIltSllurtII.&vI

....

tom - Molin.

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20021212161

autonomous spaces for unrestricted activities that do not require participants to seek permission from media companies. Many artists who are deeply opposed to stringent forms of digital property control have responded accordingly. A sample of these works was assembled for the 'Kingdom of Piracy' exhibition (2001-3), curated by Armin Medesch. Shu Lea Cheang and Yukiko Shlkata, Defence mechanisms protecting the digital commons are elaborate and varied. IPNIC's Injunction Gener<:!tor automates the lssue of legal injunctions that can freeze ISP services. Burn (2003) [1M], a work developed in response to the ami-pi racy laws in Asia and the abundance of copy-and-burn facilities in Bangkok. consists of an installation and web site; the latter offers an overview of China's shift in policy towards pirating based on its entry into the World Trade Organization. The lively,graphic browser-based upload and download/sharing space encodes MP3 files in assorted colours according to user selections. Created by Shu Lea Cheang. British design company yippieyeah and programmer Reger Sennarr (b. 1975), Burn has a decorative and appealing interface that suggests a creatively defiant relationship between piracy and mixing:on one page the user sees images of officials destroying CDs; the next page invites the viewer to assemble and colour code music playllsts.'Kingdom of Piracy', which exhibits. according to its curators. 'artistic acts of "piracy" as a strategy for intellectual discourse and poetic intervention. but not as any endorsement of piracy as a business model'. carries implications for the role of

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the artist working with new tech nologies. The active contestation of ownership and the establishment of open systems of exchange. pursuits that have countless complements in art of recent decades, sometimes become illegal modes of critique Within [he internet context of software and functional applICations.
Video and Filmic Discourses

A 2003 feature for the magazine Game Girl Advance compared the properties Cremaster of the video game Donkey Kong to Marthew Barney's 3. Author Wayne Bremser argued. sometimes in a

y; ppi eyeah Design

16<1Shu Lea Ch"""g, ane Roger Sennen; f!l.m,200l

tongue-in-cheek manner, that while 'painters have created canvases with game characters ... Cremaster 3 lacks the obvious cultural references, but its absurdity, repetition. level design and
ABOUf

use of landscape as narrative establishes a strorlger connection video games than [previous] other works'. The essay lays out parallels involving the way 'Barney and game designers look for

[0

190

191

strong visual landscapes compared

that are ripe for a character's Museum or Chrysler

running, buildings in with

jumping, smashing and climbing', and Donkey to the Guggenheim

Kong's setting is

'" --rbon 181,n.~

160l'Iotoml'hi Nakamu (OPT), 2001

ra, Ike

New York City that appear in the Cremaster cycle - redolent themes of hubris, bodily limits and ascension, similarities berween considered
3.S

While the proposed may not hold such have succeSSfully

Donkey Kong and Barney's works

with many viewers (or players), recent artworks algorithms,

video and film in dialogue with digital aesthetics

Photoshop, games and databases. Jon Haddock's

computer

game draWings, Sue de Beer's (b. 1973) 1997 video tribute

to Photos hop. Making Out With Myself, and Jennifer and Kevin McCoy's (b. 1967) Every Shot Every Episode, which uses database fields to organize Storsky and Hutch episodes categories such as 'Every Establishing in this regard, Stunt' are exemplary into three hundred Shot', 'Every Red' or 'Every

In the 2002-3 exhibition installation- and DVD-based technologies methods. and interactive

'Future Cinema'.
works presented software.

curated by Jeffrey
Germany, and social factors recipients addresses)
to

Shaw and Peter Weibel at the ZKM in Karlsruhe,

of 'bee' usage (it is commonly the four narratives features

invoked to hide their email wrought.

new conditions

from one another imroduces one animation

and to avoid circulating

of narrative and 'image languages' using GPS, virtual-reality The inrerner is home cinematic conversions many works that diversify and innovate and televisual of cinema in 1999

as emotionally

Each da rkly humorous example, list's terms deportment portrays technological Rather them pinhole

scary is in part technically email list moderator.

therned: for who recites the internet execution colonized also by

a couple holding hands only to be

For example, ASCII Art Ensemble's

separated by an adjudicative

classics like Psycho and Blow Up into ASCII compositions replace filmic surfaces with alphanumeric to low-speed based artwork internet

of usage verbally and in sign language. A short satire on the word describes but Nakamura's social opportunities and manner's perhaps,

ones more conducive

netiquerte (3 play on 'etiquette'),

delicate and intricate

access and bandwidth

constraints. By early
timeof users had like Flash and After

2003, more compact methods

high-speed access dynamic projects.
to

for creating and exhibiting

existed, and a larger number the nat. Applications

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