Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 22:02:14 +0000 
From: "ruth catlow" <ruth.catlow@furtherfield.org> 
To: "lewis lacook" <llacook@yahoo.com>,
list@rhizome.org 
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: RHIZOME_RAW: "digital poetry" vs
net art 
       
 




lewis lacook wrote:

> me, i just want a net art that is truly an art fitted to its
> medium...i want a net art that literally requires the net work in
> order to manifest itself...

I think this gives the institutions and the structures of the net work
far too much respect. Isn't this like saying that we only want art that
requires the cubey white walls of a gallery? Why are you so eager to
squash your squishy, expressive, human flesh sourced imaginations  into
the predetermined and rigid labyrinths of mathematically determined
structures?

I know that my own attraction to 'net art that literally requires the
net work in order to manifest itself' is linked to a desire for the
safety of limits, control, submission paired up paradoxically with a
ridiculous programmed fear and respectful awe of the superior
intelligence/functionality ascribed to the 'coded' art work. (I do
regard this attraction as perverse-hehe)

Perhaps it is similar to a call for evidence of craft in art, a proof
that the artist is doing something that most people consider themselves
incapable of doing. Or a call for provable rigour. It is definitely a
step towards cyborgism which I don't have a problem with per se but
which I find it hard to get excited about.

Also don't think we can overlook the many different ways that artists
come to be net artists often starting with the 'decorative, and how it
applies to art on the web... making animations of words--at best, the
reactivity and interaction required of the user is touching rollover
buttons===which in flash, we know, takes almost no knowledge of code'

The animations and 'decorations' represent one of the roots/routes to
net art . Or do we insist that in order to enter a 'pantheon of net art'
the artist is prepared to dedicate a significant proportion of their
practice to learning and manipulating code. If this is what we are
saying, then if we want a burgeoning of excellent and relevant work we
need to set up apprenticeships for the learning of the craft of code,
otherwise we may find that we are excluding a whole gamut of artists
with insight and talent but no facility for code and therefore no way to
communicate. And what about how that time might otherwise be usefully
spent, researching and exploring other relevant human issues. Or perhaps
this is finally an admission that like in films we now need a team of
people with different areas of expertise to accomplish a net art work.

The net does not just provide a distinct medium but represents a
platform for a distinct but very diverse culture with a distinct means
of distribution. I think that 'net art that literally requires the net
work in order to manifest itself' maybe could include art that needs the
audience to receive knowledge of its existence through their emails in
order for it to resonate. Some very simple image and text web pages are
very successful in communicating poetics as true and rigorous and
relevant as any net work exclusive works. And the fact that I receive
them in my inbox influences how the pieces are received.

Thanks Lewis for starting this up

cheers

Ruth

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