Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 09:08:33 +0000 Subject: Re: RHIZOME_RAW: "digital poetry" vs net art From: "Ivan Pope" To: "ruth catlow" , "lewis lacook" , list@rhizome.org > From: ruth catlow > > 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? My reading of lewis's statement is that he calls for network art that fundamentallly uses the network. i.e. not network art that could just as easily be displayed on a disconnected computer in a gallery. But pieces that use the network in some way to become themselves. And this should not necessarily mean the network of wires and routers and IP protocols but the network of information or the network of human activity. There are of course many works that do this already, so Im not saying much ... and, Im not claiming value for this approach. But I think to equate this with wanting art that fits in a white cube gallery is missing a point? Maybe there's a May68 type slogan here: The Network Is Not A Gallery Cheers, Ivan