| December 1995 | 12 | | ll Lat = =i = & rs =The Art World & | Go On Line As museums, galleries and artists Join the rush for cyberspace, is the art environment being irrevocably altered? In a journal— and annotated guide—of his extensive travels through this new electronic landscape, the author ponders art’s digital future. BY ROBERT ATKINS ture art historians wil mack the 104-05 season a the yar the rt ‘orld went on ine. Art kus with te requis compute anode. Farad Internet acne could iscass che Winey Bei ad [Lacanian theory, inspect an international aray of museum schedules, Search the Inferntional Repertory of tho Literature of Art (LA), an eruse auton pies tram Siety’s and Christie's. Tey end also view ar vorks-some forsale and others designed for electri, ntractve for ‘ats—by arts ranging tom paleo aubesto Laure Anderson. The advent ofthis brave now electronic art world coincided, of course, wih the emergence of avast and apy expanding eric communica tion network in society at large. By last sumer, same eight porent of -Aoriean housthols wee oni most ia commercial series such as ‘Aeros One, Prodigy and CompuServe. Computerequipped consumers =o Salat al ol : N el ana Leal Canputer screen souing Juli Scher Secaityan, an artists projet on he Werte ide Web could preview Sony’s current fm oferings, read —and dicuss—Noam ‘Chomsi’s artes and monitor Congres, Socks (the White Housecat), te (Canes i Festal othe 0. Sinpson tral through transcrip upd daly on Time Warner's Pune st. Corporations, institutions and indi ‘viduals have established approximately 80,00 Ineret outposts since i183, (Atongh the Defense Departmental Iferne as been on Tine since 1069, unl een hasbeen ued most by researches) The mao ofthe new ies ar on the WorldWide Web (WH), parton of te Inxeret uit on hypertettchnology andthe loses thing yt to hat defined “Inforation Superhighway.” The astonishing rapidity ofthis Infomation exlsin has been match on by the median hype us rounding ‘During the pst yar, har day as gone by without the major dais runing heathless overage of sre asec ofthe mere Inthe mist of ood of took on the ates, Being Dig, NeholssNeroponte’s ina ing colection of columns from Hired magazine, tured out tobe a huge essele. The erthsism of the Wired cow was catod to type tremely the magazr'soander and pusher, Lous Rosset, “I thought ‘here ws eolton gon mote powerflthan ay ola aan" 1 real in an Ae. I ture atthe Now York Publ Lirry. I i any onder that such ype has spanned a bucks? 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Prom the exhibition “In a Dgerent Light” on the Web site forthe Unters drt Museum, Berkley pheromenon cane inte form of ent boks like Cod Stal Sion ‘Shake Ot and Knack Sas Rebs Agnnst the Pure: The Ladies ‘and Tir War om the India Rvoution On Ap. 26 the FL reas ‘hte by the “Unabombe” the maitbonb errs), st drately ‘ndersooed such esis °K you had any ran," wee, “YOU wou ue elit tee ae of pepe out there ho resent iter the vay tectno-neds ke you ae changing the wor" A Sale observe, the {pt conection hr isnt to infringe hares and havo, ba fo the ea entry Lads wo meanted attacks on English factories tnd machines because they faxed that industazation woul ipa eit [Relhoods and culture "Te new communications achlogy has away sigicanty fected ‘museums and irae, WH also revolutionize de production fa As Software mogul and art cooctoe Peter Norian observe at a packed gather: ingof the Ameean Seton ofthe Intemational Asaition oA Cis at the Museum of Moder Aton Ape. 10. "Wee ata ersroads I's ou jb 2 coca tikes to assess wha’ good and bad inthe new kinds of | ‘peoth ke mired ane.” My nes fom thas meting bear two sealed comments: “Remind $ ever ot atone publish meal” and “Weren't weal going o Deo {TV produers—rater han eonsuners—after Nam June Pak introduced fo alforabl video cameras? Some anthropologists would arg hat ‘he history of echnolgy i the itr of humankind and that to esertial ‘questions about ecology simpy recur, rather than change. The appro ‘Se art analy maybe that much ofthe ms eft elon a ann ac, only be understod within the tradition of ifrmaton ete con ‘pial media ad video at hat reg sing the 180s ads. en In thst ahistorical tines, we allow thatthe Renaissance didnot spring {ul rm Git’ ead The 15 season vas alo the season 1 wet on ie. What lows i sn acount, payin dary frm, of my experiences rom my frst tendo osu bain bards and line at works ast flo my dion at tho end of tho season to order the (expensive) hardware necessary 10 upgrade my sem for Net "suing at home aso stress the sujetity ofthis rpat beau sing india oul partake of mae than ai Darcenage of the eval online art and rt dsourse In this rel, 1 ‘wiiseuss nl arin of what Fv seen on ie this year ‘Accorng to Tua Druckre, coer af the invaluable anthology Gultwre onthe Brink: Helogie of Technology, more than 000 artists have staked ut sites on th Internet. Likewise, exery large city offers ‘several lel eleeroicbultn boards tat compese with the corporate ‘hs serves, Some of them host are conferences; mast provide acess {fo newsgroups—noncommerela forums onthe Inert, some of them ar-related, To ell this array of choices staggering is gross understate ‘ment—even if, as withthe comucopia of prgamming aered by cable ‘Bein, mast of warns onl psig pe Conse this artle my peinay noes oa guide othe expoting or Sine art wor Tab dies soe fhe sor and pola froes—sueh as the increasing tendeney to censor electron communication ta shaping th emerging mea. A noe aboot the artic’ forma: The diary nts that fallow ar in ai type, while commentary thas chronology tstends those ents to include relate developments thoughout he 194. 16 season printed in oman ype. Sept. 21, 1994: Art For Sale ‘Ata the azening octal potaaphy eden a the Fasion Insite of Technology, Imet with lasseal msican Jeane Novak and ete Maniowic. omer bogs! ara anna, wh ae to founda of kaledospace. We found a quet rato in Chotea where they tured tnther Powerbook io show me cemonsvaten sks hat smuated the experience of an anne vit fo Kalesospace. They cate fst com ‘meri gale onthe Itemet (While mest su clans ao urvenabe, ths ne rings tue sinply because ne conrad iermation has ‘crossed ny desk athe Vilage Vous and because he gaphica tcno- 207 fr Web Browsing” tot 50 now) ‘Famer than a dozen ars are represented in vital gay; none are names recognize, and mest of har werks are modest) priced (hep space coms Kalliospace’ te access or URL—unorm ‘esure oat, which is nacessar to ea a Itt Tecan). In the case of o-densional works on paper entre pans are shown “Fram the Dia Center forthe rte documenting Tony Ourstrs and Constance de Jog’ Fantastic Prayer All compute seeesinages his arte mere taken fom the Work Wide ‘Wes, beeen Sepember 194 and Auge 105.