Net.art

Net.art, also known as Internet Art, is a form of digital art that utilizes the internet as its medium and often as its subject matter. Emerging in the mid-1990s with the increased accessibility of the World Wide Web, net.art artists experimented with the capabilities of this new technology, focusing on interactivity, connectivity, and the dematerialized nature of online space.^[1]

This art movement challenged traditional notions of art by circumventing physical galleries and engaging directly with viewers through web browsers and online platforms. Defining characteristics of net.art include its critical examination of internet culture, its aesthetic experimentation with web-specific elements like HTML and hyperlinks, and its engagement with the social and political implications of networked communication. While it is not a unified movement with a singular style, net.art encompasses a range of artistic practices that reflect on technology and its impact on society.

History[]

The history of net.art is intertwined with the evolution of telecommunications technology, inspiring artists to experiment with global connectivity and real-time information sharing. Early forms of computer-mediated art emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, utilizing nascent technologies. Roy Ascott, recognizing the impact of technology, coined the term "telematic art" to describe the convergence of visual art and computer science. His 1983 work, La Plissure du Texte, employed ARTEX, a proto-internet text-based system, to create a collaborative narrative involving participants across different geographical locations.

The French Minitel system also played an important role in early network-based art. Olivier Auber's Poietic Generator, initiated in 1987 on Minitel, allowed multiple participants to collaboratively create a visual mosaic in real time. In Brazil, artists like Eduardo Kac used the Videotexto system, a local version of Minitel, to produce experimental works, including animated poems.

The widespread adoption of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s marked a major turning point for the development of net.art. Early websites, characterized by static text and simple HTML, provided a new canvas for artistic experimentation. The term "net.art" gained prominence around this time. While the exact origin is debated, one account attributes it to a garbled email received by Slovenian artist Vuk Ćosić in 1995.

In 1995, German curator Pit Schultz organized a net.art exhibition in Berlin, featuring early practitioners such as Ćosić, Alexei Shulgin, JODI (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans), and Heath Bunting. These artists, though diverse in their approaches, were united by their experimentation with the internet as both a medium and a subject. Shulgin also founded the Moscow WWWArt Centre in 1995, one of the first platforms dedicated to showcasing internet art, notably from Eastern European artists.

The mid-1990s also saw the emergence of online communities and organizations dedicated to net.art. Mark Tribe established Rhizome in 1996 as an email list and later a website to support and archive New Media Art.

Visuals[]

Net.art as a visual art form is characterized by its direct engagement with the internet's fundamental elements. Artists working in this genre frequently use the internet itself, including web browsers, HTML code, hyperlinks, and digital data, as both their medium and subject matter. This approach often results in artworks that explore the unique aesthetics and functionalities of the online environment.

Early net.art often exhibited a self-referential quality, where the core components of the web became the building blocks of artistic expression. The hyperlink, a basic navigational tool of the internet, was employed by artists like Olia Lialina in her 1996 work My Boyfriend Came Back From the War as a mechanism for interactive storytelling. This piece, recognized for its influence, requires viewers to navigate a narrative by clicking on hypertexts and images, a process integral to the artwork's experience.

Artists also focused on the underlying structure and aesthetics of web code. JODI, a collective known for their early net.art, deliberately utilized glitches and the raw visuality of HTML to create abstract and chaotic web experiences. Their website, http://wwwwwwwww.jodi.org/, exemplifies this approach, presenting a virtual maze of code and distorted visuals that challenge conventional web navigation.

Mark Napier's 1998 work, The Shredder, further experimented with the internet's materiality by functioning as a browser that deconstructs web pages. When a URL is entered, the software visually "shreds" the content, scattering text, code, images, and links across the screen, revealing the raw data that constitutes a website.

Beyond self-referential explorations, net.art has also served as a platform for social and political commentary. Darius Kazemi's project Last Words utilizes a bot to extract sentences containing the word "love" from the last statements of death row inmates in Texas, presenting a digital commentary on capital punishment.

The art collective !Mediengruppe Bitnik's The Random Darknet Shopper (2014) employed a bot to autonomously purchase items from the deep web, which were then displayed in a physical exhibition space. This project caused controversy due to the legal and ethical implications of automated online actions and revealed aspects of the deep web's marketplace.

The ephemeral and process-based nature of net.art presents unique challenges for conservation. Unlike traditional art objects, the authenticity of net.art often resides in its code rather than physical materials. Preservation efforts focus on documenting and emulating the original software and online environments to ensure the artworks remain accessible despite technological obsolescence. Organizations like Rhizome actively work on developing methods for archiving and presenting net.art.

Techniques[]

Similar to Glitch Art, Net.art encompasses several creation techniques:

Hyperlinking: The strategic use of hyperlinks to create non-linear narratives, interactive experiences, and conceptual connections between different online spaces.
Glitching: The intentional incorporation of errors, malfunctions, and digital artifacts as an aesthetic element, revealing the site's underlying code or disrupting expected functionality.
Code Manipulation: Treating the source code of websites (like HTML, JavaScript) as a raw material for artistic creation, emphasizing its visual and structural qualities.
Browser Art: Artworks that directly engage with or manipulate the web browser itself, altering its appearance or functionality in unconventional ways.
Bots and Automation: The use of software agents or bots to perform actions online as part of an artwork, such as automated shopping, data extraction, or text generation.
Web Scraping and Data Extraction: Utilizing existing data and content from the internet as source material for artistic projects, often reframing or recontextualizing it.
Cloning and Mirroring: The act of replicating or creating mirror versions of websites, often with alterations or critical interventions.
Hacking and Tactical Media: Employing techniques associated with hacking to subvert online systems, critique corporate or institutional structures, or create interventions in digital spaces.
Online Performance and Intervention: Artistic actions or performances that take place within online environments, frequently involving audience participation or disruption of typical online interactions.
ASCII Art: The creation of visual images using text characters, employed in early email art and online communication. This technique dates back to the 1960s.
Email Art and Spam Art: Utilizing email as a medium for artistic distribution, communication, or disruptive interventions, sometimes involving the automated generation of nonsensical text or ASCII visuals.
Generative Art: The use of algorithms and computational processes to create art that evolves or produces unexpected outcomes online.
Remix and Appropriation: The artistic practice of taking existing digital materials and recombining or repurposing them to create new meanings or commentary.
Virtual Worlds and Synthetic Environments: Creating or intervening within virtual reality spaces, online games, or chat rooms as a platform for artistic expression and performance.
Mapping and Data Visualization: Using online mapping tools and digital data to create artistic narratives or visual representations of information.

Philosophy[]

Net.art's philosophy is characterized by exploring the internet as both a medium and a subject. Early practitioners aimed to utilize the unique characteristics of the internet, such as its capacity for connectivity, interactivity, and immateriality, to create new forms of artistic expression. A key tenet of net.art was a critical stance towards traditional art systems, including galleries, institutions, and the established art market. Artists saw the internet as a space to bypass these structures and engage directly with a wider audience.

The dematerialized nature of the internet allowed for art that could exist beyond physical limitations and in multiple locations simultaneously. This challenged conventional notions of artistic ownership and the artist-viewer relationship. Net.art also embraced the process-oriented nature of the internet, prioritizing interaction and dynamic experiences over static objects.

Philosophically, net.art engaged with the emerging digital culture and its impact on society. Artists explored themes of online identity, community, and the relationship between the virtual and the physical. Some net.art adopted a critical approach to the internet itself, examining its commercial aspects, corporate control, and the potential for both democratic expression and digital surveillance. The collaborative and networked nature of the internet also influenced the philosophy of net.art, with artists developing projects that involved collective participation and challenged traditional ideas of individual authorship. Furthermore, the manipulation and subversion of standard web elements and interfaces became a philosophical approach to reveal the constructed nature of the online environment.