published in I Was Raised On The Internet by Omar Kholeif (2018).
Michael Connor is Artistic Director of Rhizome. Rhizome is a non-for-profit arts organization in New York that dedicates itself to new media art, and takes a key role in supporting, archiving and preserving art on the internet. Connor also oversaw the Net Art Anthology initiative, a web-based exhibition, gallery exhibition, and book that retold the history of online art through 100 artworks from the 1980s to the present.
Part 1: Pick one of the below projects and read through the linked article about it on the Net Art Anthology.
- Samsung (1999) by Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries
- Black Net.Art Actions (2001 - 2003) by Mendi + Keith Obadike
- Airworld (1999) by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy
- The Web Stalker (1997) by I/O/D
- FloodNet (1998) by the Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT)
- Youth Mode: A Report on Freedom (2013) by K-HOLE & Box
Part 2: Read I Have Nothing to Say and I’m Saying It: Net Art’s Corporate Turns (2018), a piece written by Michael Connor. It situates various artworks within the history of art in an increasingly corporate context of the internet. (NYU access).
As you read, write 300-500 words. Try to discuss the artwork you picked in Part 1 in light of the reading. The below notes can help:
- reflect on the statement that “context is king” and how this context manifests itself before and after the internet’s “corporate turn”.
- how does the artistic strategy of creating “work that contains a relatively strong political and social intent, but is clothed […] in ironic ambiguity” apply to your chosen artwork?
- what’s the relation of the artwork you picked to the “archive” discussed in the text?
Submit your work:
1) Complete your writing in a markdown file (.md) inside your repository.
2) When done, push your work to your GitHub account and submit a link at our class Wiki.