reading blog #2

Rachel Greene explores the history of internet art, otherwise known as “net.art” in “Web Work: A History of Internet Art”. Net.art is defined as “communications and graphics, e-mail, texts and images, referring to and merging into one another.” Since net.art lives on the internet, it is accessible anywhere at any time. The purpose of net.art is to incorporate art into everyday life through technology. Individuals can subscribe to various mailing lists to receive daily internet art. Similar to paintings and sculptures, internet art also focused on the numerous art periods, such as new-media art, contemporary art, and surrealism.

The internet was invented in 1983, however, by 1994 there wasn’t nearly as much stuff on the internet as there is today. The internet allowed and helped art to flourish because of the desire for creative sites on the internet. There was new public access to artwork due to internet art.

Net.art explored a huge variety of subject matters. For example, Paul Garrin started Name.Space, an online project that challenged the format of a URL such as “.com” or “.net”. Just like any other medium, web art was also viewed as controversial by some critics. Anne de Haan’s 1996 e-manifesto “The Vagina Is the Boss on the Internet” was discouraged along with other cyberfeminist sites.

Greene’s article made me realize that because web art relates to the future because innovations are bound to occur at all times. Additionally, I realized that web art can be viewed and displayed without being accepted into a gallery.