From:  To:  Cc:  Subject:  ----- Original Message [Thursday, September 05, 2002 4:55 PM] ----- When did you start the computerfinearts collection? 'borderStyle' by andy deck was the first acquisition for the collection. It was acquired in March 2001, and the site was launched in August 2001. ---------- How do you want the collection to be viewed, and by whom? I think of the computerfinearts collection site as an online exhibition space for work that is open for everyone, at all times and for free. I also think of it as a contemporary archived netart collection. ---------- Can you expand a little on your "vision" for the collection-what drives you to continue collecting this work? The ultimate nature and essence of the collection is as an online exhibition space, much like a gallery or museum. As for the vision and my drive for the collection, I would have liked to expand and set up a rich and broad content netart site for the web. I have noticed two main definitions for the internet-'net' and 'web'. It has always struck me that the 'web' term is used more to describe the masses and is larger in scope than 'net'. Using those terms as metaphors, I would like to introduce the collection to the 'web' general public as well as the netart community. I would like people to come and visit the site for the purpose of viewing netart per-se-in a sense like the role of a contemporary museum in the physical world. ---------- Can you describe the structure of the site, and how you chose to represent artists' works? The structure is pretty simple. It is a "file and folders" structure. Artists' projects make an appearance in the collection in the order in which the projects were submitted. As far as exhibiting the projects, I realized that there are many viewers to the site that are not "netart savvy" and are unaware of who the artists are and have little knowledge-if any-of the artists and their work. Because of that, I have been asking artists to set up an intro page for their work, to include some information on their project and links to their homepage. Some artists found their own creative way to set up their pieces in the collection for presentation. ---------- Can you give some examples of this? Some artists recognized the concept of browser's presentation and the fact that the collection is set to view at a certain monitor resolution, and created works for that specific environment-setting the image size to 480x360, for example. Mark Napier and Andy Deck created a sort of "digital signature" that is displayed as an integrated part of their pieces. ---------- What kind of criteria do you use in selecting work? How important is it to collect several works by an artist rather than a single piece? The selection of work for the collection has been a creative process that artists are also involved in-there is always a discussion about the piece for the collection. In some cases I have trusted artists to submit what they have found adequate for the collection, using their own curatorial judgment. Other artists let me choose a project, or suggest a few projects for me to choose from-and this dialogue somehow contributed to the way the collection was shaped. As far as the technology aspect goes, the collection is a cross platform site. I have set up a few parameters for it, like browser versions and plugins. As to your second question, to have a better experience of an artist's work, it is often better to have several projects from one artist presented in the collection, just like it is in the traditional art world. ---------- How concerned are you about representing international artists? The internet breaks the barriers of nationalities so I don't think it is an issue. We are all international. ---------- How "proactive" are you in approaching artists who may not have considered selling their work or making editions of it? Very proactive-not just towards artists who have not considered distributing their netart work, but also towards artists who have not made work for the web at all. There have been artists who are very familiar with the digital medium but have not done work for the web-many of them because the net came to life after they established their artistic career. I would have liked the collection to encourage some of these artists to create work for the web. I think that their contribution to netart can be unique and excellent. ---------- How many works have you "commissioned" (a term you use on the site), and how much of the collection is donated? I would like to demystify the term "commission" and add some perspective to it. I have been using it on the site and some artists in the collection have used it as well. Commission is a very broad term: there is a difference, for example, between a specific commission like Rhizome's 'alt.interface', and a non-specific commission that allows artists to freely create new works of art-as is the case with commissions in this collection. I have not approached an artist with a specific project in mind. It is always up to the artist to come up with the project-artists always have ideas in mind about projects they like to do-I have just approved it for the collection. There are several works that were submitted this way. Does this make it a commissioned work? I don't think so. With regard to donations, a few pieces were donated to the collection. ---------- Are there any kinds of net art that you feel unable to collect, or are there works whose display requirements or inherent structure cannot yet be handled by the site? Projects that are not browser based or that are not cross platform, and works that use uncommon or unpopular plug ins. vrml is a good example. I would have liked to feature realtime broadcasting projects, like keystroke and quicktime broadcast, but I am not set for it yet and will consider it in the future. ---------- Would you show the collection in another "space" such as a museum or gallery? If so, how would you want to present it? Online, and on computer monitors. ---------- To what extent do you have an active dialogue with private collectors of this kind of work? Are other collectors purchasing similar things? There are already a few private collectors, and I believe more will come. I believe some collectors acquired similar works to the works in the collection but I have little knowledge of the way other collections are set. I also do not have any dialogue going with them. ---------- Some museums are also collecting in this area - to what degree do you think the "market value" of such works is being set by the museum field, commercial galleries, collectors, or artists? The market for netart is still in an early stage of development. At this point I think that artists and museums are the ones that create and set up standards for the works in the market. Museums-the higher-end bidders- have the most publicized acquisitions, and therefore establish the ultimate monetary value for netart works. For artists, it is only natural that the price tag for the work is generated first at their studios. ---------- How do you think your collection differs from museum on-line "collections" or net art archives? Museums are larger organizations, they tend to be more conservative and are more restricted with their concepts of acquiring works. Take a look at 'xxx', the 1997 easylife.org's site of Alexei Shulgin, which displays some hard core pornography-could you imagine the project on an American museum site, for example? Museums might also have restrictions about nationalities or genre issues-in most cases they would not approach artists who are not established in their career. Netart archived sites in most cases do not own the works and projects. I would say that the main difference is in the scope of the works. The collection is trying to introduce a broad perspective on Internet art as a whole-whether it is academic net.art, contemporary netart and/or webart-setting up a site that is for the ordinary 'web public' as well as the fine arts community. ---------- I notice that you list artists whose works will soon be part of the collection. How do you see the collection developing in future? I would like to enrich the collection with more works. Currently I have a list of artists whose work I would like to add to the collection. I have not approached them since I have no money to back up my request for their work. I have been struggling with financing the collection and investors that I had approached brushed me off. As far as future development, I think of the collection as an organic and spontaneous process that is formed and changed daily. If and when browsers and html cease to be the main tool and accessed platform for the web, perhaps that will be the day that the collection will become a static entity much like private collections on museum walls. But than again, perhaps the collection will change and move to a new phase of development. ---------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Past Dialogue Issues: Issue 1, Issue 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anne Barlow works at the New Museum of Contemporary Art where she organizes Digital Culture Evenings of artists' presentations, performances, and critical debates. She was formerly curator of contemporary collections and exhibitions at institutions in the UK. © 2001 MicheleThursz.com. All Rights Reserved.