<nettime> [net\.]art(history|definition) [feigl, baumgaertel, future]

["nettime's_synthetic_system" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

"Franz F. Feigl" <franz@feigl.com>
          Re: <nettime> re: Tilman-RFC #1: net art history 1993 - 1996

Tilman Baumgaertel <tilman_baumgaertel@csi.com>
          Re: <nettime> Re: Tilman-RFC #1: net art history 1993 - 1996

"Dr. Future" <richard@dig-lgu.demon.co.uk>
          Re: <nettime> defining net.art (was: Olia Lialina, was: 
          something or other...)

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Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 02:58:31 +0100
From: "Franz F. Feigl" <franz@feigl.com>
Subject: Re: <nettime> re: Tilman-RFC #1: net art history 1993 - 1996

Don't worry: Tilman's job 'net.art.history' won't be the last attempt 
to rewrite the past.

The first use of the the net (internet - not phones, BBS's,  a.s.o) 
for art's sake I remember  was  Bill Gibson + ? placing something 
like a 'self-destructing poem' on the net in summer 1992.
(the organisation was an art-show  in San Francisco, so there might 
be more to dig up)

Lot's of still familiar names are missing, from Artcom to Williams 
and even more not so familiar ones.

Franz F. Feigl

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Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 01:51:20 +0100
From: Tilman Baumgaertel <tilman_baumgaertel@csi.com>
Subject: Re: <nettime> Re: Tilman-RFC #1: net art history 1993 - 1996

At 00:00 14.12.99 +0100, Florian Cramer wrote:

>Am Sat, 11.Dec.1999 um 18:24:31 +0100 schrieb Tilman Baumgaertel:
>
>> One month ago I mailed out a proposal to inform me about early net art
>> projects. It resulted in the following list of projects and art works that
>> happened between 1993 and 1996. Some of them were suggested to me by email,
>> other came from my own - not very good - memory. 
>
>I am quite surprised to see that your timeline starts as late as in 1993.
>Again, we can argue whether "net art" (i.e. net art in a broader sense than
>the particular school of "Net.Art") is identical with "World Wide Web art".
>My opinion obviously differs.
>

Well, that comes as quite a surprise, doesn't it? 

You will even be more surprised to learn that just putting the overview of
these four years together took one month of work. If I would be at an
university I would take a sabbatical for this kind of effort, but I am not. 

As you of course know, this kind of art is very ephemeral and very
distributed, and it takes a long time to get this kind of stuff together.
For the present purpose, this list is OK, because it is for the catalog of
an exhibtion that was triggered by the art that was created in reaction to
the web, mainly. But it doesn't pretend to be complete, and I put every
imaginable effort in getting as much material as possible. And actually,
the reason why I make this list available to your kind of criticism, is
because I want as much participation from as many people as possible. 

I also don't think that net work art is only on the web, so I have a much
longer list of other things, going back to Mail art and the fifties,
including Television, Satellite, BBS, Fax, what have you events, but it is
yet too incomplete to be published. I will continue to work on this, and
once I feel it is appropriate to this big topic, I will put it on the net. 

Anyway, thanks for your list, it is of great help. 

Yours, 
Tilman 
...................
I think, 
and then I sink
into the paper 
like I was ink.
Eric B. & Raakim: Paid in full

Dr. Tilman Baumgaertel, email: tilman@thing.de
MY HOMEPAGE HAS MOVED!!! http://www.thing.de/tilman

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Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 18:28:37 +0000
From: "Dr. Future" <richard@dig-lgu.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: <nettime> defining net.art (was: Olia Lialina, was: 
         something or other...)

melinda rackham wrote:

> >simon wrote:
>
>  a lot of what is called Net Art is not actually the Net but the
> computer. This is true of much work produced for viewing in a browser, or
> on CD-ROM, or even a lot of installation based work. Often the only
> differences between these works are the means of distribution...

<...>

> if work is intended for flexible delivery over a global network with its
> unique download rthythm its net.art, anything intended for distribution on
> cdrom has a completely different intent, architecture and mode of
> production.  the definition is in the intention and the expereince.  a few
> years ago i remember asking Tiia Johansen from Estonia about why she was
> putting up huge single images as web works, when all i was interrested in
> was making tiny files for fast delivery, and her reply (made even more
> dramatic by her fabulous accent) was " i like to make them wait."
>
> For me it is that wait... the delivery space, - the gap - , the
> possibilities contained within the gap, and the expereience of that gap
> which are the defining characteristics of net.art.

So this suggests that the categorization of the (net.)art work is dependent
upon the intentions of the user, whether they want to exploit the properties
of the net as a communications system or as a distribution system or whatever.
But then their intentions are dependent upon the particular qualities of the
Net that they perceive as important anyway, so we must conclude that all art
that is deliberately put on the net is net.art.

The challenge is then to find some art on the net which isn't net.art (isn't
it?). Perhaps this would be art that was just accidentally put on the net, or
just temporarily while you were thinking of where else it should go (like
leaving things in a pile on the edge of the sofa because your shelves are full
up and the tea's ready). Perhaps this would be called default.art.


 the fun continues...

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