A selection of internet art works dating back to the 1990s highlights a movement of artists creating work at the intersection of experimental aesthetics and interactive technologies, using the medium as a sometimes playful and sometimes critical vessel of communication between users on the internet.
There is a general presumption in the west that what is uploaded online remains there forever, a free space unrestrained by the rules and laws that govern within national borders. However, the mass influx of daily data, collapse of machine systems, and the threat against net neutrality proves otherwise. These works, both ephemeral and archival in this way, could soon signify the end of an era of “free communication”. The works are intended to be experienced from a user’s very personal vantage point; whether it’s from the privacy of their computer, or in public spaces such as internet cafés before the mass use of mobile and cellular devices became common place.
For many of these artists, the notion of interactive exchange with any user, anywhere in the world, is the inherent basis of their artwork and underscores some of the more radical motivations of internet art; to reveal and undermine the power structures of digital, political, and commercial networks and systems.
This show was curated by Žana Kozomora.
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