Net Art

Most people (myself included) believe the Internet a useful tool and a treasure trove of data and information. It is practical, and we have a vague idea that it connects people from across the globe. Outside of that, we nowadays don't think too much on it. It has become so commonplace and not particularly remarkable.

Learning about Net Art and key net artists made me realize how remarkable a thing the Internet can be - especially as an art medium. I did not even think that it could be used as such since it is vastly different from the art I am used to seeing. In most cases, artists use their mediums to suspend disbelief and create a window to a different time and space. The Internet breaks that suspensions by offering multiple windows at once in tandem with other things on the computer screen. The Internet works on a real time continuum, and yet non-sequentially with the moments of time difference from the transfer of information between the server and the viewer.

However, what interests me the most is the interactive potential of the Internet. With this technology, artists can bridge gaps between authors and users, and the computer screen can become something viewers can use to explore for themselves. The art becomes something more than just a piece delivered to the viewer to look at - the viewer can play with it to or delve into the spaces of others. The art inevitably becomes and exploration about the connections between people as well as the visual or audio itself.