fragment - net art history
Ana Buigues
Although net art functions in a non-linear way, and is a live practice =
- theoretically not
susceptible to belong to any written history, this dissertation and the=
few histories/stories of net
art are fortunately or unfortunately quite Cartesian. Many cultural sc=
holars have a tendency to
categorize, organize, label, and list styles, periods, artists, and peo=
ple who live through a
specific period in history. These taxonomic activities are, as known, =
the legacy of the
encyclopaedic project of the Enlightenment, and we all have a considera=
ble baggage from it, with
which we proceed. Therefore, the imaginative thinking tools, such as r=
igor and consistency, that
education institutions and social systems gave us to put our chaos into=
order, leave us with
histories that mainly revolve around chronologies and the significant e=
vents that because of their
relative importance are called historical. Since history is always dif=
ferently [re] written and
[re] read depending on the frame time, culture, and ideology within whi=
ch is being written/read,
what follows, then, is a summary-pastiche of the personal compilations =
that Rachel Greene [59],
Roberta Bosco and Stefano Caldana [60], and Natalie Bookchin [61], prov=
ide as time lines and
approximate evolution of net art. As Linda Hutcheon would say: "The =
scholar, I submit, has been
sampling, Lévi-Straussian 'bricoleur' whose creations 'always really =
consist of a new arrangement of
elements,' of messages 'which have . . . been transmitted in advance.'"=
[62]
Vuk Cosic, anticipating the advent of literature on net art, has saved =
net art historians some work
by launching his net art piece _Classics of net.art. The Official Histo=
ry of Net.art
vol. II._ [63] This collection was created "because books are an unp=
aralleled medium for the
delivery of high-thought content . . . Classics of Net.art emphasize i=
deas from a new breed of
artists, thinkers, visionaries, critics, artists, scientists, journalis=
ts, and the Digital
Revolution's storytellers, and are presented with authority, ground-bre=
aking design, lasting power,
and magic." [64]
1. Rachel Green, "Una Historia del Arte de Internet," Translation: Rem=
edios Zafra,
net.artmadrid.net, Date of on line publication not available, 15 Octobe=
r 2001
<http://net.artmadrid.net/textos/greene.html> Originally published as "=
Web Work A History of
Internet Art," _ARTFORUM International_, 9 (May 2000): 162-167, 190.
2.Roberta Bosco and Stefano Caldana, "Arte.Red. Breve historia," _El Pa=
ís Digital_, Date of on line
publication not available, 15 October 2001<http://www.elpais.es/especia=
les/2001/arte/histo.htm>
3.Natalie Bookchin, "a story of net art (open source)," Last update 5 M=
ay 2001, 15 October
2001<http://www.calarts.edu/~line/history.html>
4.Linda Hutcheon, "Pumping Irony. Strenght Through Sampling," Brian Boi=
gon ed. _Culture Lab._
(New York:Princeton Architectural Press, 1993), 132-133.
5.Vuk Cosic. _Classics of net art._ Date not avaible <http://www.ljudm=
ila.org/~vuk/books/>
6.Ibid.
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Ana Buigues copymiddle