The Rhizome Archive | Rhizome Digest: Highlights from the New Media Art Field

The Rhizome Digest merged into the Rhizome News in November 2008. These pages serve as an archive for 6-years worth of discussions and happenings from when the Digest was simply a plain-text, weekly email.

Subject: RHIZOME DIGEST: 4.09.04
From: digest@rhizome.org (RHIZOME)
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 16:04:53 -0400
Reply-to: digest@rhizome.org
Sender: owner-digest@rhizome.org

RHIZOME DIGEST: April 9, 2004

Content:

+note+
1. Francis Hwang: D. of T. report, March 2004

+announcement+
2. Noel Kelly: NKS (Neue Slowenische Kunst) to open Dublin Passport Office -
Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland - April 29th 2004
3. Lev Manovich: Data-mining the subject
4. Scott Berry: Images Festival Toronto

+opportunity+
5. Terry Towery: 6 POSITIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA
6. Johannes Birringer: Interaktionslabor 2: interactive architecture -
movement - adoptive systems

+feature+
7. Alexander Galloway: "Protocol"--Excerpt from Chapter 7 "Internet Art"

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1.

Date: 04.01.04
From: Francis Hwang (francis AT rhizome.org)
Subject: D. of T. report, March 2004

Hi everyone,

My March involved a lot of small, boring little housekeeping-type
tasks, and a few interesting ones. Some of the interesting ones
include:

DONE IN MARCH:
+ Commission Voting
This got underway in March and other than a dumb error in the very
beginning, I have not heard any reports of technical problems with the
system. Whether voting is successful in a social/aesthetic sense is a
much more important question, and I think that remains to be seen.
Since we're still in the process of voting it wouldn't be appropriate
for me to say much now, but when this is all done I'll be writing up a
report for perusal & discussion, which will help us refine, change, or
scrap the experiment for the next time Rhizome does commissions.
http://rhizome.org/commissions/

+ Browse artworks by keyword
You can browse artworks in the ArtBase by keywords now! This is the
first (and easiest) step in the ongoing process to make searching the
website easier.
http://rhizome.org/fresh/artworks_by_keyword.rhiz

+ Minor gender corrector
This is barely worth mentioning, but I switched the order of "female"
and "male" in the dropdown on the user demographics page. Mostly I was
taking a cue from Danah Boyd's off-hand comment about how interaction
designers almost always put "male" first without a good reason. (
http://www.misbehaving.net/2003/10/social_construc.html )
Of course, now that I look at the page again I notice how "in progress"
slips out of order and that I'm not really certain how to treat that
since I suspect that most people who chose that option are joking. Or
the fact that gender is largely a social construct and that even the
basic designation of "in progress" would seem to imply that any state
of in-betweenness--whether you're talking about hermaphroditism, drag,
metrosexuality, or just dykes on bikes--is inherently unstable and that
the only genuine options are those proscribed by heteronormative
binarism.
Yes, I know that the field's optional, and that I'm thinking too much
about it.
http://rhizome.org/preferences/user.rhiz

IN PROGRESS:
+ ArtBase revamp
The ArtBase revamping is getting started slowly. My general plan is to
introduce this in small stages from end of the process to the front, so
that artists who are going through the process will move forward out of
the old system into the new system without any interruption. Currently
I'm working on a user-friendly central control panel that tells you
"These are the artworks you have in the system; you have to take
actions on these pieces, but not these pieces." I'm also building a
message-tracking system (inspired by various tech-support systems) that
will centralize all correspondence about a given artwork. ( There's
also a process-phase abstraction that would only really interest a
hardcore object-oriented domain modeling geek. )

+ Hiring
I've also been interviewing for a part-time, short-term consultant to
help me with the programming, mostly for ArtBase and search. More on
this is it develops.

Francis

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2.

Date: 4.03.04
From: Noel Kelley (art.info AT artprojectsnetwork.net)
Subject: NKS (Neue Slowenische Kunst) to open Dublin Passport Office -
Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland - April 29th 2004

NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst) is the world's first universal state. It is
larger than the European Union, more powerful than NATO, more populous than
the Vatican. NSK has established a territory without geographical, national
or cultural borders.

The NSK State is installed in a real social and political space as a
sculpture comprising the body warmth, spirit and work of its members. NSK
confers the status of a state not upon territory but upon the mind, whose
borders are in a state of flux, in accordance with the movements and changes
of its symbolic and physical collective body. The project comments on
political developments in ex-Yugoslavia in a specific way, representing an
alternative to the political fixations on territories, ethnic groups and
borders that gained strength since the beginning of the 1990's.

On April 29th 2004 NSK will establish a passport office for the issue of NSK
State Passports. As well as issuing NSK State Passports, the office will
display and provide of information concerning NSK and the individual groups
that constitute the NSK state. This will take place in Project Arts Centre,
Temple Bar, Dublin 1, Ireland

The opening event will take place on April 29th 2004 AT 6pm

The Passport Office will remain open until May 3rd 2004

Further information can be found at
http://www.artprojectsnetwork.net
or
by phoning Noel Kelly on +353 (0)86 2471114
email: noel.kelly AT artprojectsnetwork.net

Funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Culture, and the Slovenian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, with support from The Project Arts Centre.

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3.

Date: 4.04.04
From: Lev Manovich (manovich AT jupiter.ucsd.edu)
Subject: Data-mining the subject

To view this entire thread, click here:
http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=12684&text=24405#24405

+ + +

Schoenerwissen FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Office for Computational Design Thursday, April 1, 2004

www.sw.ofcd.com

________________________________________________________________________
txtkit - Visual Text Mining Tool 1.1.0

txtkit is an Open Source visual text mining tool for exploring large
amounts of multilingual texts. This multiuser-application mainly focuses
on the process of reading and reasoning as a series of decisions and
events. To expand this single perspective activity txtkit creates
content recommendations through collaborative filtering. The software
requires Mac OS X 10.3 and Internet access.
Technologies used: Objective-C, OpenGL, Java, MySQL

Free download at <http://www.txtkit.sw.ofcd.com>
________________________________________________________________________
Background

txtkit was commissioned by Prof. Hans Ulrich Reck, co-author of the
concept and project director with Prof. Georg Trogemann of KIT (Kunst.
Informatik. Theorie. / Art. Computer Science. Theory.), a research
project based at the Art and Media Studies department at the Academy of
Media Arts Cologne. KIT is a part of the KUBIM programme, financed by
the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMB+F) and Länder
Ministries for Education or Science and Culture.

________________________________________________________________________
Currently available text sources

There are three sources at the moment:
- HUReck_ArtMediaTheory.en.txtkit ( Hans Ulrich Reck / english )
- HUReck_Collection.de.txtkit ( Hans Ulrich Reck / german )
- LManovich_NewMediaResearch.en.txtkit ( Lev Manovich / english )

Any suggestions for other free text sources are welcome!
________________________________________________________________________
About Schoenerwissen/OfCD

Berlin based Schoenerwissen/OfCD (Anne Pascual & Marcus Hauer)
specializes in the design and development of information architectures
and interfaces. Our design strategies integrate the use of new
technology, theory and experimentation. We seek for advanced information
infrastructures that provide spatial and temporal contexts serving as
frameworks for exploration and dynamic decision making.

In 2002 the project Minitasking - a visual gnutella client has been
recognized by an Award of Distinction of the Prix Ars Electronica and
received the transmediale Software Award in 2003.

More information at <http://www.sw.ofcd.com> or contact us at
<mailto:stdio AT sw.ofcd.com?subject=information>
________________________________________________________________________
Newsletter

If you want to receive the txtkit newsletter you should send a message
to <mailto:announce AT sw.ofcd.com?subject=newsletter> with your name and
e-mail address. It's pretty easy.
________________________________________________________________________
Project Related Links

- <http://www.kubim.de>
- <http://www.khm.de/kmw/kit>

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Rhizome is now offering organizational subscriptions, memberships
purchased at the institutional level. These subscriptions allow
participants of an institution to access Rhizome's services without
having to purchase individual memberships. (Rhizome is also offering
subsidized memberships to qualifying institutions in poor or excluded
communities.) Please visit http://rhizome.org/info/org.php for more
information or contact Jessica Ivins at Jessica AT Rhizome.org.

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4.

Date: 4.09.04
From: Scott Berry (scott AT imagesfestival.com)
Subject: Images Festival Toronto

Images Festival (Toronto): OFF-SCREEN exhibition of media art Installations
<PAUSE> web.art exhibition w/MobileGaze.org launches 7 pm Wednesday 21 April
AT InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre 401 Richmond St West, ste #444
w/curators Valérie Lamontagne, Brad Todd & artists: I8U, Yan Breleux and
Peter Horvath. Visit the audio & video exhibition AT www.mobilegaze.org/pause

--
Toronto, April 1, 2004 - For ten meteoric days, from April 15-24, the
organizing team of Images Off-Screen focuses a new media lens on 16
installations by 17 artists at 13 venues in downtown Toronto. Audiences are
invited to experience the moving image through media art installations,
web-based and interactive projects, sound & video works, performances,
artists' talks, receptions and the launch party on Friday, April 16 at the
Gladstone Hotel.

Since 1995, the Images Festival has presented media art installations in
addition to its on-screen program in an ongoing dialogue between the
traditional cinematic approach to exhibition and the many innovative and
experimental off-screen formats for digital media. This year many of the
installation and new media projects investigate time, duration, stasis,
urban landscapes, travel and our lived environments.

On Friday, April 16 from 10pm - 2am, the Festival will launch Images
Off-Screen with a free party at the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W,
featuring outdoor video projections by Oliver Hockenhull & DJ Will Munro.
For information on additional openings, artist's talks, web launches &
events please visit the Images website or pick up a program catalogue.

Collaborating partners are: A Space, Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery 44,
Gallery TPW, InterAccess, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, Paul
Petro Contemporary Art, Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Trinity Square
Video, Vtape, VMAC, Women's Art Resource Centre and Wynick/Tuck Gallery.

Admission to all exhibitions is free (except the AGO, which is free on
Wednesdays from 6:00 to 8:30) and all galleries are open Tuesday - Sunday
12-5 during the festival.

The Images Festival of Independent Film and Video, Canada's largest annual
event devoted exclusively to independent and experimental film, video and
new media, opens April 15 and runs through April 24 at two theatres and
thirteen gallery and performance venues in downtown Toronto. From
hand-tinted celluloid to digital video, performances and interactive media,
the Images Festival celebrates its 17th year with a 10-day line-up featuring
this year's best independent and experimental images. Audiences are given
the unmissable opportunity to take in more than 100 independent films and
videos, sixteen new media art installations, two web-based exhibitions and
five live events.

IMAGES OFF-SCREEN INFORMATION:
www.imagesfestival.com

Images Festival Ticket and Information Line: (416) 971-6236
--

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5.

Date: 4.02.04
From: Terry Towery (terryt AT mac.com)
Subject: 6 POSITIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA

6 POSITIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA

Colleagues,
We are beginning the search process a little late so it would be helpful if
you could pass this along to potential candidates. If you have any questions
please feel free to contact me

Salary Ranges:
Assistant Professor $45,163 - $65,388
Associate Professor $53,455 - $77,529
Full Professor $56,664 - $93,507

POSITIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA

The City University of New York, the nation's largest public urban
university, is pleased to announce six tenure-track faculty positions in
various areas of digital media that will be filled as soon as September
2004. CUNY has identified digital media as a Flagship Program within its
nineteen campus system that it intends to enhance and expand over the next
three years.

Candidates for this first round of positions must demonstrate broad
experience in using and creating digital media in artistic and/or academic
settings, a strong research agenda in various aspects of digital media
production and use, and a commitment to teaching and academic achievement in
digital media. A doctorate or a terminal degree in an appropriate and
related field is required. The positions are available at the Assistant,
Associate, and Professor levels, commensurate with the experience and
qualifications of the candidates.

* Borough of Manhattan Community College: Multimedia Networking and Design
in the A.A.S. program in Multimedia Programming and Design
* Brooklyn College: Assistant or Associate Professor specializing in Radio
and Sound Art in the Academic Radio program and Center for Computer Music
* The City College of New York: Digital Post Production in the Media
Communications Arts M.F.A. program
* Hunter College: Digital Media Artist, with emphasis on 3-D modeling and
animation, in the M.F.A. Program in Integrated Media Arts
* Lehman College: Motion Graphics Expert, with emphasis on integrating video
into 3-D modeling and animation, in the Computer Graphics and Imaging B.A.,
B.F.A., B.S. and M.F.A. programs
* NYC College of Technology: Entertainment Technology, emphasis on live
performance and broadband broadcasting, with crossover to Computer
Engineering Technology for the Bachelor of Technology Degree
Additional position information is available at: http://cuny.edu/TBA
Applicants must state which position(s) they are applying for. Send a letter
describing qualifications, experience and research agenda with vita and
names of three references to:

Dr. Stephen Brier, Associate Provost for Instructional Technology and
Chair, Digital Media Cluster Hiring Initiative
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Ave., Rm. 8111
New York, NY 10016

Applicants for more than one position should include duplicate materials.
Applications will be forwarded to the appropriate colleges; review of
application will begin immediately. The searches will remain open until the
positions are filled.
CUNY is an AA/EO employer M/F/D/V

D I G I T A L   M E D I A   C L U S T E R   H I R I N G   I N I T I A T I V
E
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The City University of New York, the nation's largest public urban
university, is pleased to announce six tenure-track faculty positions in
various areas of digital media that will be filled as soon as September
2004. CUNY has identified digital media as a Flagship Program within its
nineteen campus system that it intends to enhance and expand over the next
three years.

Candidates for this first round of positions must demonstrate broad
experience in using and creating digital media in artistic and/or academic
settings, a strong research agenda in various aspects of digital media
production and use, and a commitment to teaching and academic achievement in
digital media. A doctorate or a terminal degree in an appropriate field is
required. The positions are available at the Assistant, Associate, and
Professor levels, commensurate with the experience and qualifications of the
candidates.

Borough of Manhattan Community College
Multimedia Networking and Design in the A.A.S. program in Multimedia
Programming and Design.
This position will incorporate the business side of multimedia production
including feasibility, client requirements, pricing and project management,
as well as the creation of multimedia products. Skills should include
experience in a variety of web technologies, multimedia networking, sound
design for multimedia, physical computing, and 3D modeling and virtual
reality for specific industries including medicine, manufacturing,
aerospace, etc.

Brooklyn College
Assistant or Associate Professor specializing in Radio and Sound Art in the
Academic Radio program and Center for Computer Music
Brooklyn College seeks candidates with a strong teaching and production
background in innovative radio and/or experimental composition with
technology, but would consider strong candidates with non-traditional
backgrounds in related disciplines who can show qualifications in teaching
or research in two or more of the following fields: sound art, sound
installation, sound design, history of sound art, and interactive sound
environments. Expertise in additional related fields would be considered. In
addition to sound art and radio teaching responsibilities, the individual
hired will:

* Be a central participant in development of new interdisciplinary
programs, including possible BFA and MFA programs in Sound Arts, and a
possible MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Arts;
*        Participate in team-teaching courses in the advanced certificate
program in Performance and Interactive Media Arts;
*    Work individually with music composition students and/or advanced radio
students as per the hire's expertise;
* Participate in the coordination and production of on and off campus
events, such as the Brooklyn College International Electro-Acoustic Music
Festival, the Radio Speakers Series, Brooklyn College Radio Festival, and
Performance and Interactive Media Arts events;
* Help supervise the student radio station;

Candidates' proficiency or teaching experience with the SAW digital audio
editors and/or the Max/MSP programming environment will be considered.
Candidates' must show a significant record of all or some: original radio
work, original music, sound design, sound installation, interactive sound
environments, publication and scholarship in sound or radio theory,
innovative or traditional broadcast writing. Possible departments for
appointment are Television and Radio, or the Conservatory of Music. For more
information see www.interactivearts.org /soundarts/

The City College of New York
Digital Post Production in the Media Communications Arts M.F.A. program
Specialist in the technique of digital post-production and motion picture
editing theory applied in the digital mode. Instruct digital post in a full
complement of production and post-production courses from introductory level
to advanced undergraduate and thesis-level graduate. Artist/Practitioner
with a strong grounding in traditional and non-traditional visual narrative
technique. Required additional experience in digital effects, text
applications, graphics and color correction. MCA has made the transition in
graduate and undergraduate studies to a fully digital post-production
facility. Position will expand on existing facilities and guide development
of new direction in digital post.

Hunter College
Digital Media Artist with emphasis on 3D modeling and animation, in the
M.F.A. Program in Integrated Media Arts offering Advanced Studies in
Nonfiction Media Making
Applicants for this position should have experience in three-dimensional
modeling and/or animation, with a strong track record using new media
technologies for communicating ideas, knowledge and information. This hire
will be involved in the development of a number of essential courses,
undergraduate and graduate, including classes in 3D modeling, animation and
compositing for video, film and interactive media.

Lehman College
Motion Graphics Expert with emphasis on integrating video into 3D modeling
and animation, in the Computer Graphics and Imaging B.A., B.F.A., B.S. and
M.F.A. programs
Lehman College of the City University of New York's Art Department is
offering a full-time tenure track position in digital media. The candidate
should have strong skills in motion graphics, video and animation, and would
be responsible for integrating video into our 3D modeling and animation
program. The position will help build on our already strong area of modeling
and animation for scientific, fine art and entertainment purposes. The skill
set should include Maya, video editing and video effects. Preference will be
given to those candidates who are versed in Game Design, Physical Computing
or interactive installation. Experience with Macintosh computers, OS X
operating system and a familiarity with Photoshop,Final Cut Pro, After
Effects and related software concerning digital video is desired. Qualified
applicant must be a working artist, possess an M.F.A., and have two years
teaching experience or equivalent (beyond Graduate Assistantship).
Applied/commercial experience is a plus. In addition to letter of
application, resume, and vita, applicants should include VHS/DVD samples of
personal work as well as samples of student work.

NYC College of Technology
Entertainment Technology, emphasis on live performance and broadband
broadcasting, with crossover to Computer Engineering Technology for the
Bachelor of Technology Degree
This hire will be responsible for the development and implementation of
research and curriculum in new technologies for live performance production,
digital moviemaking, television and broadband broadcasting. Candidate will
be a practicing artist/scientist experienced in college teaching who is an
expert in audio and/or visual areas of live performance production,
interactive/enhanced TV computer controlled systems, interactive digital
video, mobile and wireless devices, and/or embedded systems, wearables,
telerobotics, robots and robotic devices.

Applicants must state which position(s) they are applying for. Send a letter
describing qualifications, experience and research agenda with vita and
names of three references to:

Dr. Stephen Brier, Associate Provost for Instructional Technology and
Chair, Digital Media Cluster Hiring Initiative
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365Fifth Ave., Rm. 8111
New York, NY 10016

Applicants for more than one position should include duplicate materials.
Applications will be forwarded to the appropriate colleges; review of
application will begin immediately. The searches will remain until the
positions are filled.
CUNY is an AA/EO employer M/F/D/V

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6.

Date: 4.02.04
From: Johannes Birringer (orpheus AT rice.edu)
Subject: Interaktionslabor 2: interactive architecture - movement - adoptive
systems

Interaktionslabor 2:
interactive architecture - movement - adoptive systems

Göttelborn Coal Mine - Saarland, Germany
July 5th-18th, 2004.

http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net

directed by Johannes Birringer

Interaktionslabor Göttelborn is currently accepting applications for its
second international summer workshop in the former coalmine intended to
encourage and facilitate transdisciplinary creative practice. A
laboratory for new media arts, performance and interactive design is
created within the changing landscape of industrial culture. The former
coal mine becomes an emergent space for integrative projects in artistic and
scientific research.

Cost:
Full intensive: EUR400 / Single day: EUR 50,-
* This cost does not include travel to Göttelborn and lodging. Those
arrangements should be made by the participant. The Lab is happy to
offer suggestions and/or facilitate room/ride sharing.

Send your application with résumé before May 31 to
Magalie.Trognon AT iks-saar.de or orpheus AT rice.edu
Magalie Trognon, IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH, Zum Schacht,
66287 Quierschied-Göttelborn
Tel. +49 6825-94277-50 Fax. +49 6825-94277-99

********************************************

Interaktions-Labor 2:
Interaktive Räume - adoptive Systeme

Göttelborner Bergwerk (Saarland)
5.-18. Juli 2004

http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net

Leitung: Johannes Birringer

Die Werkstatt für Interaktionsdesign, Kunst und Technologien nimmt ihre
Arbeit zum zweiten Mal auf und lädt ein zum experimentellen Prozess in
der transformierten Industrielandschaft. Das ehemalige Bergwerk
Göttelborn wird auch in diesem Sommer zum Raum für Integrationsprojekte
in Medien-Kunst, Performance, Technik und Design.

Werkstattgebühr für 14 Tag: EUR 400,- / EUR50 pro Tag
Anmeldung mit Résumé (begrenzte Teilnehmerzahl) bitte an:
Magalie.Trognon AT iks-saar.de oder orpheus AT rice.edu
Magalie Trognon, IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH, Zum Schacht,
66287 Quierschied-Göttelborn
Tel. +49 6825-94277-50 Fax. +49 6825-94277-99

Die Werkstattgebühr ist unabhängig von Anreise- und
Unterbringungskosten. Das Labor berät Sie gerne bei Fragen zur
Unterkunft am Ort.

****************************************************************************
*******************

Laboratorio Göttelborn:

Laboratorio de Interacción inicia su segundo taller experimental
en arte interactivo, tecnología en medios de comunicación y ambientes
virtuales.

Göttelborn, la antigua mina de carbón--Saarland, Alemania.
5 de julio al 18 de julio de 2004

http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net

Director del proyecto:Johannes Birringer

Cuota de inscripción para artistas y técnicos:
E400.00 (taller completo) o E50.00 por día.
Fecha límite de inscripción: el 31 de mayo.
orpheus AT rice.edu o Magalie.Trognon AT iks-saar.de

Magalie Trognon, IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH, Zum Schacht,
66287 Quierschied-Göttelborn, Alemania
Tel. +49 6825-94277-50 Fax. +49 6825-94277-99

****************************************************************************
***********

Atelier Interactif 2

TECHNOLOGIES DE COMMUNICATION, ARTS INTERACTIFS, ESPACES VIRTUELS

Mine de Göttelborn - Sarre, Allemagne
5 - 18 Juillet, 2004

Direction: Johannes Birringer

http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net

Un laboratoire expérimental de recherche sera organisé pour la deuxième
année sur le site de l'ancienne mine de Göttelborn. Ce site fait partie
du projet de restructuration d'anciens sites industriels mené par la
société IKS - IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH. Göttelborn deviendra un espace
évolutionnaire pour des projets intégratifs dans les domaines de l'art
et de la recherche.

Coûts : 400 EUR pour els 2 semaines / 50 EUR par jour
Ces coûts ne comprennent pas le transport ni l'hébergement, que le
participant doit lui-même organiser. Les organisateurs se tiennent à
votre disposition pour vous conseiller dans ces domaines.

Informations: Magalie.Trognon AT iks-saar.de ou orpheus AT rice.edu

Magalie Trognon, IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH, Zum Schacht,
66287 Quierschied-Göttelborn
Tel. +49 6825-94277-50 Fax. +49 6825-94277-99

Le site: Göttelborn se trouve dans le Land de la Sarre, à proximité de
la frontière française et à environ 20 min au nord de Sarrebruck.

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For $65 annually, Rhizome members can put their sites on a Linux
server, with a whopping 350MB disk storage space, 1GB data transfer per
month, catch-all email forwarding, daily web traffic stats, 1 FTP
account, and the capability to host your own domain name (or use
http://rhizome.net/your_account_name). Details at:
http://rhizome.org/services/1.php

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7.

Date: 4.05.04
From: Alexander Galloway (galloway AT nyu.edu)
Subject: "Protocol"--Excerpt from Chapter 7 "Internet Art"

"Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization"
Excerpt from Chapter 7 "Internet Art":

Let me now take a closer look at Internet art by examining some of its
specific aesthetic qualities. The Internet's early autonomous
communities were the first space where pure network aesthetics (Web site
specificity) emerged--email lists like 7-11, Nettime, recode, Rhizome,
and Syndicate.

Primitive signs were seen in early net.art projects, such as Alexei
Shulgin's Refresh, an art project consisting of nothing but links
between Web pages. Refresh involves many different organizations working
together, using many different computers all around the world. In
Refresh a chain of Web pages is created. Each page is programmed to link
automatically (on a 10-second delay) to the next Web page in the chain.
Shulgin describes the project as "A Multi-Nodal Web-Surf-Create-Session
for an Unspecified Number of Players." Anyone can collaborate in the
project by slipping his or her own page into the link of refreshes. The
user may load any Web page in the chain, and then watch as a new Web
site appears every several seconds like a slide show.

In this way, Refresh was one of the first works to render the network in
an artistic way--as a painter renders a landscape or a sculptor renders
a physical form. The art exists "out there" in the network, not on any
individual Web page in the chain. Refresh made visible a virtual network
of collaboration that was not based on individual content. Shulgin's
work spatializes the Web. It turns the Internet, and protocol with it,
into a sculpture. [...]

While Shulgin's work is highly conceptual, more formal work was also
produced in this period. Perhaps the best example of formal work is from
the European duo Jodi. For several years Jodi has refined a formal style
by making computers both the subject and content of their art making.
Focusing specifically on those places where computers break down, Jodi
derives a positive computer aesthetic by examining its negative, its
point of collapse.

For example, in Jodi's work 404, which alludes to the Web's ubiquitous
"file not found" 404 error code (which is built into Berners-Lee's HTTP
protocol), the artists use the default fonts and simple colors available
to primitive Web browsers. 404 is a collection of pages where users can
post text messages and see what other users have written. But this
simple bulletin board system becomes confused as the input text is
pushed through various distorting filters before being added to the Web
page for general viewing. The result is a rather curious collection of
bathroom-wall scrawl that foregrounds the protocols of the Web page
itself, rather than trying to cover over the technology with pleasing
graphics or a deliberate design.

The 404 error code has also been used by other artists. Lisa Jevbratt's
"Non-Site Gallery" opens up the dead end of the 404 error page. She
transforms the 404 message into a generative doorway, where the
requested page is generated on the fly, as if it had always existed for
the user and was not the result of a mistake.

The 404 error code was also used in a more conceptual sense by the EDT.
As part of its virtual sit-ins the EDT have created software that sends
out Web requests for nonexistent Web pages on remote servers embedded
with special messages--addresses in the form of
www.server.com/__special_ message__. Since the Web pages do not exist on
the remote server (and were never intended to exist), an error message
is immediately generated by the server and returned to the EDT software.

However--and this is the trick--since Web servers record all traffic to
their Web site including errors, the error acts like a Trojan horse and
the "special message" is recorded in the remote server's log book along
with the rest of its Web traffic. This accomplishes the difficult task
of actually uploading a certain specified piece of information to the
server of one's choice (albeit in a rather obscure, unthreatening
location). As the messages pass from the protester to the protested
site, a relationship is created between the local user and the remote
server, like a type of virtual sculpture.

While the artwork may offer little aesthetic gratification, it has
importance as a conceptual artwork. It moves the moment of art making
outside the aesthetic realm and into the invisible space of protocols:
Web addresses and server error messages.

As work from the EDT suggests, Internet conceptualism is often achieved
through a spatialization of the Web. It turns protocol into a sculpture.
As the Internet changes, expanding its complex digital mass, one sees
that the Web itself is a type of art object--a basis for myriad artistic
projects. It is a space in which the distinction between art and not art
becomes harder and harder to see. It is a space that offers itself up as
art. [...]

The Web Stalker is also a good example of the conceptual nature of
Internet art. It is an alternate browser that offers a completely
different interface for moving through pages on the Web. The Web Stalker
takes the idea of the visual browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator or
Internet Explorer) and turns it on its head. Instead of showing the art
on the Web through interpreting HTML and displaying in-line images, it
exhibits the Web itself as art through a making-visible of its latent
structure. The user opens a Web address, then watches as the Stalker
spits back the HTML source for that address. In a parallel window the
Web Stalker exhaustively maps each page linked from that URL,
exponentially enlarging the group of scanned pages and finally pushing
an entire set of interlinked pages to the user. The pages are mapped in
a deep, complex hypertextual relation.

The Web Stalker doesn't produce art but, in Matthew Fuller's words,
"produces a relationship to art." The Stalker slips into a new category,
the "not-just-art" that exists when revolutionary thinking is
supplemented by aesthetic production.

Let me now propose a simple periodization that will help readers
understand Internet art practice from 1995 to the present. Early
Internet art--the highly conceptual phase known as "net.art"--is
concerned primarily with the network, while later Internet art--what can
be called the corporate or commercial phase--has been concerned
primarily with software. This is the consequence of a rather dramatic
change in the nature of art making concurrent with the control societies
and protocological media discussed throughout this book.

The first phase, net.art, is a dirty aesthetic deeply limited, but also
facilitated, by the network. The network's primary limitation is the
limitation on bandwidth (the speed at which data can travel), but other
limitations also exist such as the primitive nature of simple network
protocols like HTML. Because of this, one sees a type of art making that
is a mapping of the network's technological limitations and failures--as
the wasp is a map of the orchid on which it alights, to use Deleuze and
Guattari's expression. Examples include Jodi, Olia Lialina, Heath
Bunting, Alexei Shulgin, Vuk Cosic, and many others. Net.art is a very
exciting aesthetic, full of creativity and interesting conceptual moves.

Yet this first phase may already be coming to an end. Baumgärtel
recently observed that it is "the end of an era. The first formative
period of net culture seems to be over." He is referring to a series of
years from 1995 to 1999 when the genre of net.art was first developed.
In this period, due to prominent technical constraints such as bandwidth
and computer speed, many artists were forced to turn toward conceptual
uses of the Internet that were not hindered by these technical
constraints, or, in fact, made these constrains the subject of the work.
All art media involve constraints, and through these constraints
creativity is born. Net.art is low bandwidth through and through. This
is visible in ASCII art, form art, HTML conceptualism--anything that can
fit quickly and easily through a modem.

But this primary limitation has now begun to disappear. Today Internet
art is much more influenced by the limitations of certain commercial
contexts. These contexts can take many different forms, from commercial
animation suites such as Flash, to the genre of video gaming (a
fundamentally commercial genre), to the corporate aesthetic seen in the
work of RTMark, Etoy, and others. My argument is aesthetic, not
economic. Thus, it is not a question of "selling out" but rather of
moving to a new artistic playing field. As computers and network
bandwidth improved during the late 1990s, the primary physical reality
that governed the aesthetic space of net.art began to fall away. Taking
its place is the more commercial context of software, what may be seen
as a new phase in Internet art.

[Excerpt reprinted with the permission of The MIT Press.]

----

"Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization"
by Alexander R. Galloway
The MIT Press (March, 2004), 248 pages, ISBN 0262072475

book homepage: http://mitpress.mit.edu/protocol
table of contents: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~ag111/Protocol-contents.doc
amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262072475

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