-Liz
“The ‘online-only’ exhibition of net art at a museum website seems to have advantages in that it preserves the original context of how the art is supposed to be seen, but poses the problem that the institution has only limited control over how a work is experienced by the viewer.”
– Christiane Paul, Artport Curator [1]
Last week, when Dr. Paul spoke to us about her curatorial work with digital art at the Whitney, she stressed the importance of distinguishing between the archival collections of text, photographs, and interactive elements that comprise most online gallery “exhibitions,” and the (web)site specific installations that exist solely online, portals to art made for and experienced on your personal computer screen. Artport, the Whitney Museum’s space for net art, which is curated by Dr. Paul, is not a digital representation of art shown in a gallery, but the gallery for the art it contains, pieces commissioned by the Whitney and created specifically for the web. It is a true exhibition space.
The works exhibited on Artport are material in nature, though they exist on a digital plane. Since their only true, physical manifestation is perhaps a server somewhere; their birthplace is the net, their language code, their materiality radically different than traditional artworks. The visitor browses through Artport from the comfort of their own home, office, or local coffee shop, the experience is vastly different than visiting an actual gallery. However, like the online representations of physical exhibitions, these works would lose their true context (or aura) were they to be shown within the confines of a typical exhibition space. The engagement is different, but if the interest is there, no less active.
There are small, unimposing descriptions for each featured work, with links to longer articles presented separately from the work. The art is clearly the focal point, and dozens of artists are featured along with several commissioned works, and an extensive network of links to other sites that if followed, could lead to a very engaging and interactive experience in the realm of net art, or the “page not found” message of a broken link.
“On the Internet, the spatial distance that would divide the centre from the margin or text from context in the physical world, is subordinated by the temporality of the link.” [2]
-Christiane Paul, Artport Curator
Artport is divided into five sections:
The Gate, a collection of links to net artists’ works.
Up until February 2006, a different artist or collective was presented. These “Gates” consist of a small, page specific work and links to the artist’s website and other projects featured online.
A Commissions area that presents original net art projects commissioned by the Whitney. Most capitalize on the collaborative nature of the web, and ask different artists to submit parts of a sum. One such project CODeDOC, we saw last week.
Another notable collaborative effort is called Screening Circle and is like a digital form of quilting, it is a screen-based project derived from the very material traditions of a quilting circle. Site visitors are asked to submit squares to the whole, much like a circle of grandmothers, and the results are woven into a sort of pixilated textile.
An Exhibitions space which gives information about and links to current and past net art and digital arts exhibitions at the ‘material’ Whitney museum.
