New Media in The White Cube and Beyond - Curatorial Models For Digital Art.

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Introduction
M
useums, galleries, aud the art world have loug beeu orieuted
mostlytowardobjectsaudhavecounguredthemselvestoaccom-
modatethepreseutatiouaudpreservtiouofsuchstaticworksof
art.Theso-calleduewmediaart,auiucreasiuglyimportautpartofcou-
temporary artistic practice, challeuges the traditioual art world~its
customary methods ofpreseutatiou auddocumeutatiou, aswell asits
approachtocollectiouaudpreservatiou.Likeotherartformsbeforeit,
uewmediaarthasshiftedthefocusfromobjecttoprocess. asauiuher-
eutlytime-based,dyuamic,iuteractive,collaborative,customizable,aud
variableartform,uewmediaartresistsobjectincatiou"audchalleuges
traditioualuotiousoftheartobject.
Theaimofthisauthologyistodiscussthechalleugesofcuratiugaud
preseutiuguewmediaartthathavebeeuemergiugoverthepastdecade.
lucludiugcoutributiousbypromiueutpractitiouersiutheneld~iustitu-
tioualaudiudepeudeutcurators,theorists,audcouservators~thebook
provides auoverviewoftheneld aud addresses the couceptual, philo-
sophical, aud practical issues of both curatiug aud preseutiug uew
mediaart.Althoughemergeuttechuologicalartforms arethefocusof
theessayscollectedhere,theauthologyalsolooksattheissuesmuse-
U1S audcoutemporary artspacesface iuthedigitalera. Theougoiug
2 I NTROD U CTI ON
developmeuts iu digital aud iuformatiou te:huologies will affe:t the
uatureaudstru:tureofartsorgauizatiousaudiustitutiousiuthe :om-
iugde:adesaud :haugetherole ofartspa:es"iuthebroadestseuse.
As au iuhereutly pro:ess-orieuted aud parti:ipatory art form, uew
mediaarthasaprofouudiufueu:eoutherolesofthe:urator,artist,audi-
eu:e,audiustitutiou.lu:reasiugly, :uratorsmustworxwiththeartistou
developmeutaudpreseutatiouofthe worx. Theartistofteu be:omes a
mediatoraudfa:ilitator~for:ollaboratiouwithotherartistsaudforthe
audieu:esthatiutera:twithaud:outributetotheartworx.luuewmedia
art, the traditioualrolesof:uratorsaudartistsarebeiugredenuedaud
shiftedtouew:ollaborativemodelsofprodu:tiouaudpreseutatiou.The
publi: aud audieu:e ofteu parti:ipate iu the artworx~a role that ruus
:ouutertoourideaofthemuseumasashriuefor:outemplatiugsa:red
obje:ts. All these issues require that art iustitutious, at least to some
exteut,re:oungurethemselvesaudadapttothedemaudsoftheart.
Atthistime,uewmediaartisfarfromiutegratediutotheartworld
audartmarxetaudexistsiumultiple:outexts.Thisartform,however,
owesitsdistributedexisteu:euotsimplytoitsfairlyre:eutappearau:e
outhe artworld'sradar. e:ause uew media artisdeeplyiuterwoveu
iutoouriuformatiouso:tythe+etworxstru:tursaud :ollaborative
m thatare :reatiuguewformsof
odu:tiou
aud.tou-
omyaudprofouudlyshapetoday's:ultural:limatu-
\Sf thebouudarieso[ eumaudgalleryaud:reateuewspa:es
o
'
ar
'
. The larger :ulturalimpli:atious of:e:eud its
:reatiou of autouomous zoues" for produ:tiou, dissemiuatiou, aud
re:eptiouwillthereforealsobeaddressediuthisboox.
DEFINING THE TERRITORY: WHAT IS NEW MEDIA ART?
Oueofthenrstissuesthatabooxouuewmediaartmust:ousideristhe
meauiugofuewmedia. "Everyoueseemstoagreethatthetermitself
isuufortuuate.First,itisuothelpfuliudes:ribiug:hara:teristi:soraes-
theti:s ofthe digital medium. The :laim of uewuess" also begs the
questiou ofwhatexa:tlyisuew aboutthemedium. Some ofthe :ou-
:eptsexplored iudigitalartdateba:xa|mosta :euturyaudhaveprevi-
ously beeu addressed iu various traditioual arts. Jovelty seems to
:ousistiutheadvau:emeutofdigitalte:huologyto thestagewhere it
offers eutirelyuewpossibilitiesforthe:reatiouaudexperieu:e ofart.
With:haugeseveryfewmouths,digitalte:huologiesaredevelopiugat
aspeedthatfor:estheuewmedianeldtoredenueitself:outiuuously.
CHRI STI ANE PAUL 3
The termiuologyfor te:huologi:al artforms has always beeu vari-
able,auddigitalarthasalreadyuudergoueseveraluame:hauges.Ou:e
predomiuautlyreferred toas :omputer art aud theumultimediaart, it
be:ame uewmedia"attheeudofthetweutieth:eutur,, :o-optiugthe
term that had beeu used mostly fornlm/video, souudart, audvarious
hybridforms.Newmediathusmadeafluidtrausitioufromtheaualog
tothedigital.

W
_
eedir|u_qe:weut|igi,alte:rolog|s asas
amediumiudis:ussiugdigitaloruewmediaart.Artistsr.ew,;i.i.ouly
ep|
4
igi
logyase
l:-topro
|atir al
ar:!erm, su:hs:ulprer priutortostoreauddel|verwo
'
|cs|a
digitizedversiou of a paiutiug ou the luteruet or a video ou a DVD .
Wh||ee uee1tot.vstigat:1.owthuiital mediualwaffe:t:JIe
aestheti:sofdigitalpriuts,photography,auds:ulpture,thelatterla|gely
represeut the obje:t-orieuted worxmuseumsareequipped foraud do
uot ue:essarily redenue models ofpreseutatiou, :uratiug, :ol|e:tiou,
audpreservatiou. Thisisuottosaythattheseartworxsareeitheriufe-
riororsuperiortoartthat usesthete:huologiesasamedium.Theyare
uot the fo:us of this boox, however, whi:h addresses the :huges l
iudu:edbyartthatusestheiuhereutpossibilitiesofthedigita
audisprodu:ed,stored,audpreseutediudigitalformat.
A denuitiou ofuew media art, although the fo:us ofmauy dis:us-
siousiuphysi:alaudvirtualspa:e,isauelusivegoal,siu:ethete:huo-
logi:alaud:ou:eptualterritoryo::upied bythisartformis:oustautly
beiugre:oungured. Thesu::essful evasiou ofdenuitious isoueofuew
mediaart'sgreatestassetsaudamaiureasouwhysomauyartists,:ura-
tors,audpra:titiouersiugeueralareattra:tedtothisartform.ltseems
impossible to piu it dowu aud safely :ategorize, iustitutioualize, aud
:ommodifyit;attimes,uewmediaartseemsmorealivethauitspra:ti-
tiouerswautittobe.
ltisalwaysdaugerousto:ategorizeauartisti:pra:ti:e,siu:etodoso
sets bouudaries, smoothes out rough areas, aud iu:ludes a :ertaiu
amouutofgeueralizatiou.Atthesametime,taxouomiesprovideauori-
eutatiou.The:hara:teristi:saudformsofuewmediaoutliuedhereaud
dis:ussed throughout the boox :au be :ousidered a prelimiuary aud
flexible:oustru:tformappiuga :oustautly:haugiugterritory.
l _
est:o
moude
uo
r

fo
r
'
i
u

uew ia:(
s_tobe
thatitis:omor:aubasedoalgorithms.However,uewmedia"
o::as.oullyiusedforartexploriugbiote:huologyaudgeueti:eugiueer-
iug,whi:h ofteu iu:orporates digital te:huology iu :ertaiu stages ofits
4 I NTROD U CTI ON
productiouorforitspreseutatiou.Newmediaartisofteucharacterized
as process-orieuted, time-based, dyuamic, aud real-time; participatory,
collaborative,audperformative;modular,variable,geuerative, audcus-
tomizable.Thesefeaturesueeduotallsurfaceiuaparticularartworxbut
cauappeariuvaryiugcombiuatious.ThecuratoraudtheoristerylCra-
ham has compiled aud compared the taxouomies developed by uew
mediatheoristsaudpractitiouerssuchasLevMauovichaudSteveDietz
audhasmadetheresultsavailableouliue. '
Featuresaudcharacteristicsaside,artusiugdigitaltechuologiesas a
mediumcaumauifestitselfiuvariousformsaudexploresabroadrauge
oftopics.ltcaumauifest itselfasiustallatiouwithorwithoutuetworx
compoueuts;asvirtualrealityprojectthatusesdevicessuchasheadsets
aud dataglovestoimmerseviewers/participaats iua virtualworld; as
artcreatedforauddistributed outheluteruet, browser-basedoruot;
assoftwareartthathasbeeucodedbytheartist, s ; asmobileorloca-
tivemedia art thatmaxes use of uomadic" devices ,mobile phoues,
Cameoys,audPalmPilotsorwearableswithembeddedmicroproces-
sors,theClobalPositiouiugSystem, CPS,orwirelessuetworxs.Soft-
wareartisoue oftheblurriestclassincatiousiuthislist,siuceitisanlter
thatcau be applied touewmedia practiceratherthaua denued cate-
gory. Auy digital artworx, whether itis auiustallatiou or a wearable
piece, ultimatelyrelies ousoftware. sofr is u;;d
predomiuautlyforpiecesthathavebeeuhaud-coded"bytheartistaud
reeear lyiuJepeudeut o|a specin:plaHor~thatis,
taeymih: bedisdllateru:torshowu oumou|iciiaa
gal|eN w:ueJia t iu all these forms cau address tl.emes::giug
fromtelepreseuce,artinciallife aud iutelligeuce, aud hypertextualuar-
rativetogamiugaudothertopics.
PRESENTING NEW MEDIA: DIAGRAMS OF THE TERRITORY
lftheterritoryitselfcauuotbeclearlydenued,itbecomesimpossibleto
drawau accuratemap ofit. Thenvepartsofthis booxthereforepro-
vide a diagrammaticstructure to outliue the territory" ofpreseutiug
uewmedia~withmauyliuxs"couuectiugthechapters.
POSITIONING NEW MEDIA ART AND CURATORIAL MODELS
Thenrstpartgivesauoverviewofhistoricalprecedeutsforwhatisuow
calleduewmediaartaudcuratorialapproachestothisartform.Artists
CHRI STI ANE PAUL 5
started worxiugwithdigitaltechuologyiuthe z,eos ,or eveuearlier,
although it was uot uutil the z,;os that this pra:tice became more
widespread.AsCloriaSuttouhaspoiutedout,mauyoftheissuesraised
bytoday'suewmediaartarefarfromuew
In the I960s-1970S artists interested in issues of media, computation,
social networks, and communication theories used to be in active dialogue
with their contemporaries probing other issues under the general guise of
"conceptual art." . . . Of course back then the issue wasn't about NEW
media art, but the introduction of media art within established venues for
contemporary art and the exponentially increasing impact of media and
computer technology on the arts writ large. Questions commonly asked
included: what exactly was the role of the arts in a technologically driven
society? Are computers, consumer electronics and communication theory
transforming art production or simply obscuring it? What was technology'S
relevance to art, if any, and did art operate under a technological impeta
tive? Sound familiar? While these questions could have come from any one
of the many new media art discussion lists, they were questions posed by
Philip Leider, a founding editor of Al'tforum, as well as by other critics and
artists in the pages of art journals and exhibition catalogs between I962
and 1972. 2
Suttou's commeut does uot explaiu why the issues she uames are
mostly ,rediscussedoumailiuglists todayauduotiuthepagesofAi/f:-
rm audsimilarmagaziues.Somepossibleauswersmightbefouudiuthis
volume'sessaybyCharlieCere,whosurveysthehistoricalbacxgrouudof
uewmedia artaud aualyzesthe failures aud successes ofpreviouscou-
uected artforms aud movemeuts. Cere also poiuts to the roots ofuew
media iu the military-iudustrial-academiccomplex ,ouecould also add
eutertaiumeuttothehypheuatedterm,whichcertaiulycomplicatesthe
receptiou ofuew media. Art forms aud movemeuts are embedded iu
largerculturalcoutexts, butuewmediacouldueverbeuuderstoodfrom
a strictly art-historicalperspectivethehistoryoftechuology aud media
scieucesplaysauequallyimportautroleiuthisart'sformatiouaudrecep-
tiou.Newmediaartrequiresmedialiteracy.

Cerealsodiscusseshowuewmediaartcouceptuallyaffectstherole
I
ofmuseums,particularlywithregardtotheuotiouofrealtime. "lfthe
museum fuuctious, amcgtlc:gsvrciv aud cultural
rmory, "is this memory iuflueuced by the acceleratiou ofreal-
+eprocessiug?V|atm|gl|t1hearl|ifthefuture be?
Sara|.oox picxs up ou the history ofcuratiug aud uew media
artexhibitioussurveyed iuCere's essay audaualyzes differeut models
for curatiug uew media~iterative, modular, distributive~as well as
6 I NTRODUCTI ON
metaphorsfor uuderstaudiuguewmediaexhibitious. assoftwarepro-
gram,tradeshow,orbroadcast.
INTERFACING NEW MEDIA
New media exhibitious iu the gallery require what Steve Dietz has
called iuterfaciugthedigital."'Thisprocessrelatesuotoulyto deliv-
ery mechauisms but also to exchauges betweeu the curator, artwork,
aud audieuce. The secoud part of this book is devoted to differeut
strategiesforpreseutiuguew media artiuthegalleryspace, aswell as
thecreatiouofplatformsforexchauges.
Oueofthemostproblematicformsofuewmediaarttopreseutiua
gallery is uet art. Steve Dietz addresses the difnculties, both practical
audphilosophical,iuhis neldguide"tocuratiuguetart.Ashepoiuts
out,aprimaryargumeutagaiustuetartiutheiustitutiouisthatitisuot
preseutedthereiuits uatural" state. Dietzauswersthe objectiouiua
uaturalhistory ofuetart," discussiugtaxouomies, theuetartvivar-
ium,audpossibilitiesofhabitateuhaucemeutsfortheartform.
FROM OBJECT TO PROCESS AND SYSTEM
That uew media artcoustitutes a shiftfrom object to process affects
boththecuratorialprocess aud the documeutatiouofthese artworks,
whichmutatefromoueversioutotheuext.|oasiaKrysa,iuheressay,
uses Maurizio Lazzarato's coucept ofimmaterial labor"~laborthat
produces the iuformatioual couteutof a commodity~to redenuethe
curatorialprocess. lfthemovetowardimmateriallaborresultspartly
fromcomputertechuologies,whichhavechaugedmodesofproductiou,
italsoiuflueucesformsofcreativelabor, "suchascuratiug.LikeSteve
Dietz,KrysausesthesoftwarerepositoryRuume.orgasacasestudyfor
process-orieuted curatiug aud the creatiou ofa self-orgauiziugsystem.
Krysa also discussesuewmediaart,audcuratiug asa self-replicatiug
system,usiugtheshowI LovcYou~auexhibitiouofcomputerviruses
attheMuseumofAppliedArtsiuFraukfurt,Cermauy~asauexample.
The uature ofuew media projects aud the collaborative processes
employediutheircreatiou,curatiug, audpreseutatioumakeitevideut
thatwritiug a history ofuew media aud preserviugthe art itselfwill
require uew models aud criteria for documeutiug aud preserviug
processaudiustability.othiuEuropeaudiutheUuitedStates,uumer-
ous preservatiou iuitiatives are settiug out staudards for preserviug
CHRI STI ANE PAUL 7
mediaworks. Amoug them are theVariable Media Network aud the
luteruatioual Network for the Couservatiou of Coutemporary Art
,lNCCA . These iuitiatives must develop a vocabulary for catalogue
records;staudardsthateuableexchaugesofmetadatagatheredforcat-
aloguerecordsbyiustitutious;audtools ,suchasdatabasesystemsfo
thecataloguiugofuustable" audprocess-orieutedart.
As|oulppolitopoiuts out, auyuew mediaarthastomultiplyaud
mutateiuordertosurvive,audaworkofteuuudergoeschaugesiuper-
souuel, equipmeut, aud scalefromoueveuuetotheuext.luhisessay,
DeathbyWallLabel,"heusestheartiustitutiou'sstaudardmethodfor
denuiug"awork~thewalllabel~asastartiugpoiutIorexploriugthe
documeutatiou problems posed by uew media art's variable authors,
titles,audmedia.AdoptiugthevocabularyoftheCuggeuheim's Vari-
ableMedia Questiouuaire"~au iuteractive questiouuairethateuables
artists aud museum aud media cousultauts to denue how artworks
behaveiudepeudeutofmedia audtoideutifyartist-approvedstrategies
forpreserviug artwork~lppolito proposes au alteruative to the stau-
dard wall label. lu additiou, he discusses documeutatiou tools that
accommodatethevariousmutatiousuewmediaartuudergoes.
AUTONOMOUS CULTURAL ZONES
Oue ofthe uarrative strauds ofthis book is the cultural autouomy"
createdbycollaborativemodelsauduetworkstructures.SaraDiamoud,
pickiugupouKrysa'sideasregardiugculturalproductiouaudlppolito's
exploratiou of variable authorship, iuvestigates the cousequeuces of
collaborative exchauge for curatorial practice. Her essay, Participa-
tiou,Flow, audtheRedistributiouofAuthorship,"explorescollabora-
tiveexchaugesiurelatiouto artistic audculturalproductiou, shifts iu
theuuderstaudiugofauthorship,audtheculturalcoutextsofcommuui-
ties. Diamoud discusses the poteutial ofuetworkiug techuologies for
margiualized aud Aborigiual groups aud pursues the questious these
techuologiesraisefortheculturalheritageaudideutityofthesegroups.
As l have uoted, uew media art could uever be counued to the
museumortheartworld asitsoulyplatformfordistributiou.Netart,iu
particular, has always had itsowu ,poteutiallyworldwidedistributiou
system.Thereisauouliueartworld~cousistiugofartists,critics,cura-
tors,theorists,audotherpractitiouers~thatdevelopediutaudemwith
theartoutsideofiustitutious.PatrickLichty,iuhisessayRecounguriug
Curatiou," looks closely at this ouliue ouly" curatorial practice, its
8 I NTRODUCTI ON
strategies aud iutersectious with the iustitutiou. He asks whether
Hakimey`scouceptoftheTemporaryAutouomousZoue ,createdby
miui-societies that live outside social couveutious cau be trauslated
iutoCulturalAutouomousZoues"~asouliuespacesofcreativeprac-
icewhereestablishedculturalaudiustitutioualcoutractsdouotapply.
CASE STUDIES
The nual part of this book cousists of case studies of curatorial
approachesaudthespecincsoffourexhibitious. Theshowsdiscussed
differsubstautiallyfromoueauotheraudtookplaceatdiverseveuues,
audthusrequireddiffereutcuratorialprocesses.erylCraham`sSerious
Games was a relatively early uew media exhibitiou of iustallatious,
whichwaspreseutedattraditioualartveuues,theLaiugArtCalleryiu
Newcastle ,UK audthearbicauArtCalleryiuLoudou.Althoughthe
featuredartworkswereuotcomputer games, Crahamchose a titlefor
the show suggestiug the iutriusic couuectious betweeu uewmedia art
audgamesthatwouldbecomeapromiueuttopicafewyearslater.
Patrick Lichty`s (re)distributions, ou the other haud, was au iude-
peudeutlycurated ouliue-oulyexhibitiou that iuvestigated PDAs aud
uomadic devices asaformofculturaliuterveutiou. ecausethe show
was orgauized at a time wheu mobile art" was emergiug, ithad a
highlyexperimeutalcharacter. A showdedicatedtoau artisticpractice
iuits developmeutalstageswould bedifnculttorealizeiuatiaditioual
artsiustitutiou.
While the exhibitiou Seeing Doublc~orgauized by |ou lppolito,
Caitliu|oues, aud Carol Striugari~was preseuted atoue ofthe most
promiueutartiustitutious, theCuggeuheimMuseumiuNewYork,it
could stillbeuuderstoodasexperimeutal because oftheuuusualtopic
itaddressed.thechalleugesofuewmediapreservatiouor,morespecin-
cally,emulatiouiutheoryaudpractice.Theexhibitiougaveitsaudieuce
auuiqueopportuuityto seedoubles"audcompareauumberoforigi-
ualartworkstotheirre-createdversious,whichhad beeu upgraded"
to uewer, curreuttechuological platforms. Not all the works iu the
show were reproduced by meaus of emulators~computer programs
thatre-createthecouditious ofolderhardware audsoftwaretoallow
theorigiualcodetoruuouacoutemporarycomputer.Someoftheproj-
ectswereupgradedby migratiou,"thatis,trausplautediutoa differ-
eutpreseutatiou format or a higher versiou ofhardware/software. lu
their case study, Caitliu |oues aud thecouservator Carol Striugaridis-
CH RI STI ANE PAUL 9
cuss these approaches topreservatiou aud assess whether theycau be
appliedtospecincworks.
lu the nual case study of this book, Tilmau aumgrtel, Haus D.
Christ, aud lris Dressler share the curatorial coucept behiud their
award-wiuuiugexhibitiougames: Computer games by artists. Theexhi-
bitiou~preseuted by the media arts orgauizatiou hartware~surveyed
artists`modincatiousaudappropriatiousofcomputergames.Theexhi-
bitioucoustituted a formof iuterface" betweeudiffereut cultures, "
approaches,audaudieuces, artaudgamiug , audposeduumetouschal-
leugesiucommuuicatiugitscouteutsaudcoutexts.
Although the coutributious to this volume cover a broad territory,
theycau provide ouly a suapshotofwhat has beeu takiugplaceiuside
audoutsideiustitutious,artceuters,auduuiversities,aswellasoumail-
iug lists worldwide. These exchauges coutiuue to pursue adeqtiate
modes of represeutatiou," iu the broadestseuse, for a coutiuuously
evolviugartisticpractice.
NOTES
1. Beryl Graham, "A Small Collection of Categories and Keywords of New
Media Art," http://www.cfUmbweb.org/crumb/phase3/appendltaxontab.htm
(accessed August 7,2007).
2. Gloria Sutton, "Exhibiting New Media Art," Rhizome Digest, Novem
ber 5, 2004, and November 12, 2004, http://www.constantvzw.com/?p=20
(accessed August 7,207).
3. Steve Dietz, "Interfacing the Digital," http://www.archimuse.com/
mW2003/papers/dietz/dietz.html (accessed August 7, 2007)
4. The Variable Media Network is a consortium project of the University of
California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacifc Film Archive, the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, Cleveland Performance Art Festival and Archive,
Franklin Furnace Archive, and Rhizome.org; see http://www.variablemedia.net;
and International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art,
http://www.incca.org.
'l! JL
POSITIONING NEW MEDIA ART AND
CURATORIAL MODELS
1
New Media Art and the Gallery
in the Digital Age
.hlLL uLlL
I
uthisessaylamcouceruedparticularlywiththerepreseutatiouiuart
galleries aud museums ofwork created by usiug uew techuologies
such as computers. For couveuieuce's sake l shall call such work
uewmediaart,"eveuthoughthistermisbothproblematicaud,forat
least some ofmy discussiou, auachrouistic. The early work l discuss
would uothave beeu denued iu such terms. Nevertheless, itis useful
shorthaudforaraugeofpracticesauduames, iucludiug artaudtech-
uology, " computerart,"systemsart,"audsoou.Thequestiouofthis
kiudofwork'srepreseutatiouiuiustitutioussuchasgalleriesaudmuse-
urusisimportautiurelatioutotheworkitselfaudhowitisreceivedaud l
uuderstood, but, at a broader level, also iudicates how galleries aud
.
museums cau eugage with our iucreasiugly techuologized society, iu
particulartheubiquityofuewmediaauduewtechuologiessuchasthe
luteruet.
Aslittleastweutyyearsago,theluteruetwashardlyusedoutsidesci-
eucedepartmeuts, audiuteractivemultimediawereoulyj ustbecomiug
possible,CDswereauovelty, mobilephouesuuwieldyluxuries,audthe
WorldWideWeb uouexisteut. Siucetheu,these techuological develop-
meutshavebeguutotouchoualmosteveryaspectofourlives.
Nowa-
dys, mostformsofmass media, televisiou, recorded music, aud nlm
13
14 N EW MEDIA ART AND THE GALLERY
rerodu;edaudeveudistributeddigitally;thesemediaarebegiuuiug
to :ouvergewith digital forms, su:h as the luteruet, the WorldWide
Web, aud video games, to produ:e somethiug lixe a seamless digital
medias:ape. At worx, we are surrouuded by te:huology, whether iu
ofn:esoriusupermarxets aud fa:tories,where almost everyaspe:t of
plauuiug,desigu,marxetiug,produ:tiou,auddistributiouismouitored
or:outrolleddigitally.
Calleriesaudmuseumsarefarfromexemptfromtheeffe:ts ofthese
te:huologi:altrausformatious. ludeed, itmightbe suggested thatsu:h
iustitutiousareprofouudlyaffe:ted aud thattheiu:reasiugubiquityof
systems ofiuformatioumauipulatiouaud :ommuui:atioupreseutspar-
ti:ular :halleugestotheartgalleryormuseum asauiustitutiou.Atoue
level, these :halleugesarepra:ti:al howtotaxe advautage oftheuew
meaus of dissemiuatiou aud :ommuui:atiou these te:huologies maxe
possible;howto:ompeteasamediumfor:ulturalpra:ti:eiuauiu:reas-
iuglymedia-saturatedworld; howtoeugagewithuewartisti:pra:ti:es
made possible bysu:h te:huologies, mauyofwhi:h preseuttheirowu
parti:ular :halleuges iu terms ofa:quisitiou, :uratiou, aud iuterpreta-
tiou. Other:halleugesarearguablyfarmoreprofouudaud:ou:eruthe
statusofiustitutioussu:hasartgalleriesiuaworldwheresu:hte:huolo-
giesradi:allybriugiutoquestiouuotjustthewayiuwhi:hartgalleries
audmuseumsoperate,buttheveryuotiousofhistory,heritage,audeveu
timeitselfupouwhi:htheyarepredi:ated.
ltwouldbehardtooverstatetheexteuttowhi:htherealityofour
lives is goverued by te:huologi:ally advau:ed pro:esses aud systems,
from ubiquitous aud iu:reasiugly iuvisible :omputer uetworxs to
mobile telephou, to geueti: mauipulatiou, uauote:huology, artin:ial
iutelligeu:e,audartin:iallife,orwhatDouua Haraway:allstheiute-
grated :ir:uit" of high-te:h :apital. These te:huologies, though iuti-
mately bouud up with su:h issues as globalizatiou, surveillau:e,
terrorism, audporuography, barelyseemto impiuge outhespa:es of
:outemporaryart~aud theu oulyobliquely, ormargiually. Forexam-
ple,althoughTateritaiuiuLoudouheldashowofuetartiuzoo:(Art
and Money Online, :urated by |uliau Stallabrass, aud Tate Ouliue
, the nfth site, " after the four galleries aud the store has hosted
uet.art :ommissious" siu:e zooz, ueitheriuitiativegavethe worxiu
questiouthesamestatusasother :outemporaryworx.Art and Money
Online was iuTate ritaiu's ArtNow spa:e, whi:h exhibits uew aud
experimeutal worx that might uot otherwise get a showiug iu the
gallery; uet art :ommissious allow the worx to be sequestered safely
`
CHARLI E GERE 15
awayfromthe a:tual galleries, while demoustratiugTate's appareutly
uuimpea:hable:ommitmeuttosu:huewpra:ti:es.
ltmightbearguedthat,iushowiugsu:hworxiuthismauuer,Tateis
refle:tiugitsa:tualstatusaudimportau:eiutheartwodd.Artists,after
all,areuotobligedto:ousidertheeffe:tsofte:huologytodayauymore
thautheywerebouudtodire:tly:ousidertheeffe:tsofiudustrializatiou
iu the uiueteeuth :eutury. Art refle:ts the :ouditious of its tiae uot
throughtheexpli:itauddeliberate use ofuewte:huiquesorte:huolo-
gies, orthroughrelevautsubje:tmatter, butata deeperlev:l,through
tjysfoo.t|eas iupra:t|:e uataye|l+uuous:ioasasf aslhe
artiststlise|vesa.e:encerned.Tlasrdustrilizatawas:ees:n:eu
ianiueteen:h-:e..turjartuotiusubje:t:uattersomu:hasiuthe traus-
ma ouute:huiquemadepossible bytheiudustrializeJproJuctiou
o|aiutaudiuthepoteutialmobilityofartistsfa:ilitatedaew
ferms
of m;:hauized;ppg{tiou. Similarly,theeffe:tsofiuformatiout:h-
uologies ou our :ulture have fouud oblique expressiou, fo: eample,
throughstrategiesofsystemati:audquasi-algorithmi:produ:tiou,su:h
asthoseofSolLeWittorthesystemsartistsofthe:,eosaud:,;os.
HISTORIES OF DIGITAL ART
Nevertheless,Tate aud othersu:h iustitutious failtotaxeiutoa::ouut
theloughistoryofartists usiugaud dire:tlyrepreseutiuguewte:huolo-
giesiutheirworx.ltisjustthatthishistoryhasbeeumoreorlessiguored
bymostmoderuaud:outemporaryartgalleries.Wheuuewmediaartis
represeutedat all iusu:h iustitutious, itis almost always treated as a
re:eutpaeuemeuou. uteveuifoueiguoresthepioueeriugworxofthe
Futurists,theSurrealists,Dada,NaumCabo,Mar:elDu:hamp,Alexau-
der Caldet, aud Lszle Moholy-Nagy, expli:itly te:huologi:al arthasa
historythatgoesba:xatleastsixde:ades,toWorldWarll,wheuauum-
ber ofimportaut te:huologies developed, iu:ludiug digital :omputiug
audradat, giviugrisetosu:hdis:oursesas:yberueti:s,iuformatiouthe-
ory,audgeueralsystemstheory.Artisti:respousestothepossibilitiesthat
these te:huologies aud ideas offered proliferated aner the wac lu the
:,osaudearly:,eos,|ohuCagedevelopedworxthateugagediutera:-
tiouaudmultimediaaudthepossibilitiesofele:troui:s,asiuhisfamous
sileutpie:e, "4
'
3 3 .Hisworxwasoueofthemaiuiuspiratiousuotjust
forot.er :omposersworxiugwithele:troui:meaus,butalsoforartists
iuterested iu pro:ess, iutera:tiou, aud performau:e, su:h as Allau
KaprowaudthoseiuvolvedwiththeFluxusgroup.
16 N EW MEDI A ART AND THE GALLERY
lutheUuitedStates,duriugthe:,os, artistslikeeuLaposkyaud
|ohuWhitueySr.,audMaxMathewsatellLabsmadesomeofthenrst
electrouic artworks aud experimeutedwith computer-geuerated music.
Meauwhile,iuEurope,composerssuchasPierreoulez,EdgarVarse,
aud Karlheiuz Stockhauseu were also experimeutiug with electrouics,
while artists such as |eau Tiuguely, Pol ury, Nicolas Schffet, Takis,
OttoPieue,|ulioleParc,TsaiWeu-Yiug,audLeuLye, alsokuowuasau
experimeutalauimator , audgroupssuchasLeMouvemeut,TheNew
Teudeucy, "ZERO,audthe CroupedeRecherched'ArtVisuel, CRAV
startedtoexplorethepossibilitiesofkiueticismaudcyberueticsforart.
Theseexploratiouswere accompauied aud eucouraged bythework of
theoristssuchasAbrahamMolesiuFrauceaudMaxeuseiuCermauy,
bothofwhomwroteworksapplyiugiuformatioutheoryaudcyberuetics
toart.eusewasabletoputhisideasiutopracticeattheStuttgartUui-
versityArtCallery,whichhefouuded.Duriughistwodecadesasheadof
thegallery,itheldsomeoftheverynrstexhibitiousofcomputerart.
luritaiu,ageuerallypastoralaudautitechuologicalattitudehadpre-
vailed iuthearts siucethe uiueteeuthceutury, withexceptioussuch as
theVorticistmovemeutiuthe earlytweutiethceutury. uttheprimary
forceforpromotiugtechuologicalaudsystemsideasiuthiscouutrywas
theshort-livedbutiufueutialludepeudeutCroup,lC,aloosecollectiou
ofyouugartists,desiguers,theorists,audarchitectscouuectedwiththe
lustituteofCoutemporaryArts ,lCA . Throughshowsauddiscussious
atthe lustitute of Coutemporary Arts aud elsewhere, advauced ideas
about techuology, media, iuformatiou aud commuuicatious theories,
audcyberueticswerepreseutedauddebated.ThelCwascouuectedwith
thefamousexhibitiouThis Is Tomorrow attheWhitechapelArtCallery
iu :,e, which explored mauy of these ideas with great pauache.
EquallyimportautwerethelC'seffects ouarteducatiouiutheUuited
Kiugdom, especially through Richard Hamiltou aud Victor Pasmore's
grouudbreakiugasicDesigucourseatKiug'sCollege,Durham,partof
theUuiversityofNewcastle.ThisgreatlyiuflueucedartistssuchasRoy
Ascott,whostudiedaudworkedwithHamiltouaudPasmoreaudwho
hascoutiuuedtodevelopradicalpedagogicalstrategiesfortheteachiug
ofart,ofteuiuvolviug bothuew techuologies auduew, techuologically
orieuted discourses aud ideas. The asic Desigu course auticipated
the wholesalerestructuriugofarteducatiouiuthe UuitedKiugdomiu
theearly:,eos,whichcameaboutasaresultofthe :,eoreportofthe
NatioualAdvisory CouucilouArtEducatiou , otherwisekuowuasthe
Coldstreamreport .
CHARLI E GERE 1 7
ythe mid- :,eos, the iucreasiug sophisticatiou aud availability of
techuologiessuchasvideoaudtheideasoftheoristssuchasuckmiuster
FulleraudMarshallMcLuhaugavefurtherimpetustothedevelopmeut
ofartpracticesiuvolviugbothuewtechuologiesthemselvesaudrelated
coucepts. FilmmakersStauVauderbeekaudLeuLye,aswell asFluxus
membersWolfVostellaudNam|uuePaik,wereamougthenrsttouse
televisiousiutheirworkPaik,whoseworkalsoiuvolvedothertechuolo-
giessuchastape,wasaleofthenrstartiststotakeadvautageofthe
devepmeut of portable video cameras to produce some of tae nrst
ideort,apracticetakeuupbyotheryouugartistsofthetime,iuclud-
sLeviueaudruceNaumau.tthesametime,othertechuologies,
suchaselectrot.ic,lasers, audlightsystems,were exploited by artists
lnludiuVladir:.itTauacic, Otto Pieue, aud Dau Flaviu. Oue othe
mostimportautdevelopmeutsoftheperiodwasthatoflarge-scalei.tul-
timediaeuviroumeuts.AmougthoseiuvolvediusuchworkwereRobert
Rauscheuberg; RobertWhitmau;|ohuCage;LaMouteYouug,Mariau
Zazeela, aud theirTheater ofEterual Music; Mark oyle; aud groups
such asUSCO aud Pulsa.This type ofwork iutersected with develop-
meutsiupsychedelicrockmusicauduudergrouudeutertaiumeut.Mauy
ofthoselatercousideredcouceptualartistsworkedousuchprojects.

luthiscoutext,itisuosurprisethatartistsbegautolookatthepossi-
bilities o[ cuting)_makiugart. To begiu with, the relatiouship
betw.rart aud computer techuology was mostly couceptual. Artists
might be keeu to exploit the poteutial of ideas such as cyberuetics for
theirartisticpractice,butfewactuallyusedcomputers.Forthenrstnfteeu
totweutyyearsoftheirexisteuce,digitalcomputerswerelarge,expeusive
uumbercruuchers,forbiddiuglydifnculttouseaudwithlittletoofferto
artists as far as the practicalities of makiug art were coucerued. ut
uucleardefeuse audothermilitaryueedshadledtothedevelopmeutof
thecomputerasauiuteractivevisualmediumratherthausimplyauum-
ber cruucher. The Strategic Air Crouud Euviroumeut ,SACE uuclear
earlywaruiugdefeusesystem, which iuvolveduetworkiug, iuteractivity,
a:d visualiuterfaces, as well as real-time dataprocessiug, led toa uew
uuderstaudiug ofwhat a computer might be.This developmeut, aloug
withotherssuchascomputergraphics,wiudowsiuterfaces,mice,audthe
Arpauet,predecessor ofthe luteruet, produced auiucreasediuterestiu
usiugsuchtechuologiesforart.lu:,eaud :,ee,thenrstexhibitiousof
computerartwere held atthe StuttgartUuiversityArt Callery audthe
HowardWiseArtCalleryiuNewYork.Theartistsaudotherswhonrst
exploitedthecomputeriumakiugartiucludedLilliauSchwartz,Edward
Zajac, Charles Csuri ,whose z,e; computer auimatiou Hummingbird
wasthenrstcomputerartworkpurchasedbytheMuseumofModeruArt
iuNew York , Keu Kuowltou, Leou Harmou, aud Michael Noll, who
pioueered computer graphics iutheUuited States atthe same timethat
MaufredMohraudothersliukedtoMaxeusedidsoiuCermauy.
These nrst small exhibitious were followed by more ambitious
eudeavors.Someofthemostimportautworkbriugiugtogetherartaud
techuology,thoughitdiduotiugeueraliuvolvecomputers,wasthatof
ExperimeutsiuArtaudTechuology ,E.A.T. , agroupfouuded byilly
Klver aud Robert Rauscheuberg to foster collaboratious betweeu
artistsaudeugiueers.luz,ee,E.A.T.helditsfamousshow,Evenings at
theArmoryiuNewYork,stagiuga seriesofcollaborativehappeuiugs
iuvolviug both artists aud eugiueers. Major exhibitious iuvolviuguew
techuologiesiutheyearsthatfollowediucludedThe Machine as Seen at
the End of the Mechanical Age atthe Museum ofModeru Art, New
York, iu z,e8, which was accompauied by a show ofwork commis-
sioued byE.A.T. , Some. More Beginnings attherooklyuMuseum. lu
z,e8the legeudary exhibitiou Cyberetic Serendipity, curated by|asia
Reichardt,washeldatthelustituteofCoutemporaryArtsiuLoudou.A
year latet, Event One iuLoudouwas orgauized by the Computer Arts
Society,theritishequivaleutofE.A.T. , whileArt by Telephone washeld
attheMuseumofCoutemporaryArtiuChicago.luz,;o,criticaudthe-
orist|ack uruham orgauized Software: Information Technology: Its
Meaning for Art at the|ewishMuseumiuNew York. Like Cyberetic
Serendipity, thisshowmixedtheworkofscieutists,computertheorists,
aud artistswithlittleregardforauydiscipliuarydemarcatious. A year
latet, the results ofMaurice Tuchmau's nve-year Art aud Techuology
program,whichbroughttogethereugiueersaudartiststoworkoularge-
scaleprojects,wereshowuattheLosAugelesCouutyMuseum.
|ackuruhamaud|asia Reichardt alsoproducedcriticalworks ou
art, scieuce, aud techuology. uruham published his maguum opus,
Beyond Modem Sculpture, iuz,e8. Atarouudthesametime,Reichardt
publishedaspecialissueofStudio Interational toaccompauyherexhi-
bitiou,whileCeueYouugbloodwroteExpanded Cinema, auextraordi-
uarilyprescieut visiou ofexperimeutal video audmultimedia. Thames
aud Hudsou cousidered this area importaut euough to publish two
booksouartaudtechuologywithiutwoyearsofeachothet,Science in
Art and Technology Today by|ouathaueuthalliuz,;z,audArt and
the Future byDouglasDavisiuz,;,, theyearwheuStewartKrauzpro-
CHARLI E GERE 19
ducedhismouumeutalworkScience and Technology in the Arts: A Tour
through the Realm of Science/Art.
ltishardtorecapturetheutopiaueuergyaud belieftheseexhibitious
audpublicatiousembodied.AsfarasReichardt,uruhnm, Davis,aud
otherswere coucerued, thefuture ofartwas as a meaus ofeugagiug
withthecoucepts,techuologies,audsystemsthroughwhichsocietywas
iucreasiuglyorgauized. Yettheapogeeofthisthoroughlyutopiauproj-
ectalsorepreseutedthebegiuuiugofitsdemise,audthereplacemeutof
itsidealismaudtechuo-futurismwiththeirouyaudcritiqueofconcep-
tualart.Tobegiuwith,atleast,itwashardtodistiuguishbetweeucou-
ceptual art aud systems art. ludeed, they were ofteu iuterchaugeable
aud iudistiuguishable. ut by z,;o the differeuce was begiuuiug to
comeclear.Thatyeat, whichwas also theyearofuruham'sSoftware
show,KyuastouMcShiuecuratedauexhibitiouat MoMAwhosetitle,
Information, liuked itto work iuartaud techuology. Though itmay
have suggested a techuological orieutatiou aud showed sot:.e
of the
same people asSoftware, itdid uotiuclude thetechuologistsaudeugi-
ueersofthatearliershow. Furthermore,theartistseviuced aulucreas-
iuglydistaucedaudcriticalattitudetowardtechuology.
Thusiu the earlyz,;osart iuvolviuguewtechuologiesseemedto be
superseded by other approaches. Suchfailure, ifit was failure, cau be
ascribedtothequalityofmuchofthework;thefailureoftheexhibitious
toworkasiuteuded;theartists'refusaltocollaboratewithiudustryto
realizeprojectsaudexhibitious; a suspiciouofsystemsart,cyberuetics,
audcomputersbecauseoftheirrootsiuthemilitary-iudustrial-academic
complexaudtheiruseiutheVietuamWar;aud,nually,difncultiesiucol-
lectiug,couserviug, audcommodifyiugsuchwork.Thegrowiugdisap-
poiutmeutwiththecouutercultureiutheearlyz,;osaudtheecouomic
crises ofthe same period did little to eucourage techuologically based
utopiauism.Nevertheless,theyearsfromz,etotheearlyz,;oswerea
highpoiutfortheexhibitiouaudpublicvisibilityofartmade usiuguew
techuologies. Earlyexhibitious iuNewYork aud Stuttgart, aud major
showsaudeveutssuchasp Evenings, Cyberetic Serendipity, audSoft
ware musthavemadeitseemthatsuchworkwasafutureforart,ifuot
the future. Yet by the mid-z,;cs, such work had more or less disap-
pearedasfarasthemaiustreamartworldwascoucerued.
|thez,;os aud z,8os, video artwas gradually subsumed by the
maiustreamartworld,butuewc
o: mtr,aud cyber-
ueticattvalargelyiguored
uch
rtcoutiuuedtobem
_
d
ught,
but it was showu mostly iu specialist aud trade showssuch as SlC-
CRAPH iutheUuited States, the auuual coufereuce orgauized by the
Associatiou for Computiug Machiuery for those with au iuterest iu
graphics.Mauyoftheartistsworkiugwithtechuologyeudedupiuthe
burgeouiugcomputergraphicsiudustry. DouglasDavis, Harold Coheu
(Aaron), WoodyaudSteiuaVasulka,Stelarc,|effreyShaw(Legible City),
LilliauSchwartz,Paulrowu,audRobertAdriauX stillmadeartusiug
uew techuologies, but it was largely iuvisible iu the maiustream art
worldaudregardedbysomeashaviugfailed. Suchartdidsucceed~but
uotasart.Ecouomiccrisesledtoarestructuriugofcapitalistecouomies
aud global nuauce that was aided by the iucreasiug ubiquity of uet-
worked computiug. luwhat became kuowu as thepostiudustrialecou-
omy, iuformatiou, rather thau material goods, became the focus of
productiouiutheWest,aspredictedbypuuditssuchasAlviuTomeraud
[ Dauielell.)hetechuotopauismofth :,osartwot
dreemegdiu
_ t.e :_oswiththeperso
lco_terari
ete:,broghbich
techuologies developed _, thmi|it_ y;ady tuaLacademcomplex
ererepurposedby thetteolibralet,
fp .tj clture,iuparticu-
lar StewardBra
_
aud The
'
Whole Earth Catalog. lu the late :,;os,
.et, compit .ecial
effects,videogames,auduser-frieudlysys-
temsaudsuchculturalrespousesascyberpuuknctiou,techuomusic,aud
decoustructivegraphicdesigualldeveloped.
At the eud ofthe decade,twoFreuchacademics, SimouNora aud
AlaiuMiuc,wroteareportforPresideutCiscardd'Estaiugthatheralded
thecomputerizatiouofsociety"audtheadveutoftelematics, "meau-
iug the comiug together of computers aud telecommuuicatious. At
aboutthesametime,discoursessuchaspoststructuralismaudpostmod-
eruismbegautoemerge,partlyasacriticalrespousetotheubi
9
u
au
power of iuformatiou techuologies aud commuuicatious uetworks.
Dp.llreucesiuapproachaudosteusiblesubj ectmattet,the
writ-
iugs o[acques Dei_auaiJrillarFrameoGils
_
e
_
uzea
d FlixCuattari,auea
Fr
_
oisLyotardalwayjplya
itique
fsystaittiui
eoriTe
_
opeuedup
by
]
.iscri
approachmayhavebeguuto
akesystemsartiuterest-
iugtothemaiustreamartworldagaiu.lu:,;,thenrstArsElectrouica
festival, which looked at the applicatiou ofcomputers aud electrouic
techuologies,washeldiuLiuz,Austria.lu:,8Lyotardcuratedamas-
siveexhibitiou at the Ceutre Pompidou, Les Il11111ateriaux~also dis-
cussed iu Sarah Cook'sessay iu thisvolume~which was iuteuded to
showtheculturaleffects ofuew+echuologies audcommuuicatiou aud
CHARLI E GERE 21
iuformatiou.AlsoaboutthistimeTateputouitsnrstshowofcomputer-
geueratedart,the: ,8,exhibitiouofworkproducedbyHaroldCoheu's
Aaron, auartincial-iutelligeuceprogramthatdrivesadrawiugmachiue.
utiuthelate:,8osaudearly:,,os,techuologicallybasedartreally
begautoreemerge.lu :,88Moviola,auageucyforcommissiouiug,pro-
motiug,preseutiug,auddistributiugelectrouicmediaart,wasfouudediu
Liverpool, aud Videopositive, au auuual festival ofsuch art, washeld
uuderitsaegis.,MoviolalatertrausmogrinediutotheFouudatiouforArt
audCreativeTechuologyFACT]. luthesameyeat,the6rstluteruatioual
SymposiumoutheElectrouicArts,lSEAwasheld.Ayearlatet,theZeu-
trumfrKuustuudMedieutechuologie,ZKM,amajorceuterformdia
audtechuologyarts, was fouuded iuKarlsruhe, Cermauy. lu :,,othe
NTTluterCommuuicatiouCeuterwas opeuediuTokyo,whilethe Sau
FrauciscoMuseumofModeruArthelditsnrstshowofuew:nediaart.
Throughoutthe :,,os,theWalkerArt Calleryiu Miuueapolis showed
digital aud uew media works. Aboutthis timethe Natioual Callery iu
Loudou uudertook the nrst use ofcomputers for thepublic display of
iuformatiou.lu :,,,the Cuggeuheim iuNewYork held auexhibitiou
titledVirtual Reality: An Emerging Medium, followedthreeyearslaterby
Mediascape. lu:,,thenrstLovebytesfestivalofelectrouicartwasheld
iuShefneld,audiu:,,;thearbicauArtCalleryiuLoudouputouthe
exhibitiouSerious Games: Art, Technology and Interaction, curatedby
erylCraham,discussediuthecasestudiessectiouofthisbook.luHull,
theTime-asedArtsceuterwasestablishedtocouceutrateouuewmedia
arts.luzoo:theSauFrauciscoMuseumofModeruArtpreseuteditsdig-
italartexhibitiouDIDIDI, aud theWhitueyMuseum ofAmericauArt
orgauizedBitstreams audData Dynamics. lu zoo, FACTopeuedauew
mediaartsceuteriuLiverpool,whiletheALTlCiuCatesheadhascom-
mitted itself to iucreasiug its iuvolvemeut iu uew media arts, as has
romwich'suewartsspace,thePublic, formerlyc/Plex . ,Howevet, itis
uotablethattheoulyiustitutiouiuLoudouregularlyputtiugougallery
displaysofsuchworkistheScieuceMuseum.
Perhapsthe mostimportauteveutiu digital artpracticeduriugthe
:,,os was the nrst user-frieudlyWeb browser released iu : ,,. The
WorldWideWebdevelopediuthelate:,8osstemmedfromtheideasof
Timeruers-Lee,aritishscieutistattheEuropeauCeuterforNuclear
Research, CERNiuSwitzerlaud,tousetheluteruettoallowaccessto
digitaldocumeuts.Tothiseudhedeveloped a versiouofthe staudard
geueralized markup lauguage , SCML used iu publishiug, which he
calledhypertextmarkuplauguage,orHTML.ltalloweduserstomake
textsaud,laterou,picturesavailabletoviewerswithappropriatesoft-
ware, aud to embed liuks from oue documeut to auother. The emer-
geuce of the Web coiucided almost exactly with the collapse of the
Soviet Uuiou, audtheuewfouud seuse offreedom, thepossibilities of
cross-borderexchauge,audfuudiugfromtheEuropeauUuiouauduou-
goverumeutalorgauizatious,NCOs such astheSorosFouudatiouall
helpedfosteruetartiuEasteruEurope,wheremuchoftheearlywork
wasdoue.
/ \heuuser-frieudly"browserssuchasMosaicaudNetscapecameout
iutheearlytomiddle:,,os,auumberoEartistsseizedupoi:thepossibil-
|tiesofthe\basa:edium-,roducir:gwcrl:uuder
thebauueruet.art."
Schworkwasmade atleastpartlyouaudfortheWeb audcould be
viewedoulyouliue.VukCosicissaidtohavecoiuedthetermuet.art"iu
the mid-:,,os, to refer to artisticpracticesiuvolviug the World Wide
Web,afterreceiviugaue-mailcomposedofASCllgibberish,iuwhichthe
oulyreadableelemeutswerethewordsuet"audart"separatedbyafull
stop. Siucetheu the origiualEuropeau uet.art" group~iucludiugVuk
Cosic, Olia Lialiua, Alexei Shulgiu, Rachel aker, Heath uutiug, aud
|ODl~aswellasartistssuchasPaulSermou,o:oo:o:z zo:oz zo+org,
Natalie ookchiu, Lisa |evbratt, Radioqualia, O"ark ,ww .rtmark
.com,MattFullei,ThomsouaudCraighead,audmauyothershavebeeu
extraordiuarilyproductive. Atthe sametime, discussious audcommeu-
taryabouttechuologyaudarthaveproliferatedthroughmailiuglistsaud
sites such as Rhizome, Nettime, the Whituey Museum's artport, aud
CRUM ,eryl Crahamaud SarahCook'sdigitalcuratiuglistbasedat
SuuderlaudUuiversity,aswellaspublicatioussuchasMute. As iuthe
late :,eosaudearly :,;os, importautworkhas beeupublishediuthis
area by, amoug others, Lev Mauovich, Christiaue Paul, Oliver Crau,
StepheuWilsou,EdwardShaukeu,audMichaelRush.Arthistorydepart-
meutsiuEuropeaudtheUuitedStatesareuowstartiugtolookseriously
atuetartauduewmediaart.
MUSEUMS AND THE ARCHIVE OF THE FUTURE
Despiteproliferatiugartisticpracticeaudprojectsiudigitaltechuologies,
such work is uuderrepreseuted iu museums today. Welcome develop-
meutsiucluded uetartcommissious audtheiucreasiugiuterestiunlm,
video, aud photography. ut most art iustitutious ,uuless they are
devotedtouewmedia art fail toeucompass oreugage thiswork. The
uewmediaworksTateisuowcollectiugauddisplayiug,forexample, are
CHARLI E GERE 23
almost eutirely static~eveu iftime-based~iu that they douot alteriu
respousetoiuteractiouortheireuviroumeut.Workthatisiuteractiveaud
process-based,orthatiuvolvesuetworks,systems,audfeedback,teudsto
questiou the very uotious of history, heritage, aud time upou which
museumsaudgalleriesarebased.Real-time"proj ectsiuparticularhave
thecapacitytoprocessaudpreseutdataatsuchaspeedthattheuserfeels
themachiue'srespousesasmoreorlessimmediate.Real-timecomputiug
uuderpiusthecoutemporarycommuuicatiouauddataprocessiugofour
techuo-culture.Withoutit,wewouldhaveuoe-mail,wordprocessiug,
luteruet,orWorldWideWeb,uocomputer-aidediudustrialproductiou,
auduoueoftheiuvisiblesmart"systemsthatsurrouudus. Realtime"
alsostaudsforthemoregeueraltreudtowardiustautaueityiucoutempo-
rary culture, iuvolviug iucreasiug demaud for iustaut feedback aud
respouse,oueresultofwhichisthattechuologiesthemselvesarebegiu-
uiugtoevolveeverfaster. Theiucreasiugcomplexityaudspeedofcou-
temporarytechuologyiscauseforbotheuphoriaaudauxiety .
oth are refected iu the receutwork ofiuflueutial commeutators.
Richard eardsworthstatesthat oue ofthe majorcoucerusofphilo-
sophicalaudculturalaualysisiureceutyearshasbeeutheueedtorefect
upouthereductiouoftimeaudspace broughtaboutbycoutemporary
processes of techuicizatiou, particularly digitalisatiou. "' Meauwhile,
AudreasHuysseusuggeststhatauiucreasiugiuterestiumemorycousti-
tutesarespousetotheever-greaterubiquityofreal-timesystems. Our
obsessiouwith memory fuuctious as a reactiou formatiou agaiustthe
acceleratiugtechuical processes that are trausformiug our Lebeuswelt
,lifeworld iuquite distiuctways. Memory] represeutstheattemptto
slowdowuiuformatiouprocessiug, toresistthedissolutiouoftimeiu
the syuchrouicity ofthe archive, to recover a mode ofcoutemplatiou
outside the uuiverse of simulatiou, aud fast-speed iuformatiou aud
cableuetworks,toclaimsomeauchoriugspaceiuaworldofpuzzliug
aud ofteuthreateuiugheterogeueity, uou-syuchrouicity, aud iuforma-
tiouoverload. "
ForHuysseuthemuseumorgalleryi ucurreuttechuologicalcoudi-
tiousmightthusbea placeofresistauceto" aud coutemplatiouout-
side"theeffectsofacceleratiugtechuicalprocesses. "ludeed,museums
audgalleriestraditiouallydealwiththiugs,objects,whoseverymateri-
ality would seem to make them resistaut to the trausformatious
wroughtouotherdiscourses byelectrouic auddigital media.Visitsto
mostgalleriesaudmuseumstodaymakeartseemstillverymuchamat-
terofproduciugobj ectslikepaiutiugsaudsculptures.
utthefuuctiouofthemuseumorgalleryiurelatioutotheaccelerat-
iugtechuicalprocessesthataretrausformiugour. . . life-world"ismore
complex.Asauarchive, aformofartincial,exterualmemory, itcauuot
staudoutsideof,separateaudresistauttothetechuicalmeausthatstruc-
tureourmemories.DenidapursuesthisthemeiuhisbookArchive Fevel;
where he suggests that we shoulduotclose our eyes tothe uulimited
upheavaluuderwayiuarchivaltechuology.ltshouldaboveallremiudus
thatthe saidarchivaltechuologyuo lougerdetermiues,willueverhave
determiued, merely the momeut of the couservatioual recordiug, but
rathertheveryiustitutiouofthearchivableeveut. . . thisarchivaltech-
uique has commaudedthatwhichiuthepasteveuiustitutedaudcousti-
tutedwhatevertherewasasauticipatiouofthefuture. "'
AgallerysuchasTateisbothperformativeaudcoustative.ltcreates
thepastitsposedlysimplshowsbywhatitcho;bu_curate,
/
scp;ouatiou. 1'.usitaffe;s tjust
oderstaudiugofaudaccesstotheast,butalsoourrelatioumthe
f
_
ure by ch
igllithatzilable to us audto future

geueratious. Audtli|ss:et justa qtiestiouoftaste, fashiou,nuauces,
at:!
:u.ltisfuudameutallybouudupwiththestructureofthegallery
asauiustitutiou,itsuuderstaudiugofitsrole,itsiuteutiousaudduties,
audeveuitsphysicalembodimeut.Forexample,themostcursorylook
atthehistoryofpostwarartiurelatioutomosttraditioualmuseums'
holdiugsdemoustrates that~for allthemuseums' iuteutious torepre-
seutartofthatperiod~theyhavefailedtoeugagemauyformsofprac-
ticecompletelyorhavedouesooulypartiallyorbelatedly.Theseforms
iuclude cyberetic art, roboticart, kiueticart, telematic art,computer
art,auduet.art.
ltisfarfromcoiucideutalthatsuchpracticesemergedeitheriureac-
tiouorrespousetotheiucreasiugimportauceaudubiquityofiuforma-
tiou audcommuuicatious techuologies. Museums are uotdeliberately
tio
at
rodu
:ecetior.fthelateuiueteeutl
eutury,are
I
excludiug them.Rathe_,hese __qps,,fe|ud for coudi-
r;oproperlyequippedtoshowsuchwork,uot,atleast,as:t:spreseutly
coustituteJ.
~~~~
Ttldo blameparticulariustitutiousfora failure ofperceptiou aud
actiou. Forgood reasou, museums should bewaryofthe workl have
described. The work is difncult to collect, curate,aud display. Other
formsofartpractice,moreover,have equalclaimtoa museum'satteu-
tiou, aud the historical aud coutemporary importauce ofthe uew art
mayuotyetbeobvious.uttherearecompelliugreasousformaiustream
CHARLI E GERE 25
museumsaudgalleriestothiukactivelyabouteugagiugwithsuchwork,
whoselougaudimportauthistoryiutersects,atcrucialpoiuts,withother
better-kuowu forms of art practice. ludeed, those practices would be
very dif|ereut without uew media work. Reuewed iuterest iu it will
euhauceaud deepeu our uuderstaudiug ofartisticdevelopmeuts iuthe
postwarera. ludeedtheartofthatperiodcauuotbeuuderstoodwithout
takiuguewmediaartiutoaccouut.
Furthermore,suchpractice,iubothitshistoricalauditscurreutmau-
ifestatious,isimportautforitscapacitytoreflectourcurreuttechuolog-
icalcouditiou. Thisisouereasouwhysomauyartistsworkiutheneld
ofuewmedia.ltisalsowhyauymovetocollectauddisplayworkmade
iu this area islikelyto prove verypopular, especially amougyouuger
people.Formauyofthemaworldwithoutvideogames,computerspe-
cial effects, theluteruet,theWorldWideWeb, mobile phoues, aud so
ou,isalmostuuimagiuable.Thesearealsothetechuologiesthatuuder-
piu aud make possibleglobalizatiou, geuetic mauipulatiou,
bioterror-
ism,audothersuchpheuomeua.Artmadebyusiugaudreflectiugupou
uewmediaauduewtechuologieshelpsusuuderstaudhowourlivesare
beiug trausformed by these very media aud techuologies. The gallery
hasauimportautroletoplayiumakiugthisartvisible,uotj ustuowbut
alsoiuthefuture,wheusuchworkwillbepartofarthistory.Howour
culturearchivesourpastisuotaquestiouofourrelatioushipj ustwith
thatpast, butwiththefuture aswell. Whatwe choose toarchiveaud ,
thustopreserveforf
9
ture geretiillelpete.ir.ei
NOTES
This essay reflects on some of the issues arising out of the three months I spent
at Tate on an Arts and Humanities Research Board "Changing Places " Fellow
ship in 2002, looking at the role of the gallery in the digital age. A different ver
sion appears on the Tate Papers part of the Tate Web site, http://www.tate.org
.uk/ resea rchlta teresea rch/ ta tepa pers/ 04 a u tu mn/ gere. h tm.
r. Richard Beardsworth, "Thinking Technicity, " in Deconst1'llction: A
Reade1; ed. Martin Mcquillan (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000),
235
2. Andreas Huyssen, Twilight Memories: Mar/<ing Time in a ClIlture of
Amnesia (London: Routledge, I994), 7.
3. Jacques Den'ida, Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression (Chicago: Univer
sity of Chicago Press, I99 5), 18.
lh .JJ\
2
Immateriality and Its Discontents
|1 J!'!' W1 \1' 1 \1J' 11J ' J
1'oJ'1' 1 NW \J' 1
T
heexhibitiouLes Immateriaux washeldat theCeutrePompidouiu
Paris iu the spriug of z,8. Curated by the philosopher |eau-
FrauoisLyotard,theshowpurportedtobriugtogetherart,iudustry,
iuformatioutechuology,audcultureiuapoststructuralistiuvestigatiouof
howoueusesvideo,ouud,Useuetgroups , autecedeuttoe-mail,faxes,
writteudocumeuts,aud visualdisplaysto uavigate immaterial iuforma-
tioufows.
Civeuthatthisexhibitiouisofteucitedasaprecursortocoutempo-
raryexhibitiousofartaudtechuologyiumuseumsarouudtheworld,it
seems appropriate to recall the difnculties eucouutered iustalliug the
experimeutal, iuteractive, process-led, time-based works. The artist
RolfCehlhaar, describiug his iustallatiouSOUND = SPACE ,a room
coutaiuiugasystemoflocatiouseusorsliukedtoacomputer, asampler,
audasyuthesizerproduciugsouudcommeuts
26
The problems we encountered on site were numerous, the most important
being that the supply of electricity, the amount of light 'and the ventilation
of the space . . . were all insuffcient. Whenever we booted the computer
and turned on the amplifers the main fuse would blow, it was painfully
dark in the space and it got so hot after only 2-3 hours that the computer
would crash . . . . I went to visit F Lyotard in his offce . . . . The great man's
SARAH COOK 27
offce was large, light, airy and strewn with the paraphernalia one com
monly associates with great thinkers and curators. I told him of our prob
lems-not enough juice, not enough light, too much heat. He was friendly,
affable even, but seemed to have diffculties in focussing on them. The
thought briefly appeared to me that maybe he did not really understand
what we were doing and that perhaps even if he did understand, he didn't
like the idea, that what I was doing was a bit too structural, too positive? I
had already seen some of the other partially installed exhibits, and mariy of
them seemed quite triste. But I rejected the thought because I was too
excited by the novel terrain of my project . . . . I also told him that iwanted
to put some sort of graphic indications on the walls and the floor of the
space in order to make the 'control structure,' i.e. the topographical distri
bution of the controls over the sounds visible . . . . He had no objections
and also assured me that we would get a proper electricity supply and that
the lighting would also be attended to. As to the overheating, he said he
was powerless to help me out. Nothing much happened during the next .
days; we resorted to 'borrowing' power from the installation next to us and
buying a few lamps. After another visit to 'the man,' a proper electiici
t
y
supply and better lighting were fnally installed. The overheating remained
a problem until I went out to the BHV and bought two large ventilators to
place in a hole we cut into the ceiling of the computer cupboard. I
Thisstory,whichpredatesourcurreutuuderstaudiugofuewmediaart,
ismeautuotto belittlethePompidou'seffortstomouutsuchauimpor-
tautexhibitiou,buttohighligl.tthepracticaldifncultiesofcuratiuguew
mediaeveuiusituatiouswherethetheoreticalquaudariesarebeiugcou-
sideredattheirhighestphilosophicallevel.
New media art eucompasses a rauge ofworks, amoug them Web-
basedprojects,souudeveuts,virtualrealityiustallatious,mobilecellular
orPDAprojects,audpractices-ouceptualartpractices,uetwork-based
practices, software codiug, or sampliug. Yet mostuew media projects
shareparticularcharacteristicsthat~outheirowuaudiucombiuatiou
preseut challeuges to the curator orgauiziugpreseutatious, whetheriu
museumspacesorbeyoudthe whitecubegallery. "Thislistofcharac-
teristicsiseverchaugiug,asuewgeuresaudpracticesofartemergeaud
techuologiesemployediumakiugtheworkevolve,audasaresult,some
uewmediaworksaremorechalleugiugthauothers.Amougthefeatures
cited repeatedlyfor their effects ou thepreseutatiou aud exhibitiou of
uewmediaartareiuteractivity,computability,couuectivity, variability,a
teudeucytorepreseutthevirtual ",asopposedtoaphyslalreality,and
theparticipatoryaudtime-baseduatureoftheworks.
As
e caestu
iesiu|.|cthesecharacteristicsrequire
acuratortocousiderhowbesttoeugageauaudieucewiththework~a
28 I MMATERIALITY AND I TS DI SCONTENTS
processthatneedstotakeplaceoubotha techuical auda theoretical
level. Theoretically, the media arts challeuge a curator to rethiuk the
practice of exhibitiug static, uuchaugiug aesthetic objects iu favor of
preseutiuuamic, djl,chaug)ug proj ects.Formalistaesthetics
aud its atteudaut value judgmet
s must
be reevaluated if we are to
uuderstaud theofteu relatioual aesthetics ofuewmedia.'Techuically,
exhibitiuguew media arteutails securiug au appropriateeuviroumeut
iuwhichtopreseutwork~ouethatisflexible,sustaiuable,audiuvitiug
forlougerperiodsofviewiug.oththeoreticallyaudtechuically,acura-
torhastoworkwiththeartisttocreateaplatformfortheexchaugeof
ideasbetweeuthevieweroruseroftheworkaudtheprojectitself.
Thisessayoutliuestheroleofthemuseumiuexhibitiugculturalpro-
ductiouaudtheriseofuetworkcultureaudits strategiesforexhibitiug
uew media art. l also preseut some alteruatives to the exhibitiou as a
mode ofpreseutatiou, as well aspossible models ofcuratorialpractice
thatmightbeusefultocuratorsofuewmediaart.lcoucludebylookiug
towardcoutemporaryartist-ledcuratorial iuitiatives, poiutiug outthat
curators,regardlessofthemedium,shouldfollowaudbeledbytheart.
MUSEUMS AND CURATING
Siucetheearly z,,os,a steadystreamofcriticalliteraturehasreexam-
iuedtheroleofthemuseumaudthepracticeofexhibitiouproductiou.
Museums seemtobeperceivedlessaspurestorehouses ofobj ects aud
gatekeepers ofthehistoryofartaudmoreassites ofeugagemeutaud
edutaiuneut. "lf,as the artistTomShermauhascommeuted, muse-
ums are places where dead thiugs are kept to be remembered," it
follows that the iuclusiou of live" coutemporary art eveuts" aud
projects"iumuseumprogrammiug,uotableiuthelasttwodecades,has
chaugedbothourperceptiouofthemuseumaudtheroleofthecurator.
Acuratoruolougersimplyfacilitatestherememberiugprocessbytelliug
asiuglestoryaboutasetofobjects.AsTeresaCleadowewrites,
The curator is now often implicated in the production of the work, work
ing closely with the artist as a commissioner or enabler, and is concerned
with the whole physical and intellectual experience of an exhibition or off
site project. This is a very different role from that of the art historian or
scholarly curator, whose principal task has been to research the history of a
particular artistic movement or moment, to select key examples of an
artist's work, and to present this research within the conventions of a his
torical presentation?
SARAH COOK 29
Asthecommeutsuggests,curatorialpracticehasshiftediuthepast
tweutytothirtyyearsfrommuseologytoamoreprocess-basedmethod-
ologythatfocusesoutemporaryexhibitiousaudthespecinccoutextof
theiraudieuces.riauO'Doherty,whousesthetermproject"torefer
to short-termartmadeforspecincsitesaudoccasious,"observesthat
coutext provides a large part of the] couteut" of late moderu aud
postmoderuart."Whereashistoricallyotherworksofartaudtheirhis-
tory, astoldthroughthemuseum'scollectiououceestablishedthecou-
text for art displayed iu a museum, it is uow just as likely tbat the
coutextfortheartstretchesbeyoudthe museum audcollectioutothe
worldatlarge. Whilethefuudameutalroleofthemuseum~toexhibit
artaudallowforitscousideratiou~remaiusuuchauged,theprocessof
cousideratiouhasbroadeued.
The shift iutheuuderstaudiugofexhibitious has brought abotit a
chaugeiucoutexts forthepreseutatiouofemergiug artforms,suchas
uew media art. lu part, this has beeua uaturalhistoricalprogressiou.
Siucethenrstcomputer-driveuartsemergediuthe z,eos,museums
uufamiliarwiththe medium, couceruedabouttechuologicalcomplex-
ity, uot to meutiou limited iu terms of wiriug or air couditiouiug
systems~havebeeuwoefully uupreparedto exhibituew media. Thus
uewmediaarthasbeeuseeupredomiuautlyiuaraugeofalteruative"
artcoutextsiuitsshorthistorytodate. ltmayhaveeucouutereditsnrst
large-scaleaudieuce through the festival circuit nlm festivals audper-
fonnauce art festivals begau to iucorporate video aud other forms of
iutermedia aud multimedia art iu their programs iu the late z,;os. '"
This chauge immediately highlighted certaiu characteristics of uew
mediaart,whichhavebeeuproblematicasthearteuteredthemuseum
its time-based, duratioual, participatory, trausieut, iuterdiscipliuary,
audiuteruatiouallymobileuature.
lu some iustauces, physical iustallatious of uew media art were
morelikelytobeseeuiumedia-specincmuseums"~suchasmuseums
ofscieuceaudtechuology,theWellcomeWiugoftheLoudou Scieuce
Museum, the Exploratorium iu Sau Fraucisco aud museums of nlm,
video, aud photography ,the Museum ofthe Moviug lmage iu New
York~thau iu more traditioual art museums , or mixed-media muse-
urns . luteruet-basedartwasuotcousideredbytheiuteruatioualmaiu-
stream art world uutil its iuclusiou iu Documenta X iu z,,;, aud
eveutheu,theuewmedia artcommuuitycousideredthe static, offliue,
aud ofnce-based preseutatiou a failure. New media art has flourished
withthesupportofsmallermedia-specincorgauizatious,althoughthose
30 I MMATERIALITY AND ITS DI SCONTENTS
haveofteubeeugeographicallyspecincauddeeplydepeudeutoustate-
spousored fuudiug;forexample, the Soros Fouudatiou's efforts to get
Easteru Europe ouliue led to the fouudiug ofmauy art-driveu media
labs; cultural regeueratiou ageudas iutheformerlyiudustrial areas of
Euglaudledtotheestablishmeutofofnce-basedageuciescuratiugpublic
art;theproliferatiouofmediacouglomeratesiuCauadaaudtheUuited
StatesspawuedauetworkofvideoaudT cooperativesiuauattemptto
getpublicaccess"totheairwaves.luNorthAmerica,iuparticula,very
fewgalleriesormuseumsaredevotedtothemediaartsoriucludeuew
mediaiutheirwidermuseumprogrammiug. ' '
AUTONOMOUS ZONES AND TEMPORARY GONTEMPORARIES:
THE EFFEGT OF NETWORKING
Sowhyhaveuewmediaartaudthemuseumhadsucharockyrelatiou-
ship?Ouereasouistheriseofcomputeruetworkiugiutheearly:,,os,
whichprovideduewmediaartistswithyet auotherplatformforpre-
seutiug ,aud creatiug uetwork-driveu artworks. the Web. Much has
beeuwritteuabouttheartistgroupsthatworkedtogetheroutheluter-
uet, audmuchofthiswritiug has addressed their political disdaiufor
the museum audgallerysystem or, atleast, theirj ustinable seuse that
theyhaduoueedforit. 'Civeuthatuetworkedartismadeiupartwith
distributive commuuicatiou techuologies ,from video to HTML aud
other Web-based programmiug , it seems to have little use for the
museumorthe curator iureachiugits iuteuded audieuce.DavidRoss,
theformer directoroftheWhitueyMuseumofAmericauArtaudthe
SauFrauciscoMuseumofModeruArt,hasdiscussedatleugththesim-
ilaitiesbetweeutheemergeuceofuetworkeduewmediaartiutheearly
:,,os audthe ernergeuce ofvideo artpractices iuthe early :,;os~a
collaborativeaud utopicuudertakiugtocreateuewculturalsystemsof
commuuicatiou audexchauge. ' 'Partly because theprimaryactivityof
theseuet-basedartistgroupshadbeeuadmiuisteriugbulletiuboardsys-
tems aud hostiug e-mail lists~iu additiou to artworks~ou their
servers, uetworkedartwas uurturediua commuuity ofpractitiouers.
Au ouliue dialogue emergedwiththeartworks; ideas foruewprojects
werecouceived,workshopped,discussed,mademauifest,critiqued,aud
revisedalliuthesamespace. ''Hierarchiesofmedia,theobjectaudits
historyaudcuratorialgatekeepiug"~bothiutriusictothemuseum
weredemolished orsimplysidesteppediutheuewsociopoliticalareua
ofuetworkedculture. '
SARAH COOK 31
Multidiscipliuarity aud a commitmeut to the social aud political
poteutialofuewtechuologieshaveemergedaskeyiudicatorsofuetwork-
based art activity outside art-iustitutioual structures. Small aud tight-
kuitartistgroupssuchasMougrel,iratioual.org,audCoi\sume.uet,alliu
theUuitedKiugdomortheRaqsMediacollective,Delhihavedeveloped
shared or opeu-source software tocommuuicate,create, aud exchauge
couteut. The artistMiuerva Cuevas writes. llike to thiuk aboutira-
tioual.org as oue of these political actors, uot au ouliue server, aud
resultsarethere. work/campaigusaredevelopedviaouliuetools. . . + l
thiukresultsshoulduotbeexpectedouliue butiutheidea oftheworld
wewauttoliveiuaudiudailylife."'
Theiuterestsoftheseartistgroupsiurecounguriugexistiugtechuolo-
gies~betheyluteruetradio statiousorimage-mauipulatiou software
haveledthemtomakethosemoreaccessible.Thegroupsofteucousistof
theorists,programmers,audactivistsasmuchasartists,audofteuuosiu-
glepersouisuamedastheorigiuatorofaproject ,iuthewayuartis:is
creditedasthesolecreatorofaworkofart.TheUuiversityofOpeuess
(sic), foriustauce,modelsitselfoutheacademicneld,holdiugcougresses
audformiugdepartmeutalcurriculatobriugtogetherpractitiouerswith
sharediuterestsiuculturalpheuomeua,techuologicaltools, oractivities,
suchascartographyorproblemsolviug'Mouica Narula ofthe artist
groupRaqshascommeutedthattheirartworkisuota staticrecordof
perceptious aud nuite aesthetics" but a kaleidoscope of differeut
motives. "' Raqs'sprojectOPUS, anle-shariugsoftware,isdescribedas
au orgauic curatorial mechauism, where authorship is a distributive
fact. ' "ltissiguincautthattheseartistgroupsdetermiuetheirowuageucy
iu relatiou to theircommuuities. As the art activist aud theorist Ceert
Loviukuotes, these digitalcommous"proj ectsexistiua thirdspace"
betweeustateiuterestsaudmarketforces.Asaresult,thegreatestchal-
leugefortheseartistgroups~uulesstheyaliguthemselveswithartpro-
ductiou aud exhibitiou facilities ,Raqs, for iustauce, worked with the
medialabSaraiaudwasiucludediuDOcU1enta XI~liesiumakiugart
oftheirsociallyaudpoliticallyeugaged,activistprojectsaudcommuuity-
orieuted tools.' Accordiug to traditioual uotious ofart's objecthood,
theseprojectsaudtheirresultiugsharediutellectualpropertydouotuec-
essarilyqualifyasartbecausetheycauuotbecommodinedordistributed
iutheways usualforart.Thesuccessoftheseworksiscouditioued by
theirusers,uotbyauobservautaudieuce,audtheycousequeutlyoperate
iu a middlespace betweeu the dyuamic, techuology-driveu media labs
audthestaticexhibitiouspacesofthemuseumorgallery.
32 I MMATERI ALI TY AND ITS DI SCONTENTS
Newmediaartcurreutlysitssomewherebetweeuitsemergeuceaud
historicizatiou~a period thathas beeu shriukiug. Civeu the speed of
chauges iu uew media art, museums repeatedly eucouuter practical
problemsexhibitiugitthataretiedtodevelopmeutsiutheneldoftech-
uology. utasmyexamplesiudicate,itisuotoulythechalleugeofthe
techuological media apparatus itself that makes uew media artist
groupsshyawayfromthemuseum,audthemuseumfromthem;there
are also political aspects ofuetworked culture that have substautially
chaugedtheroleofthecurator.Ratherthauplaytheroleofexhibitiou
caretaker,collector, audcouservator,curatorsiucreasiuglyactasnlters
audcommissiouers,seekiugoutopportuuitiesformeauiugfulexchauge
betweeu the artist aud commuuity partuers. lu au iuterview giveu
afterhe orgauized thenrstoverviewofuew media artiueasteru Cer-
mauy~the exhibitiou Minima Media, held iu :,, iu Leipzig~the
mediatheoristaudcuratorDieterDauielscommeuted,
I don't see yet the real way to bypass what you call the legitimation struc
ture of the art world. Because bypassing any kind of context-creating struc
ture-which is galleries, museums, curators, magazines, education and all
this-makes it so diffcult for who should fnd whom. It's a very good idea
that artists might directly address the public, but we have the problem of
information overflow in general, and so there is no quality flter within. We
just get lost and we don't know how to choose and fnd what we want if
everything is accessible. The question is: What should I be interested in, the
artist living next door or one from another continent? 23
Whilethecuratiugofuewmediaartappearstohave had aloughis-
tory, siucethenrstmuseumexhibitiousiucorporatiugcomputer-based
arts,suchasCyberetic Serendipity, tookplaceiuthe:,eos,itcouldbe
argued that both the space for art aud the role ofthe curator were
recousideredoulywiththeriseofaccessiblecommuuicatioutechuolo-
giesaudtheemergeuceofuetwork-basedartsiuthemid-:,,os.
AlERNATIVES TO THE TRADITIONAL MUSEUM EXHIBITION
Civeuthe characteristics ofuew media art outliued atthe startofthis
essay, there seems to be uo oue model for curatiug withiu this ever-
diversifyiug neld~heuce the usefuluess ofthe case studies iucluded iu
this volume.' Each characteristic raises practical udtheoretical chal-
leuges, ofspace for the exhibitiou, the techuologyueeded, the appro-
priate time frame of preseutatiou, or the mauagemeut of audieuce
iuteractiou.Civeuthatcuratiugalsohaschauged,iucreasiuglyiucorpo-
SARAH COOK 33
ratiugcommissiousaudcollaboratiou,curatorsaretryiugdiffereutmeth-
odsfordealiugwithuewmediaart.Ratherthaufocusoutheiustitutiou
iuwhichuewmedia artexhibitious mighttakeplace , the artmuseum,
gallery,scieuceaudtechuologymuseum,medialab,oreveuthesituatiou
iu which the work ispreseuted ,a festival, au ouliue server, au educa-
tioual workshop , here l couceutrate oumetaphorsforexhibitiuguew
mediaart, aspoteutiallyusefultothiukiugaboutcuratiuguewmedia.
THE EXHIBITION AS SOFTWARE PROGRAM OR DATA FLOW
Is the exhibition in the information age an interface
(meaning, an "area of contact " or "connection " ), or a
program (not in the sense of "overview," but rather of
"software " ) ? Probably both. In his overexposition [Les
Immateriaux], Lyotard was the designer of an interface
that aimed to allow the spectator to "run a program" :
he was thus also a programmer.26
Lyotard'sexhibitiouwasaouetimepreseutatiou,ceuteredouaparticular
socialmomeut.ycoutrast,theexhibitiouArt for Networ<s-uratedby
theartistSimouPopeforChapterArtsiuCardiffiuzooz`~wasatrav-
eliuggroupexhibitioufocusiugouapracticeeugeudered byuewmedia
, uetworkiug" preseuted iu a rauge ofmedia aud artforms ,ng. z. : .
The exhibitiou iucluded Web-based works, computer-driveu iustalla-
tious,sculpture,videoart,priuts,audperforuativecouceptualartproj-
ects~by Heath uutiug, Adam Chodzko, Niua est, Ryosuke Coheu,
TechuologiestothePeople,NiuaPopeaudKareuCuthrie,Rachelaker,
|ames Steveus, |ODl, aud others. A premise ofthe project washat it
couldchaugeitsiustallatiouaudchecklistwitheachuewgalleryexhibit-
iugit,iuesseuceoeriugauever-chaugiugdataflowthatcould bemodi-
ned to demoustrate differeut aspects of each project aud to produce
dif|ereut outcomes,depeudiugou the audieuces aud theorgauizers.lu
thisway, theexhibitiouwas also, metaphorically, a software program,
geueratiugauewuetworkofgalleryspacesduriugitstour.The director
ofChapterArtscommeuted, Thisshowworksasauexhibitiou,audas
auetwork-buildiugexercise. yaddiuguodes you cauhaveuuexpected
outcomesaudcousequeuces."
Theexhibitioupermittedeachoftheartists to briugauidea ofwhat
coustitutesauetwork toa sharedcoutext.DauielC. AudjarofTech-
uologies tothe Peopleiuvestigatedhowartistscaushapethe coutours
FI GURE 2. 1 Installation view of exhibition Art for NettIorhs ( 2002) at
Chaptel; Cardiff. Visible are works by Anna Best and Nina Pope and
Karen Guthrie. Photo: Sarah Coole
ofexhibitioumakiugaudreveala bettercoutextforpracticiugart.His
proj ect~desiguiugauewWebsitefortheexhibitioubasedouhiswork
ate-valeucia,wherehehadcreatedauaccessible,opeu,audfreeouliue
culturaluewsmagaziueaudsharednlesystemforeugagemeutaudcri-
tique~iuvestigatedtheuseoftechuological toolsiulocal audsociopo-
litical coutexts. As Niua Pope commeuted, the projects allowed the
visitor to view the artwork as a trigger to get you to thiukwhat it
wouldbeliketobeiutheuetwork.""
lutheUuitedKiugdom,Art for Networ1?s wasoueofthenrstsmall-
scaleexhibitiousofuewmediacombiuedwithotherartformstocross
thebouudaryiutothewhitecubegalleryspace~predomiuautlybecause
itdiduotlookatmediaastheuuitiugthemefortheshow, byiucludiug
uou-media-baseduetworkedartsuchasmailartorperformauces,eveu
couveutious oficecreamvauoperators , uordiditlook outtotheuet-
work ,iuits limited denuitiou oftheluteruetasthe solecoutextofthe
works.lufact,thecoutextofmauyoftheworkswastheircommuuityof
coustitueuts.AstheoristArmiuMedoschuotediuhisessayfortheexhi-
bitiou, Thereisa loughistoryof'artaudtelecommuuicatious' aud it
would do uet art some good to look beyoud itsowu techuologically
determiuedmodels. '''Thecoutextfortheart,itsiutercouuecteduessiu
a uetwork, computer geuerated or uot, that iuvolved au audieuce of
activeparticipautssayssomethiugsiguincautaboutitscouteut~iupart
SARAH COOK 35
bydescribiugtheprocessbehiudthemakiugoftheartwork.Oueofthe
problemswiththisthiukiugofashowasasoftwareprogramisthatthe
gallerysettiugtraditiouallyeucouragespassivity ,coutemplatiou rather
thaueugagemeut.Theshowisuotactivelyiuteractive"uulessitisalso
actitediusomewaybythesetupofthegallery.
How do you show an experience or a participatory work? You
have to change the work a lot. The project runs outside the gallery but
opens the gallery up as a framework. How to reproduce the experience, the
debate, how to translate or document it? One central, controlled server
owns the work. Or one space commissions the work but does not own it.3 1
Thetouriug ofthisexhibitiouproved thatgalleriesarehard-pressed
toberespousibletotheuetworkthatsupportsthework. You]ueeda
uetworkofuewmediamuseumstosustaiuashow.Thishasbecomethe
respousibilityofthe artisttoo uow,tosustaiu boththeuetworkofthe
artaudtheuewuetworkofthere-preseutiugveuue."'
THE EXHIBITION AS A TRADE SHOW
Civeu the iuvestmeut oftiue the visitor must make to eugage with
works ofuew media art iu a show, aud the ueed for au atteudaut or
doceuttoexplaiutechuologicaliuterfacesorresetWeb-basedworks,it
isworthcousideriugwhetheraoue-dayexhibitiou,withartistspreseut,
mightbemorerewardiugthauthetraditiouallouger-termgalleryexhi-
bitiou.Would a short-term, tradeshow-like preseutatiou divestartof
itspreciousuessaudthereforecreateadeepereugagemeut?
Artists iu the Uuited Kiugdom have repeatedly experimeuted with
thisformatofpreseutatiou,primarilybyorgauiziugtheirowuuetworks
withiu the wider commuuity ofuet-based artists. l/O/D, Furtherneld,
Mougrel, aud bak.spc. org,amougothers. lu mauyways,theseexperi-
meuts, from the Secret uet.art Couf" meetiugs , :,,; to Expo
Destructo. PostMediaPressure," a meetiugofactivistscompletewith
their owuflea market , :,,, , physically mauifest the ouliue listservs.
They recoguize that preseutatiou structures for uew media proj ects
have to be mostly self-geuerated. As Medosch explaius, Mostshows
ofluteruetarthavefailed totrauslate theuetworksthatexistfor the
participauts] iuto thegallery. , Calleries are usiug a differeutoperatiug
system. "''
lu November 2003, theLimehouse Towu Hall iuLoudouworked
withtheArtsCouucilEuglaudaudotherpartuerstomouutthetwo-day
. 1
DMZFestival.Recoguiziugthedearthofgalleryspacesforexhibitiug
uew media artiuLoudou, theprohibitiveprice ofrealestate, audthe
couceptofa demilitarized zoue asa freely accessible space, the DMZ
brought together artists, curators, writers, aud publishers to preseut
collaborativeprojects. TherewerecriticismsthattheDMZ,whilecru-
cialfortheprofessioualdevelopmeutoftheEastEudofLoudou'suew
media sceue, struggled to beaccessibletoa wider publicasauexhibi-
tiou , a criticism later addressed iu the zooe Seasou ofMedia Arts,
NODE.Loudou . Thisisuotuecessarilyperceivedasa problembythe
artists, however,who have commeuted thatthe place vhereyou get
yourcollaboratorsisthesameplaceyougetyouraudieuce."'
THE EXHIBITION AS A BROADCAST
Newmediaart'soccasioualueedforatimeframe,aduratioualviewiug,
the uotiou ofa scheduled broadcast~emauatiugfromoueaudreceived
bymauy~with as mauy or asfewchauuels as ueeded cauprovide au
iuterestiug alteruative exhibitiou model.' The UK-based artists Niua
PopeaudKareuCuthrie,whoorigiuatedtheprojectTV Swansong , zooz
iu this mauuer, have worked with uew techuologies audcollaborative
projectsformorethauadecade.Theyofteubegiuwitharesearchques-
tiou~abouttheiuhereutqualitiesofamedium,suchastheplacelessuess
oftheluteruet~oraparticularsiteorpheuomeuoutheywauttoiuvesti-
gate.Theyadmitto beiuguusureoftheresultstheirresearchwillgeuer-
ate.'lureceutyears,theyhaveiucreasiuglyiuvitedotherartiststocreate
projects uuderthe umbrella oftheirowu iuitiative. Thiscommissiouiug
aspect oftheirwork makes their artisticpracticeiuhereutlycuratorial,
gearedtowardprojectmauagemeutaudthecreatiouofcoutext.lufact,
PopeaudCuthriehaveofteuspokeuaboutthisaspectoftheirartpractice,
stressiug the ueed tocoutrolthe eutireprocess ofa work's productiou,
iucludiugsuchelemeutsaspresscampaigusaudnualreportstofuuders
aftertheprojectiscompleted.
TV Swansong iucludedtheworkofeightartistswho, iuadditiouto
PopeaudCuthrie,allcreatedworksaboutsitesoreveutsmadefamous
bytelevisiou.Theprojecttooktheformofasiugle-dayWebcastofpro-
grammedcouteut,bothliveaudprerecorded,ng.z.z . ltbuckedatreud
toward couvergeucemedia,"'`premisedoutheluteruetasa medium
more advauced thau televisiou, eveu if the experieuce ofwatchiug a
Webbroadcastisofteuless rewardiugthauwatchiugtelevisiou.
SARAH COOK 37
H Grab File Edll Caplure WIndow Help ' \; O) G(1:]41 1hl 3:45;48 PM
FI G U RE 2.2 Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie, TV Swansol1g ( 2002), screenshot
of the project's Web site (http:/www.swansong.tv).
TV Swansong is au iuterestiug model of collaborative curatorial
practiceiuuewmediaexhibitiouformats.lsitasiugleprojectwithuiue
compoueuts,orarethereuiueprojectssubsumeduuderouestructure?
Oueofthechalleugespreseuted bycollaboratiouisthatfuuders orthe
audieuce mightiuterpretthe artist-led activity as artists colouiziuga
space,i. e. degreeshowiuawarehouse , "aud,byexteusiou,uuderstaud
visitorsasatteudeesofalivebroadcast.'Yet,astheartistspoiutedout,
they all received equal billiug aud equal access to au ouliue audieuce
becausetheprojectwas distributed. "PopeaudCuthrieuotedthatiua
groupshow,artistsofteudouotmeetoueauotheruutilopeuiuguight.'"
Theirowucollaborativemodelrequiredthattheartistsmeetregularly
whiletheworkwasbeiugcreated,thusmaiutaiuiugtrauspareutopera-
tiousaudevokiugasharedrespousibilityfortheproject.
lu a symposium about TV Swansol1g held atALTlC,thetheorist
audartistCrautKestercommeutedthatvideoart,asauautecedeutto
uew media art, has become museumined" aud frauchised. He also
uotedthatthemuseumbothgivesartinciallifesupporttoartaudmakes
demauds ou the work, for example, by foregrouudiug product over
process. lu this respect, TV Swansong critiqued the most commou
miscouceptiouaboutuewtechuologyouthepartofartsadmiuistrators,
curators,audculturalworkers~thatitisuothiugmorethauaualterua-
tivebroadcastmedium, audthatitscouteut,theproduct, caubesepa-
ratedfroruitscoutext,theprocess, audexhibitedasa static object. lu
thecaseofTV Suansong, thiswasclearlyimpossible.theWebmay be
a broadcast medium, but the couteut could uot exist iu auy other
form~itis duratioual ,temporal,aswellassite-specinc.This sceuario
byexteusiousubvertstraditioualuotiousoftemporalityiuart.produc-
tiouauddistributiouarecoutaiuediuthesametimeframe.
Thethreealteruativemodelslhavediscusseddemoustratesomewaysiu
which uew media art challeuges the traditioual museum exhibitiou.
Museumexhibitiousareofteustaticaudliuear~preseutiugtheworks
sothatthereisbutouepoiutofeutry,audouepoiutofexit,usuallyiuto
asouveuirshop,tothestoryoftheiriuterrelatiouships.Newmediaart
isavariableeudeavor~aflowthroughtime~ofteuwithmorethauoue
creatot,mauyiutercouuectious,audelemeutsthatchaugewithviewers'
collaborativeiuput. Worlcs madefortheWebiuparticulardepeudou
coutext~they are site-specinc aud heuce problematicwheuseparated
fromtheuetworkaudplaced iua galleryspace , uulessredesiguedfor
suchapreseutatiou, . Ouapracticallevel,theexhibitiou-as-trade-show
modelisofteuthemostappealiugtoorgauizers,thetechuicalueedsof
mouutiuguewmediaprojectsbeiugsuchthatitsimplyisuotfeasibleto
keepsomeofthemouviewfortheuormalsix-weektothree-mouthruu
ofa museum exhibitiou , because ofthe costofreutiugthe uecessary
equipmeut for that time or gettiug techuical support wheu the work
breaks dowu, . As the artistKateRichcommeutedto mereceutly, the
faueur-style gallerygoer eucouuteriug uew media art iu a gallery will
haveauexperieuce lessrichthauthe audieucememberwhocomesto
theexhibitiouspecincallytohearauartisttalkaboutaworkordemou-
strateit.luthelougruu,whilewemustcatertothenrstviewet,itisper-
hapsmorerewardiugfortheartistaudtheworktoiuvestiuthelatter.
ALERNATIVE MODElS OF GURATING
As artists explore new technologies and strategies, and
create hybrid media . . . the nature of their "exhibi
tion" necessitates close collaboration . . . . [This is] very
different than the selectioll and arrangement of say,
paintings in a room. Overall the obligation to exhibit,
collect and conserve new media work is challenging as
it is in addition to sustaining "traditional " program
ming. It challenges resources, particularly maintaining
and replacing equipment, and sustaining technical
expertise.4J
SARAH COOK 39
Thediffereutexhibitioustructuressuggestedbytheseexamplesdemaud
curatorial methods differeut from those uormally employed by the
museumorgallerycurator.Themodelsofcuratiuguewmediathatfol-
lowarecouceruedwiththepracticalaudtechuicalaspectsofacurator's
j ob. Foriustauce,theartsfuudiugsystem,whichvariesfromcouutt
yto
couutryaud regioutoregiou,audthepressuresforcoucreteexhibitiou
outcomes, fromafuuder, amuseum,orartiststhemselves,haveshaped
theneldforbothgoodaudill.lumauyiustauces,thecoustraiutsoftime
audspace collide. Thethreemodels thatfollowoutliuepossibilities
forlimitiugthecoustraiutsouuewmediaartexhibitious.
THE ITERATIVE MODEL
Theiterativemodelofcuratiughasbeeudescribed asa spiu-offofthe
recipeformakiugsourdoughbread,whichiuvolvestherepeateduseof
astarterdough"coutaiuiugyeastthatisusediueachsubsequeutbatch
ofbread.'Thismodel proposesthedevelopmeutofauexhibitiouthat
iuvites artists to iuvestigate a topic. The curatortheu skims off" the
proj ectsthatarepoteutiallyoractuallythemostsuccessfuloriuterest-
iugaud buildsauother showarouudthem.Thissecoud showmightbe
exhibitediuauotherveuueorcreatediuadiffereuteuviroumeut.
Thismodelorigiuatedpartlyiucomputerprogrammiug,wheresoft-
wareisreleasediuversious aud improved by a process ofbeta testiug
aud user tests withfeedback. Accordiugto some curators, uewmedia
frequeutlyadoptthelauguageofscieuceaudtechuologybecauseterms
suchasresearch" orversiouiug" areuuderstoodmorespecincallyiu
thescieucesaudbetterdescribethe ougoiugprocess ofdevelopiugthe
work. luthearts,thetermresearch" evokesastageiuawork'sdevel-
opmeutthatisuuseeuaudexistspriorto a nuite outcome. Thisisuot
thecaseiuscieutincdiscipliues,wheretheresultsoftestiugahypothesis
aremadepubliclyavailableeveuiftheexperimeutitselfisa failure.lu
computerscieuces,feedbackiuformstheuextlevelofthework;wheuit
comestocuratiugexhibitious,thisisrarelythecasefewexhibitioucou-
ceptsexplicitlyrecoguizeuunuishedworkorworkiuprogressthatcau
chaugeitsformorcouteutfromoueveuuetoauother, asArt for Net
worl?s did. Curators, producers, fuuders, aud iustitutious ofteu have
troublerecoguiziugthatauaudieuce ,asa usercauaffectthedevelop-
meut aud outcome ofa project. lustitutious, iu particular, prefer the
worktobe cutauddried"~theywautpredictableaudnxedoutcomes
theycaucouut, aud bauk ou.
Theiterative model resembles theworkiugmethodofauiudepeud-
eutcurator~coustautlylookiugbeyoudtheiustitutiouforauappropri-
ate opportuuityto take au idea toitsuextstage. Provocative butuot
always successful, this method has become iucreasiugly commou iu
maiustreamvisualarts.ThecuratorHausUlrichObrist,foriustauce,
described the idea ofhis exhibitiou Cities 01 the Move as a complex
dyuamicsystemwhereiuthetopic,citieschaugesfast~theartistsare
coustautly makiug uewworksfor eachveuue." Oue ofthe iuhereut
problemsofthismodelisthatthe braudiugoftheexhibitiouasamov-
ablefeastofteusupersedesthecouteutoftheworksthemselves.
lterativestructuresareclearlyusefultoartists,buttheapplicabilityof
thismodeltocuratiuguewmediahasuotbeeusufncieutlytested,"per-
hapsoutoffearoffeaturecreep"~thesceuariowhereartistsworkiug
with media techuology delay produciug aud nuishiug a work ifthey
kuowthat,iuafewmouths,theymightbeable to addyetauotherfea-
tureormaketheworktechuicallyproncieutattheuexthigherlevel. As
aresult,theorigiualcouceptoftheworkaudtheexhibitiouislikelytobe
watereddowuasmuchasstreugtheued.Asiuauysonwaredevelopmeut
process,thechaucetocoutiuuallyremakeapiecewithuewtechuology
thathasj ustbecomeavailabledoesuotuecessarilymeauthattheorigiual
ideafortheworkofartwillbebetterrealizedbecauseoftheadditiouof
uewlyavailablefeatures.lumymiud,agoodworkofartisalwaysafully
resolvedmatchofitsformtoitscouteut,uomatteritsmedia.
Thedrawbackofapplyiugthismodeltocuratorialpracticeisthatit
demauds a louger developmeut time thau is usually available~with
stagesaudstaggeredoutcomes,aswellas |lexiblefuudiugforpreseuta-
tiouiuasequeuceofveuues.Fuudersareuulikelytosupporttheougo-
iug productiou uuless output cau be evaluated atsome poiut. That
beiug said, the advautage ofiterativecuratiug is that the curator cau
sustaiu louger-term relatiouships with artists who cau subsequeutly
develop theirproj ects over louger periods oftime aud iurespouse to
chaugesiutechuologyaswellaslocatiou.
I
I
SARAH COOK 41
THE MODULAR MODEL
Wheumixed-mediaiustitutiousareveuuesfor productiou audpreseu-
tatiou, the exhibitiou structures have to take iuto accouut the fluidity
audiustabilityofthetechuological media driviugtheworks. lfiustitu-
tioushaveuouewmediaspecialistoustaff, theyofteuturutoadjuuct
curators to help develop those structures. Some iudepeudeut curators
have builttheirprojects iucollaborative uodes ormodules"~with a
uetworkofiustitutiousorexhibitiouveuues.Modularcuratiugmaui-
festsitselfbothiutheexhibitioustructureaudiutheworkiugmethod
ofiudepeudeutcurators aud isevideut iu both uewnedia aud tradi-
tioual art exhibitious. ehiud this way ofworkiug is the expectatiou
that~iu the eveut of uuforeseeu difnculties with a project, whether
fuudiugproblemsorbreakdowus iu commuuicatiou betweeucollabo-
rators~thecuratorcouldsimplydroptheproblematicmoduleoruode
oftheexhibitiou, foriustauce,oueveuue'spublicperformauceelemeut
ofaglobalouliueexhibitiou,orauoff-siteproject,orauelemeutofthe
public programmiug . This model ofcuratiug, evideutiu iuteruatioual
visual arts festivals, applies equally well to modular works of uew
media art.Acuratorcouldcollaboratewiththeartisttodroporaddau
elemeutto the work ofart ,uot af|ectiug the iuteutofthework, but
perhaps scaliug back or augmeutiug its degree of iuteractivity, for
iustauce .This isuotthesameasdroppiugasiugleworkfromauexhi-
bitiou because oftechuical difnculties. This model works ouly ifitis
possible to scale back or elimiuate discrete elemeuts of a multiuodal
projectwithoutdrasticallyaffectiugitsoverallcohereuce.
Modular curatorial practice~ofteu placeless aud spaceless, devel-
oped by au iudepeudeut producer iu collaboratiou with partuers~is
useful iutheneld ofuewmediaart,wheretechuologicalgoalpostsaud
fuudiug criteria shift coustautly. The modularmodel is similar to the
method adopted by some artists iu order to realize iuitial stages of
louger-termresearchprojects.KareuCuthrieaudNiuaPopewrite lu
practicaltermswehavefuudeda lotoftheRD bydoiugsomepilot
projects~aud bythatl actuallymeauartprojects~. . . bysayiugto
thefuuders] 'here's au art project that describes what this research]
mightbelike.''`
A difnculty ofthemodularmodel is thatprojects must be able to
movefromveuuetoveuue,ofteuwithasiuglecuratorworkiugacross
borderswitha globalteam.Auexamplewithiuthemaiustreamvisual
arts world would be the Platforms" ofDOCU111enta XI, grouuded iu
nve mauifestatious ,public discussious, coufereuces, workshops, pro-
grams,audtheexhibitiou,eachiudiffereutlocatious ; or,iutheneldof
uewmedia,theitiuerautlSEAfestival,whichtakesplace iu dif|ereut
citiesaudcouutrieseverytwoyears.Curatorscaudoalotoftheirwork
telematically~by e-mail, phoue, audfax~before theyhave to appear
at the project's place of preseutatiou, thiukiug globally, but actiug
locally.Tohaudlethissituatioueffectively,acuratormustofteuappoiut
local partuers~what the iuteruatioual curator lliyaua Nedkova has
referredtoasguidesoutheside"~foreachuodeoftheproject.The
modularcurator" is au adjuuctprojectmauager~supervisiugteams
ofpeoplewhoareproduciugtheprojectiueachlocatiou,overseeiugthe
differeut stages, mauagiug aud supportiug them as iudepeudeutly as
possible.Theresultiugprojectofteuhasthebeuentofdevelopiugcumu-
latively, growiugfromoueiuteruatioualveuuetotheuextaudrespou-
sively , iuformed by audcreated iu reactiou to a localcoutextby the
respectivepartuers . Overall,theimportauceofsuchaprojectalsolies
iuuuitiugpeopleiua uetworkofproductiou,suggestiugthatou-the-
fly"productiousareuolessvalidthaumorepredetermiuedoues,espe-
ciallyiutheimpacttheycauhave outheneld ortheregiou iuwhich
theyarepreseuted.
Themodularmethodhasitschalleuges,mostuotabIythatthecurator
hastobeclearaboutwhohasauthorityauddecisiou-makiugpoweriu
eachuode ormodule~allowiugeachlocal teamcreative freedom aud
giviug it a reliable structure~aud who coutrols the nual quality aud
authorship ofa project. ltisa model oftrustaud oue bestutilized by
experieucedaudwell-traveledcurators.AsPeterRidecommeuts,afuud-
iugcommissiou couldcertaiulyadvocate 'youshould,ifyou'resettiug
upuetworks,workwithpeoplewithwhomyou shareauuuderstaudiug
of] workiug patterus. ' . . . A] uotiou ofcuratorialpractice might be
completelydiffereutiuOhio,Sona,Sydueyorwherevet, audyetyou're
workiugwithdiffereut groups simultaueously. How do you theudis-
coverauduegotiatehowtheyuuderstaudwhatcuratorialpracticeisaud
whattheywautfromyou? ""
This model of curatiug~or, more accurately, commissiouiug aud
produciuguewmedia art~posesmauy questiousaboutthecollabora-
tive characteristics of uew media art. Does techuology iucrease or
decrease the collaborative elemeut of art makiug? Who leads the
research,audwhoisapartuer|uit.theartist,thecurator, thetechuol-
ogist? ltmaybeuecessaryto chaugethestructureofthecollaboratiou
astheparticipautschauge
SARAH COOK 43
Modularcuratiugdiffersslightlyfromiterativecuratiug~thedevel-
opmeutofmauifestatiousofaprojectovertime~iuthatmodulescau
be putiuto playsimultaueouslyacross space, withteamsiu differeut
couutries workiug ou the project. The two models overlap, however,
aud both reflect the variable aud collaborative characteristics of uew
mediaart.
THE DISTRIBUTIVE MODEL
How do we face up to the issues of cultural currency
and not simply adopt the manner of existent contem
porary art forms (i.e. putting work into the gallery
when perhaps that's not the place for it)?50
oth ofthepreviousmodelsarewellsuitedtoa curatorworkiugout-
side the iustitutiou, usiug its resources as ueeded for productiou aud
preseutatiou, remaiuiug uear the work but at arm's leugth from the
iustltutiou. luauotherappropriatesceuarioforuegotiatiugthepreseu-
tatiou ofuewmediaart, curators are based iu small ,mixed-media or
media-specinc iustitutious or orgauizatious, occasioually established
by the curators themselves, aud are workiug with prtuers of their
choice. These art orgauizatious, or ageucies," are ofteu ofnce-based
audcommissiouworkiuuou-museumcoutexts. Theyemphasize get-
tiugwork outtothepublicwith miuimal iuterfereuce.Theadvautage
fortheuewmediacuratorworkiugiuauageucyisthattheorgauizatiou
cau,tosomeexteut,re-formaudrebuilditselfauewwitheachproject.
Some orgauizatious iu the Uuited Kiugdom~such as low-n, New
Media Scotlaud,' Forma, aud ArtAugel~have deliberatelyuot estab-
lishedresources, suchasa galleryspace, dedicatedmedia lab, orpro-
ductiou facility, aud uew media projects therefore beuentfrom beiug
allocated the most appropriate techuology or equipmeut , whether
reuted, borrowed, leasedorpurchased , settiug, timeframe, audaudi-
euce iuterface for each exhibitiou. ,The orgauizatiou Furtherneld,
whichoucefollowedthis model, receutly added itsowugalleryspace,
called http. ` lu mauy ways, the impetus behiud the distributive
model isrecoguitiouoftheplacelessuessoftheproj ects~theircoutexts
aretheirvaryiugsites, ouliueorof|liue . Theroleofthecuratoriusuch
auorgauizatiouagaiuisthatofaproductioumauagerwhotakesouall
the tasks, from suppliertotravel ageuttomarketiug director, usually
haudledbyseparatedepartmeutsiualargerorgauizatiou.
ThismodelismoreprevaleutiutheUuitedKiugdomaudtherestof
Europe, where the fuudiug of orgauizatious is more flexible, thau iu
NorthAmerica. ,luCauada,agreatdealofpublicartsfuudiugforuew
projects goes directly to the artists; iu the Uuited States, by coutrast,
supportfor artists' projects isofteuchauueled through museums aud
orgauizatious. ' Workiug with this model cau be difncult, howevet,
wheuitcomestouewmediaartproj ectsthathaveeitherveryshortlives
or louget, coutiuually evolviug oues, siuce fuudiug is ofteu awarded
projectbyprojectauddemaudscoucreteoutcomes.Fortheofnce-based
orgauizatiou,itishardertosustaiumomeutumfromoueprojecttothe
uextwithoutougoiugcorefuudiug. Too ofteu, thecouceptiou ofthe
uextprojectisiuflueuced byauawareuessofpossiblefuudiugsources.
Foriustauce,auorgauizatioumightcommissiouabiotechuology-based
artprojectbecauseitkuowsthatthefuudiugsystem,whichofteuplays
catch-upwiththe avaut-gardeofartproductiou,islookiugtofurther
projectsthatcombiueartaudscieuceresearchageudas.
Thethree alteruative models ofcuratorial practice discussedherehave
becomeappareutuotoulywiththeriseofuetworkeduewmediaart,but
withallformsofartmakiugthatseektolocatetheexperieuceofthework
outsideatraditioualgalleryspace.Whiletheyhavepracticalcouuectious
tothetechuicalcharacteristicsofuewmediaart~agaiu,itsvariability,its
iuteractivity~these models could be equally useful to us as we move
towardcuratiugiuaneldofartafteruewmedia,"whereallartisrela-
tioual,iutercouuected,mediatedbycommuuicatiousystems,audglobal.
CONCLUSION: FOllOW THE ARTISTS
Net-based culture holds out an even more challenging
possibility; to force us to rethink the conventional iden
tity of the artist as someone who develops projects or
works that are then administered to a receptive
viewer.55
The last proposed model of curatorial practice showed that curators
dealiug with uew media art must iucreasiugly follow the strategies
employedbyartiststhemselves.lufact,wehavecomefullcircle,backto
theframeworkofthebulletiuboardsaudlistservsoftheearlyI990S ,or
earlierartist-ruuceuters . theworkshopmodel,which,asFurtherneld
a uoupront ouliue orgauizatiou fouuded iu I997 by the artists Marc
SARAH COOK 45
Carrett aud Ruth Catlow~suggests, employs] imagiuative strategies
thatactivelycommuuicateideasaudissuesiuaraugeofdigitalterres-
trialmediacoutexts; featuriugworksouliueaudorgauiziugglobal,cou-
tributory projects, simultaueously ou the luteruet, the streets aud iu
public veuues. Furtherneld focuses ou uetwork-related projects that
exploreuewsocialcoutextsthattrausceudthedigital,orof|erasubjec-
tivevoicethatcommuuicatesbeyoudthemedium."
Followiugthepracticeofartistspresupposesthatthewaytocurate
uew media art~aud auy form ofprocess-led art tbat im,licates the
vieweriuthecompletiouofthework,regardlessofmedia~istoshift
thecuratorialfocustothework'sproductiouasmuchasitsdistributiou
audexhibitiou.
Lyotard'sLes Immatel'iaux issiguincautforitsuuderstaudiugofthe
iuseparabilityofthemediumauditsmessageiuuetworkedculture ,aud
heuce uet-based works,theiuseparability ofthedistributiou method
from the work's couteut. Net artists ofteu respoud to the failure to
uuderstaud this uubreakable liuk by askiug the questiou whether oue
could peel" auimagefromapaiutiugaudsell itoua postcard asthe
origiual. riugiugtogetherthetechuologicalstages ofproductiou aud
distributiou iu creatiug exhibitiou strategies seems the most seusible
waytoproceed,reflectiugthecollaborative,variable,audparticipatory
characteristicsofuewmediaart.
NOTES
r. Artist Rolf Gehlhaar describing his installation of the work SOUND
SPACE in Les Immaterial/x, http://www.gehlhaar.org.
2. This idea is expanded further in an essay coauthored with Beryl Graham;
Sarah Cook and Beryl Graham, "Curating New Media Art: Models and Chal
lenges, " in New Media Art: Practice and Context in the UK I994-2oo4 (Lon
don: Arts Council of England, 2004), 84-9I.
3. As I argue in a previous essay; Sarah Cook, "Toward a Theory of the
Practice of Curating New Media Art, " in Beyond the Box: Diverging Curato
rial Practices, ed. Melanie Townsend (Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press, 203),
169-82.
4. This essay includes material gathered as part of my Ph.D. dissertation,
"The Search for a Third Way of Curating New Media Art: Balancing Content
and Context In and Out of the Institution " (University of Sunderland, 2004). In
the thesis, I theorize a number of possible models based on an examination of
examples of curatorial practice in the feld of new media art.
5. See, for instance, Donald Crimp, On the Museum's Ruins (Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 1993), and Tony Bennett, The Birth of the Museum: History,
Theory, Politics (London: Routledge, 1995).
46 I MMATERIALITY AND I TS DI SCONTENTS
6. Tom Sherman, "Museums of Tomorrow, " in Before and after the i-bomb:
An Artist in the Inf0171tation Environment (Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press,
2002), 293
7. Teresa Gleadowe, "Curating in a Changing Climate, " in Curating in the
2Ist Century, ed. Gavin Wade (Walsall, UK: New Art Gallery, 2000), 29.
8. See. Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson, and Sandy Nairne, eds., Thinh
ing about Exhibitions (London: Routledge, 1996).
9. Brian O'Doherty, Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the GallelY
Space (San Francisco: Lapis Press, 1976), 70, 79.
10. Including, for instance, the World Wide Video Festival; Multimediale;
the Montreal Festival of New Cinema and New Media; SIGGRAPH.
I ! . As in the lesson learned from the Walker Art Center; see Steve Dietz's
response to the net art community's concerns regarding the future of new media
at the Walker Art Center (2003), http://www.mteww.com/walkecletter/dietz
_response.html.
12. Tilman Baumgartel, ed., Net Art 2. 0: Neue Materialien zttr Netzlwnst/
New Materials towards Net Art (Nuremberg: Institut fUr moderne Kunst,
200i); Josephine Bosma, "The Dot on a Velvet Pillow: Net.art Nostalgia and
Net Art Today " (conference paper, Oslo, March 16, 2003), available online
at Cream, http://www.laudanum.net; Josephine Berry, "The Thematics of
Site-Specifc Art on the Net " (Ph.D. diss., University of Manchester, 2001),
http://www.metamute.com.
13. David Ross, "Net.art in the Age of Digital Reproduction " ("Art and the
Age of the Digital " ) (transcript of a lecture at Cadre, San Jose State University,
March 2, 1999), http://switch.sjsu.edu/web/v5nl/ross/index.html; edited ver
sion reprinted in Call1eraworh: A Joural of Photographic Arts 26, no. I
(Spring/Summer 1999).
14. Many artists still contributed to the festival circuit in order to meet peo
ple with whom they had corresponded online; see Julian Stallabrass, Intemet
Art: The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce (London: Tate, 2003), I I 2.
Festivals devoted solely to media arts already existed or had come into being
by this time (Ars Electronica, the International Symposium on the Electronic
Arts [ISEA], Next5Minutes, etc.), and an increasing number of academic con
ferences were devoted to the nature of new media and cyberculture, making
manifest Hakim Bey's notion of the "Temporary Autonomous Zone " for the
exhibition of new media art.
15. See Geert Lovink, "Early History of 1990S Cyberculture, " in Dar/< Fiber
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002).
16. M. Cuevas, "Re: New-Media-Curating Discussion List, " April I I ,
2001, http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/new-media-curating.html.
17. See http://www. twenteenthcentury.com/uo.
18. Monica Narula, Raqs, unpublished notes from a presentation at the
conference "Digital Commons, " Documenta XI, Kassel Germany, July 2002.
19. See http://www.opuscommons.net.
20. Geert Lovink, unpublished notes from a presentation at the conference
"Digital Commons, " Documenta XI, Kassel, Germany, July 2002.
SARAH COOK 47
21. It has become increasingly diffcult for these groups to secure "arts "
funding. Mongrel recently lost (and reclaimed in part) all of its operational
funding, as the Arts Council England did not see its work-sustaining a net
work of research collaborators and developing software tools-as new "art "
production.
22. Anne-Marie Schleiner's flowchart (2003) is available at http://www
.intelligentagent.com/archiveNoI3_No1_curation_schleiner.html.
23 A conversation on media and art between Dieter Daniels (former cura
tor of the media collection at the Center for Culture and Media, Zentrum Hir
Kunst und Medientechnologie [ZKM] , Karlsruhe, Germany) and Volker Grass
muck, Tokyo, March 8, 1995, for InterCommunication magazine, http://waste
.informatik.hu-berlin.de/GrassmucklTexts/ddaniels.e.html. See also the exhibi
tion catalogue Minima Media, ed. Dieter Daniels and Inke Arns (Leipzig, Ger
many: Medienbiennale, 1995).
24 CRUMB contains interviews I have conducted with curators of new
media art in which methodologies and strategies of exhibition creation are dis
cussed and more mainstream models (as opposed to the alteratives described
here) are examined. See http://www.crumbweb.org.
25 Beryl Graham and Sarah Cook, "A Curatorial Resource for Upstart
Media Bliss, " in Museums and the Web 200I: Selected Papers from an Intera
tional Conference, ed. David Bearman and Jennifer Trant (Pittsburgh: Archives
and Museum Informatics, 2001), 197-208; also available at http:/www
.archimuse.com/mw2001/papers/graham/graham.html.
26. Jorinde Seijdel, "The Exhibition as Emulator, " trans. James Boekbinder
(The Hague, Netherlands: Stroom Den Haag, 2000), http://www.mediamatic
.net/cwolk/view/5 24 5
27 It has toured to a number of venues across the United Kingdom and was
exhibited at the University of Sunderland in November 2003. See http://www
.newmedia.sunderland.ac.uk/artfornetworks.
28. Janek Alexander, unpublished notes from a presentation at the confer
ence "Art for Networks, " Chapter Arts, Cardiff, UK, November 2002.
29 Nina Pope, unpublished notes from a presentation at the conference
"Art for Networks, " Chapter Arts, Cardiff, UK, November 2002.
30. Armin Medosch, "Network 404, " in Art for Networls, ed. s. Pope
(Cardiff, UK: Chapter Arts, 2002), n. 86.
31. Daniel G. Andujal; unpublished notes from a presentation at the confer
32. Shu Lea Cheang, unpublished notes from a presentation at the confer
33 Armin Medosch, unpublished notes from a presentation at the confer
34 Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie, "TV Swansong, " unpublished notes
from a presentation at the conference "TV Swan song, " Baltic, Gateshead, UK,
July 27, 2002, http://www.swansong.tv/symp.htm.
35 This tactic is being used increasingly by museum education departments
in order to stream, via Webcast, archival material or interpretational events
such as talks and conferences. See, for instance, the Walker Channel, or the
Tate's webcasting program.
36. Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie in Curating New Media, ed. Sarah Cook
and Beryl Graham (Third Baltic International Seminar, May 2001); alternative
version online at http://www.crumbweb.org.
37. A term much used in media circles, which technically describes little
more than advertising the educational wonders of the Internet on television, so
that people will go online and, once there, be convinced to watch more televi
sion through targeted advertising.
38. Pope and Guthrie, "TV Swansong. "
39. Vuk Co sic in Curating New Media, ed. Sarah Cook, Beryl Graham, and
Sarah Martin, Third Baltic International Seminar, May 2001 ( Gateshead:
BALTIC, 2002), 14-15.
40. Grant Kestel New-Media-Curating Discussion List, April 8, 2001,
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/new-media-curating.html .
41. Liane Davidson, "Re: New-Media-Curating Discussion List, " March
25, 2003, http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/new-media-curating.html .
42. The interviews and material compiled on the CRUMB site may be use
ful in teasing out the particularities of an individual curator's practice and a par
ticular organization's constraints.
43. From a conversation with Kathleen Pin'ie Adams of Interaccess Gallery,
Toronto.
44. Hans Ulrich Obrist, "Kraftwerk, Time Storage, Laboratory, " in Curating
in the 21st Century, ed. Gavin Wade (Walsall, UK: New Art Gallery, 2000), 45-59.
45. As in the case of Mongrel's work; see note 21.
46. Nina Czegledy, in The Edge of Everything: Refections on Curatorial
Practice, ed. Catherine Thomas (Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press, 2002); Nina
Czegledy, in Curating New Media, ed. Sarah Cook and Beryl Graham (Third
Baltic International Seminar, May 2001), http://www.crumbweb.org.
47. Karen Guthrie and Nina Pope in Curating New Media, ed. Sarah
Cook and Beryl Graham (Third Baltic International Seminar, May 2001),
http://www.crumbweb.org.
48. Iliyana Nedkova, in Curating New Media, ed. Sarah Cook, Beryl Gra
ham, and Sarah Martin, Third Baltic International Seminar, May 2001
( Gateshead: BALTIC, 2002), 103.
49. Peter Ride, i n Curating New Media, ed. Sarah Cook, Beryl Graham, and
Sarah Martin, Third Baltic International Seminar, May 2001 ( Gateshead:
BALTIC, 2002), 107-8.
50. Cliv Gillman, "Re: Installing It. June Theme of the Month, " New
Media-Curating Discussion List, June 6, 2001, http://www.jiscmail .ac.uk/lists/
new-media-curating.html .
51. Now under new management and likely to be restructured.
52. Furtherfeld, http://www.furtherfield.org; http://www.http.uk.net/.
53. Susan Morris, Museums and New Media Art (research report commis
sioned by the Rockefeller Foundation, October 2001), http://www.rockfound
.org/Documents/528/MuseUlTIs_and_New _Media_Art. pdf .
SARAH COOK 49
54. The curatorial work of Nicolas Bourriaud, in a very non-technically
specifc manner, hints at this move within mainstream visual art practice. See,
for instance, Relational Aesthetics (Paris: Les Presses du Reel, 2002) and Post
pl'Oduction (New York: Lukas and Sternberg, 2002).
55. Grant Kestel New-Media-Curating Discussion List, April 17, 2001. Avail
able online at http:/w.jiscmail .ac.uk/lists/new-media-curating.html.
56. From the Web site for Furtherfeld, http://www.furtherfeld.org.
.hl!|L '|LL
3
Challenges for a Ubiquitous Museum
'1T T T' oJJ1 T
J' 1/J1/11J J]11J
N
ewmediaarthasiuspireddreamsaboutourtechuologicalfuture,
amougthemthedreamofrecounguriugmuseumsaudartiustitu-
tious.Newmediaartseemstocallfora ubiquitousmuseum"or
museum without walls," a parallel, distributed, liviug iuformatiou
spacethatisopeutoartisticiuterfereuce~aspaceforexchauge,collab-
oauvcreatiou,audpreseutatiouthatistrauspareutaudflexible.
SoIat, this dream remaiusmostlywishful thiukiug, butthere isuo
doubtthattraditioualartiustitutiousmusttrausformthemselvesifthey
auttoaccommodateuewmedia art. Amuseumwautiugtoiutegrate
uew media art must iuterface the digital," a process requiriug the
developmeut ofpreseutatiou formats aud exchauges, betweeu iustitu-
tious, curators, artists, artworks, aud audieuces. Mauy curators aud
otherpractitiouers iuuewmedia seek to teleport" the art outofits
ghettoaudiutroduceittoalargerpublic.
CHALLENGES OF THE MEDIUM
Eachofthedistiuguishiugcharacteristicsofthedigitalmedium~which
do uot all uecessarily surface iu oue work aud may occur iu varyiug
combiuatious~seems to pose its owu set ofchalleuges. New media
53
54 CHALLENG ES FOR A UBI QUI TOUS MUSEUM
worksaretime-basedauddyuamic, iuteractiye,audparticipatory, cus-
tomizableaudvariable.Thetime-basedqualityofprojectsthatrequire
auexteudedviewiugperiodisuotuecessarilymedium-specinc,applyiug
tovideoworksaudperformaucesaswellasuewmediaworks.Perfor-
mauceshave lougbeeuauexceptiou,uottherule,iuthemostlyobj ect-
based art world. After approximately three decades, video seems to
have established a safe place iu theartworld, butmuseums'relatiou-
ship to performauce, souud art, or uoumaterial" artformsremaius
problematic. While auartwork that ueeds to be experieuced over au
exteudedtimeposes a challeugeperse, the time-baseduature ofuew
mediaartisfarmoreproblematicthauthatofnlmorvideo,whichulti-
matelystillpreseutsitselfasaliuearnuishedproduct. "Newmediaart,
however, ispoteutiallydyuamicaud uouliuear. eveu ifa projectisuot
iuteractive, theviewermaylookata visuahatioudriveu byreal-time
dataflowfromtheluteruetthatwillueverrepeatitselfora database-
driveuprojectthatcoutiuuouslyrecounguresitselfovertime.Aviewer
whospeudsoulya miuuteortwowitha video iua galleryspacedoes
uothave auoptimalexperieuce, thoughthatviewer atleastglimpses
audgetsabriefimpressiouoftheproject. Speudiugthesametimewith
auewmediaprojectofteurevealsmuchless.theviewermightseeouly
ouecounguratiouofauesseutiallyuouliuearproject. Thecoutextaud
logic of a particular sequeuce remaiu uuclear. Every art project is
embedded iu a coutext, but viewers ofuew media works depeud ou
coutextual iuformatiou. aboutthe data ,iuthe broadestseuse beiug
showu,whereitiscomiugfrom,audthelogicbywhichitiscoungured.
Poteutiallyiuteractiveaudparticipatory,uewmediaartallowsforms
of uavigatiug, assembliug, or coutributiug to the artwork that go
beyoud the iuteractive, meutal eveut of experieuciug it. Suddeuly the
commoupleaofthemuseumuottotouchtheartuolougerapplies,but
largesegmeuts ofthe audieuce stillhesitatetoeugagephysicallywith
theartworkiuagalleryspace.Moreover, mostuewmediaartrequires
familiarity with iuterfaces aud uavigatiou paradigms. Eveu though
computers seemto have become more or less ubiquitous, oue cauuot
presumethateverymemberofauaudieucewillbeauexpert.
New media art requires platforms ofexchauge~betweeu artwork
audaudieuceorthepublicspaceofa galleryaudthepublicspace ofa
uetwork, forexample.Practicalchalleugesiucludetheueedforcoutiu-
uous maiuteuauce aud a flexible aud techuologically equipped exhibi-
tioueuviroumeut,whichmuseumbuildiugs ,traditioually basedouthe
whitecube"modelcauuotalwaysprovide,aswellascouceptualissues
CHRI STI ANE PAUL 55
audacoutiuuiugueedto orgauizeeducatioualprogramsforaudieuces
tomakethemmorefamiliarwiththisstillemergiugartform.
MODElS OF PRESENTATION: FROM INSTAllATION TO "MOBILE" ART
Foramuseumoruewmediaorgauizatiou,theprocessofiustalliugofa
workdoesuotbegiuwheuthepiece arrives"iuthegallery.Theagree-
meutsaudloauformsspecifyiugwhatwillbeshippedaudshowuareau
importautnrstrequiremeutfororgauiziugauexhibitiouaud,|uthecase
ofuewmediaart,haveledtocousiderablecoufusiou.Newmediaiustal-
latiousofteuhavephysicalcompoueutsthatueedtobedeliveredtohe
museumorbuiltou-siteaccordiugtospecincatious. Otheraspects ofa
loauarehighlyuegotiable.iumostcases,theorgauiziugiustitutiousup-
pliescomputers,projectors,audothertechuology,audartistsiustalltheir
software ou the machiues aud/or coungure the work; yet someartists
have dedicated computersforspecincworks audpreferto provide the
projectasawhole,siucetheyhaveiuvestedcousiderabletimeaudeuergy
iusettiugupafoolproofsystem.
Mauyofthecategoriesouthetraditioualloauformareiuapplicable
tosoftwareartaudluteruetart.Whatarethedimeusious"ofthework?
Mauyuewmedia artistshavearguedthattheclosestaualogytodimeu-
siouisiufactthescreeuresolutiouofawork,e.g.,1024 x 768 pixels.
Theframe,ofapaiutiugwouldcorrespoudtothesizeofthemouitoror
screeu, which usually depeuds ou the iustitutiou's budget. The same
workcouldbeshowuoueitherauowadayscheapnfteeu-iuchmouitor
orauiunuitelymoreexpeusiveplasmascreeuwithuoeffectouthequal-
ityoftheworkitself,althoughtheplasmascreeuusuallymakesaproj-
ectlookmoreimpressive.
Wheuluteruetartisbeiugshowuaspartofauouliueexhibitiou,the
traditioualagreemeut seems eveu more outdated. the loau" ultimately
cousistsiuthepermissioutoestablishaliuktotheartist'sWebsite.The
ephemeral uature ofthis trausactiou has occasiouallylediustitutiousto
assumethattheyueeduopermissiouatall toiucludeau ouliue artproj-
ect,becauseliukiugtosomeoue'sWebsiteiscommoupracticeaudoueof
theiuhereutfeaturesaudpurposesoftheWorldWideWeb.lusomecases,
artists haveleared oftheiriuclusiouiu a showwheuasearchoftheir
uame ou the luteruet revealed it. The practice ou the iustitutiou's part
ishighlydubiousauduuethical.Thereisaprofouud differeuce betweeu
iudividualswhofeature liuks totheirfavorite artprojectsoutheirWeb
site ,iu the cool sites" sectiou, audthus make a recommeudatiou by
56 CHALLENG ES FOR A UBI QUITOUS MUSEUM
shariugapersoualselectiou,audauiustitutiouthatiuclud
saworl
of
luteruet art iu au ouliue exhibitiou based ou a curatonal selectrou
process aud thus ofncially coutextualizes it. Oue could argue, if iu
strictlylegalterms,thatouliueartprojectsareiuthe publicd
o
'
..aiu"
audthusdouoteujoyexteusiveprotectiou;uouetheless,orgauzrigau
exhibitiouwithoutobtaiuiugartists'permissioutoiucludetheirwork
demoustrateslittlerespectforeithertheartworksortheircreators.
INSTALLATION MODELS
Preseutiuguewmediaartiuthemuseumorgalleryspacealwaysrecou-
textualizes it aud ofteu recoungures it. lustallatious of digital art
alreadycreateadistiuctpreseuceiuphysicalspaceaudsom
times
eed
to be iustalled accordiugtospecined measuremeuts ,ofheight, width,
lightiug,etc. . Thevariabilityaudmodularityiuhereuttothemedium,
however ofteumeauthata workcauberecounguredfor a spaceaud
,

showu iu very differeut ways. Variability euables a flueut trausrtrou
betweeu the differeut mauifestatious a virtual object" cau take. the
sameworkmightbepreseuted, for example, asauiustallatiouorpro-
jectiou, or iua kiosk.Ultimately, the physical euviroumeuthould be
denuedbywhatauartworkrequires.ltisimportauttoestablishacou-
uectioubetweeuthephysicalaudvirtualspace.
Digital techuologies make us recousider our traditioual uotious of
space aud architecture, aud mauy efforts are cur
eutly be
iugmad
to
trauslatethecharacteristicsofvirtualspacesaudrufonuatrouarcl:rtec-
ture iuto physical space. lu au art exhibitiou, the couuectious estab-
lishedbetweeuvirtual audphysical space,whichultimatelyaffectthe
aestheticsofthework,shouldbedecidedcollaborativelybythecurator
audartist,s) .
Traditioualpreseutatiou spacescreateexhibitioumodels thatareuot
particularly appropriate for uew media art. The white cube creates a
sacred" space aud a blauk slate for coutemplatiug objects.Mouew
media art is iuhereutly performative aud coytextualu(_orked aud
cuuectedto m e outside"audofteufeelsdecoutextualizediu
awbite
qTack bex, tbeprferredsp
e
_
orn
m/vidoproject|girsaud
iust
llatious,doesuotuecessarilyprovide bttercouditious.Uulessuew
mediaworksdepeudouspecinclightiugcouditiousbecausetheyiucor-
poratelightseusors orcreateauimmersivespacetheydouotrequire
darkuess. Pieces cau be showu just as well iu a lighted gallery space,
though that may require extremely stroug projectors, which are too
expeusive formauy iustitutious. Developmeuts iu exhibitiou techuol
ogyholographicscreeus,laser-readableglassplates,audsoforthhave
broadeuedtheoptiousforpreseutiuguewmediaart,audthesepreseuta-
tioumechauismswillbecomemoreaffordableiutheuearfuture. '
Allocatiuga separatespaceforuew media artwithcomputers aud
screeus, a practice ofteu criticized, cau be explaiued by techuical
requiremeuts ,a dark space forprojectious, the availability or lack of
uetworkcouuectious,etc. . Theprimarydisadvautageofthispreseuta-
tioumodelisthatuewmedia art,wheuuotexperieucediutl:ecoutext
ofworksiuother media, becomesmargiualizedfromthe ,historyof
art" uufoldiug iu the other galleries. At the same time, the separate
setupiuvitesparticipauts/visitorstospeudmoretimewithauartwork
thautheaveragemuseumgoeriswilliugtoiuvest.Whiletheghetto"of
theuewmediaareaiscommoulycousideredtheepitomeoftheutteasy
relatioushipofiustitutiouswithuewmediaatthistime,somecvrators
havepoiutedtoitspolitical"advautages.lfmuseumshave
_
esiguated
, sometimesspousoredspacesforuewmediaart,theyare also obliged
to offer coutiuuousprogrammiugforthesegalleries,guarauteeiugthe
artformaregularexposure.
Tl:epreseutaiouofLternetartiuthemuseumorgalleryspaceisoue
_
e
ostprob
!
er..aticsceuarios.Netarthasbeet.created:obeseeuby
auyoue , wLo has accesstotbeuetwoik,auyweie, auytime, aud does
uotuecessarilyueedamuseum.Althoughuetartexistsiua,virtualpub-
licspace,itseemsto beouethatisdifncultto couuect" tothepublic
spaceofagallery.Themultipleapproachestoshowiugthisartformall
haveadvautagesauddisadvautages. Someworksofuet artleudthem-
selvestopreseutatiouiuauiustallatiouaud/orphysicaliuterfacebecause
theyaddressuotiousofspace.Othersworkwellasaprojectiouwoiks,
especially,thathaveuotbeeucreatedforabrowserwiudowaudbegto
getoutofit. Stillothersueedto maiutaiutheiriuhereutuetuess"aud
requireoue-ou-oueiuteractioubywayofacomputerwithmouitor.
Theleastappropriatemodelforiucludiuguetartiuthegalleryspace
givesvisitorsouecomputerouwhichalltheuetartprojectsiutheexhi-
bitiou cau be explored, oueviewer ata time. While this setup ispre-
cisely how oue would experieuce the art iu oue's owu home, itruus
couuterto theveryuotiou ofa public spaceas ifteu paiutiugswere
huugoueovertheotheraudviewers hadtoremovethemouebyoueto
coutemplateeachwork.Apublicspaceasksforbetteraccessthauthat.
Auothermodelforpreseutiuguetartistheouliueouly"exhibitiou.
This approach preserves the origiual coutext ofthe art but provides
\.
/
/
58 CHALLENG ES FOR A UBI QU ITOUS MUSEUM
limited coutrol over the viewer's experieuce ofitaud margiualizes the
work.Theuumerousrequiremeutsofuetartprojectsraugefrombrowser
versioustoplug-ius,miuimumresolutiou,wiudowsize,audsoforth.The
museumcauaccommodatesomeoftheserequiremeuts,butmostofthem
havetobefulnlledoutheviewers'eud.Althoughthisrequiremeutapplies
touetartiugeueral~forexample,ahomeorofncecomputer~iuacces-
sibility becomes more ofau issue ifthe work is preseuted aspart ofa
curatedexhibitiououamuseumWebsite.Viewersmaybemoreauuoyed
by their iuability to view a work , because their computer, mouitor, o
couuectioudoesuotsupportitstechuicalrequiremeutsiftheyhavetakeu
thetimetovisit"auexhibitiouorgauizedbyamuseum,whichtheyhold
respousibleforthequalityoftheirexperieuceofart.
Auissueiubothiustallatiousauduetartiswhetherapiecewascre-
atedformultiple participauts ora siugleuser. Multiuser projects work
betteriupublicspace,whereaswatchiugsomeoueelseuavigateawork
maybefrustratiug,likegiviugsomeouecoutroloveraTV'sremotecou-
trol aud watchiug that persou surfchauuels . Some people, howevet,
who would have beeu hes,taut to take overthe iuput device~mouse,
j oystick, keyboard, or somethiug else~to explore a work cau be
eugagedastheywatchotherpeopleaudlearutousetheiuterface.
lu 200I, lcuratedau exhibitioutitledData Dynamics fortheWhit-
ueyMuseumofAmericauArt,whichcousistedofnveproj ectsofuetart
, auduetworkedart,allshowuasiustallatiousorprojectious.TheData
Dynamics projects provided visual models for represeutiug a coutiuu-
ously chaugitrg flow of data. Each ofthe works focused ou differeut
dyuamics ofdataiu mappiug lauguage, stories, memories, ortrafnc iu
physicalaudvirtualspaces.Thedecisioutoshowtheseprojectsasiustal-
latiouswasdriveuuotbyawishtomakeiteasier"forthevisitor, but
bytheexplicitcommeutofalltheworksouuotiousof,physicalspace.
Theartworks iuthisexhibitioutookdiereut approachestoliukiug
physical aud virtual space. DissemiNET , by Sawad rooks aud eth
Stryker,forexample,hadbeeucouceivedasbothaWebsiteaudaphys-
ical iuterface oftelematic iustrumeuts ,two iuteractive tables that are
supposedtocouuectthepublicspaceoftheWebaudthepublicspaceof
themuseum.Theprojectcousistsofa databaseofpeople'sstoriesabout
theirexperieuceswithhomelessuessauddispersalaudusesluteruettech-
uologiestogiveavisualformtothedepositsaudretrievalsthroughwhich
peopleexperieucememory.Whileoueofthetelematictables collected"
audnlteredthestoriesiuthedatabase,theotherallowedpeopletorec-
ollect" audshunleimages audtextfromthedatabase bymoviugtheir
L
haudsoverlightseusors.MostpeoplekuewtheprojectoulyasaWebsite
audhadueverseeuitthewayitwascouceived.AdriauueWortzel'sCam
oufage Town was explicitly foct:sed ou establishiug a couuectiou
betweeu physical aud virtual space iuthe coutext ofidutity. lts maiu
characterwas a robot that lived" iu the museum space aud could be
coutrolledlocallyaudovertheluteruet~acreaturethatwasbothhere"
aud there. "MarkNapier'sPoint to Point alsowas couceivedforthe
museumspace.visitorscreated the artworkwiththeirmovemeututhe
space,whicha video camera read"auddisplayedasliuesoftextspro-
jectedouawallbehiudthem.Thetextaudstatemeutspeopledrewacross
thewallcoutributedtotheprojectWebsite.Theworkwastrauspareutiu
thatpeopleattheWebsitecouldseethemovemeutiuthephysicalspace.
MaciejWisuiewski'snetomaflM audMarekWalczakaudMartiuWat-
teuberg'sApartment werethetwopieces thatorigiuallyexisted asWeb
projects ouly.NetomaflM isameta-browserthat~iurespousetoords
audphrases typed iu by the viewer~retrievestext, images, aud audio
fromtheluteruetaudflowsthemoutothescreeuwithoutregardtothe
origiual display desigu ofthe data , such as a Web page . ecause the
projectpreseuts the luteruet as au iunuite, limitless datascape, itleuds
itselftoalarge-scaleprojectiou.Thesoftwareisveryflexibleaudcaube
adaptedtovariousiuterfaces,aphoueormultipleuserstatious . Watteu-
berg audWalczak'sApartment, iuspired bythecouceptofthememory
palace/theatet,' cousists ofa two-dimeusioualcompoueut,whereview-
ers type iu words aud texts, creatiug a two-dimeusioual floor plau of
rooms,similartoabluepriut.Thearchitectureisbasedouaualyziugthe
semautics ofthe viewers' words aud reorgauiziug them to refect the
themes they express. This structure is theu trauslated iuto uavigable
three-dimeusioualdwelliugscomposedofimagesthatappearas apro-
jectiououthe wall. Theimagesarethe resultsofluteruetsearchesruu
forthewordstyped iubythe viewer. Proj ectiug thethree-dimeusioual
iuterfaceoutothemuseumwallestablishedthecouuectioutothemem-
orypalace,meutallyiuscribiugwordsoutoawallasauorigiualsource
ofiuspiratiou.Theprojectiou/iustallatioualsogavevisitorsauopportu-
uitytoexperieucethetwo- audthree-dimeusioualsimultaueously,which
isuotpossibleattheWebsite ,ng. 3 . I) .
The selectiou ofworks iutroduced various possibilities ofdata flow
models~forexample,mappiugthedataflowoutheluteruet(netomat),
mappiug a database ofstories (DissemiNET), mappiug lauguage aud
thought (Apartment), mappiug movemeuts iu physical/virtual space
(Point to Point audCamoufage Town). To establishcouuectiousbetweeu
60 CHALLENGES FOR A UBI QU ITOUS MUSEUM
FI G URE 3. 1 Instal lation view of the exhibition Data Dynamics (March 22-]une 10,
2001) at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Front: Sawad Brooks
and Beth Stryker, DissemiNET, two telematic tables. Back: Marek Walczak and
Martin Wattenberg, A/Jartment, computer station (two-dimensional) and projec
tion (three-dimensional ) .
virtualaudphysicalspaceiuamoreubiquitous"sceuario,italsoseemed
importautthatvisitorstothe museumspacebeawareofthepreseuceof
virtualusers.Thisawareuesswas alreadyembeddediusomeoftheart-
works. lu the case of Camoufage Town ,ng. 3 . 2), forexample, itwas
obvious tovisitors thatpeoplemight be coutrolliug the robot overthe
luteruet.uttheycoulduotbesurewhetherthemovemeutorspeechof
therobotwascoutrolledbyavirtualvisitororsomeoueiuthemuseum
, iuduciugthatuucertaiutywasoueofthepoiutsoftheproj ect.Visitorsto
theWebsitecouldseepeopleiuthespacethroughtherobot's eyes aud
surveillauce cameras. ,The artists frequeutly used the robot fromtheir
homestolearuwhethertheirpieceswereworkiugproperly. luPoint to
Point, ouliue visitors reveal their preseuce by meaus of the text they
douateatthesite. Couceptually, thepiece blurs the bouudaries betweeu
visitors ouliue aud iu the physical space who all create au artwork
together. oth ofthe pieces had a built-iu awareuess compoueut" of
preseuceiuphysicalaudvirtualspace. lfauartworkhasuotbeeucou-
ceived to establish this couuectiou, addiug this compoueutchauges the
piece.Suchachaugemaybeappropriateoulyiftheartworkcouceptually
beuentsfromit.
FI G URE 3.2 Adrianne Wortzel, Camoufage TOWIl ( 2001) , net
worked robot. Installation view of the exhibition Data
Dynamics (March 22-]une 10, 2001) at the Whitney
Museum of American Art, New York.
M)/, umedia projects are ultimately euabled" by audieuce \
While the artists still maiutaiu au ofteu substautial amotmt
o
coutrol over the vlsualdlspIy, workssuch as at;a]
audAdyDeck`sOp; Studio iuitiacI a blauk screeu aud
require the audieuce toeugagewiththeinto prodce"visiasIu a
gallerouiext,.owever most visitors at.tomaticallynsstimetla the
blauk screeumeausthepiecedoesuotwork.Suchworksmayrequirea
visualattractor" that iuvites viewerstoapproach, though thisdevice
alsodestroysafuudameutalpartoftheprojects'coucept.
Theue-pediaartthatseemstoeugagetheaudieucemosteasilyis
iectivear"Whilemostdigitalartprojectsmay be reactive" , eveu
thosecetiug of uouiuteractive software elemeuts that respoud to
62 CHALLENGES FOR A UBI QUITOUS MUSEUM
FI GURE 3. 3 Camille Utterback, Untitled 5 ( 2004), interactive
installation. Photo courtesy of the artist.
eachother , thistermiscommoulyappliedtoprojectsthatrequireuo
direct iuteractiou but iustead read" the viewers' preseuce or move-
meuts~primarily through video recoguitiou software~aud react to
them. Examples iucludeMarkNapier's Point to Point; CamilleUtter-
back's Untitled 5 ,ng.,. , ,asoftware-driveugeuerativecompositiouof
paiutiugauddrawiugthateuablestheaudieucetoparticipatebyleaviug
auimpressiou"outhecauvas",proj ectiouscreeu , audScottSuibbe's
Sceen Seties ,ngs., . aud3 . 5) , auexploratiouofthescreeuassurface
auditsrelatioushiptotheaudieuce'sshadows,whichareeitherrecorded
audplayedbackortrausformthescreeuitself.Suibbe'spieces,iupartic-
ulat, teud to develop iuto performative eveuts wheu viewers stage
impromptushadowplays,someofthemextremelycreative.
FI GURE 3.4 Scott Snibbe, Compliant ( 2002), Screen Series.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
FI GURE 3.5 Scott Snibbe, Impression ( 2003 ), Screen Series.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
64 CHALLENGES FOR A UBI QUI TOUS MUSEUM
Oueofthegreatestchalleugesofcuratiugaudpreseutiuguewmedia
arttoatraditioualartaudieuceistobalauet!e demaudsoftheartaud
ofvisitors.Nouiuteractiveaudreactivepiecesteudtobemoresuccess-
ful"iueugagiugamuseu::iaudieuce,bxasaccessibdoesuotequal
goodart. Some ofthe bestuewmedia artproj ects arehighlyiuvolved
exploratious of uavigatiou paradigms, uetworked systems, or the
eucodedageuda,commercialorsocialofsoftwareaudthereforedifncult
for au audieuce uufamiliar with the characteristics aud uature ofthe
mediumtouuderstaud.Auycuratorofuewmediaartcauprobablyimag-
iueaselectiouofverygoodworksthatwouldalieuatemauymuseumvis-
itors.Thosevisitorsfamiliarwithamediumauditshistory,frompaiutiug
tophotography geuerally have a richer" experieuce ofart, but mauy
mediarequireuoexpertiseforthosewautiugtoaccess"thework.
Theformofuewmediaartthatismostalieutothemuseumcoutext
/
I
audalso bestexemplinestheideaofthemuseumwithoutwallsismobile
1
orlocative media art~artthat has beeucreated foruetworkeddevices
schascellphouesaudPalmPilots;oriucorporateswearables, "suchas
clothiug or accessories equipped with seusors or microprocessors; or
makesuseoftheGlobalPositiouiugSystem, GPSaudwirelessuetworks
to delivercouteutspecinctoa locatiou.Alltheseforms ofubiquitous
computiug"trausceudthephysicalbouudariesaudwallsofthemuseum.
luthecaseofmobiledevicesthattheaudieucebriugstoamuseum,such
ascellphouesorPalmPilots , theiustitutioubecomesauaccesspoiutor
uodeiutheuetwork~forexample,bysettiugupabeamiugstatiou.To
commuuicatethecouceptoftheseprojects,itcaumakeseusetoestablish
alargeruetworkfortheartwork bycollaboratiugwithotherorgauiza-
tiousthatcouldserveasadditioualuodes.
Mobilemediaworks,whichteudto beperformative, ofteu require
theorgauizatiouofauougoiugeveut.Exhibitiugprojectsthatiucorpo-
rate wearable computiugiua glasscasewith a labeldecoutextualizes
themaudturusthemiutodeadartifacts.ecauseoulyalimiteduumber
ofpeoplecauactuallyusetheprojectsatauytime,theseworksrequire
thepreseuceofthe artist,s or ofa teamthatcau assistthe audieuce.
Oueoptiouforshowiugwearablesistoschedule performauces" dur-
iugwhichtheaudieucecauexperieucetheproject. ltisalsocrucialto
providedocumeutatiouthattrauslatestheprojecttotheaudieucedur-
I
Decisiousaboutpreseutiug auewmediaworkwithiua gallery have
tobemade case bycase.Thereareuomethodsforiustalliugthediffer-
eutuewmediathatautomaticallyeusureasuccessfulpreseutatiou.The
(ugthetimeswheuthepiececauuotbeactivelyused.
modularityofthedigitalmediumdenuitelyoffers auadvautageiu cou-
nguriug a work for physical space. lt also meaus that au iustallatiou
becomesjustouepossibleversiouoIapiece~aversiouthatmightuever
bereiustalledelsewhere. ecauseuewmediaartismoreprocess-orieuted
I
thauobj ect-orieuted,itisimportauttocouveytheuuderlyiugcouceptof
thisprocesstotheaudieuce.
PLATFORMS OF EXCHANGE
luuewmediaexhibitious,variousexchauges occurbetweeutheiustitu-
tiou,curator,artist,s , audaudieuceaudcreateahighlycomplexmatrix
ofrelatiouships.Newmediaartrequiresaclosecollaboratioubetweeu
theartistsaudcuratorsaudacoutiuuousdiscussiouaboutthepreseuta-
tiouofawork.Theroleofauewmediacuratorisiucreasiuglylessthat
ofcaretaker" ofobjects , as the origiual meauiugofthewordcura-
tor"suggestsaudmoretha
tofamediatoraudir
'
terpretero
ev
`
u
ro- l x
ducer. A curatorofteumed:ates betweeuthe art:st aud the ustrtutrou,
whichofteumustcreateformatsaudprocedurestoaccommodateuew
media art; betweeu the artwork aud the geueral audieuce uufamiliar
with uew media art aud iu ueed of guidauce aud explauatiou; aud
betweeutheartworkaudthepress.Withacoutiuuiugshortageofuew
media experts at traditioual uewspapers aud art magaziues, curators
ofteumustfuruishdetailedexplauatiousofthework.
Thedevelopmeutoftheworkauditspreseutatiouiuaphysicalspace
requireclosecollaboratioubetweeucurators audartists , sometimessev-
eralartistsforasiuglework . Thecollaborativemodelisalsocrucialtothe
artistic process itself. esides the ofteu complex collaboratiou of uew
media artists,programmers, researchers, aud scieutists ,whoserole may
rauge fromcousultautto fullcollaborator, someworks begiuwith the
artist's establishiug a framework iu which other artists create origiual
works.Lisa|evbratt'sMapping the Web Info111e audAlexGallowayaud
the Radical SoftwareGroup's Carivore areperfect examples. 'lu each
case, artists setparameters bymeaus ofsoftware or aserveraud iuvite
otherartists tocreate clieuts,"whichiuaudofthemselves agaiucousti-
tuteartworks.Theiuitiatiugartistplaysarolesimilartothatofacurator,
audthecollaboratiouofteuresultsfromexteusivediscussious, sometimes
ou mailiug lists established for the purpose . Showiug these works iu a
museum coutext may lead to yet auother level ofcuratorial iuterveu-
tiou. "Collaboratiouaudexchaugearealsoiuhereutiuthebroaderculture
oftheuetworkeddigitalmediumaudauimportautelemeutiu multiuser
euviroumeuts~forexample,three-dimeusioualworldsthatrelyoutheir
iuhabitautstoexteudtheworldaudcreatedwelliugs~audgamiug.
ENGAGING THE AUDIENCE
Auimportautstepiugettiuguewmedia artout ofitsghettoaudiute-
gratiugitiutotheartworldisto broadeuitsaudieuce.Thatisfeasible
oulyifiustitutiousaudcuratorsfacilitateexchaugeswithaudaboutthe
artwork.
Visitors to au exhibitiou iu a traditioual art iustitutiou cauuot be
described accurately as the audieuce, a label that suggests a uuined,
homogeuized group ofpeople audueglectstheir diverse backgrouuds
audsocialcoutexts.Theouliue, virtual"audieuceforsoftware,luter-
uet, aud game art mostly cousists of self-orgauiziug commtiuities of
iuterestthatareembeddediudiffereutuetworkedcultures, "eachwith
itsowuemphasis~ouart,socialsystems,activism,programmiug,gam-
iug, aud so forth. Most ofthose who atteud uew media festivals are
' ( kuowledgeable about the neld aud uot especially diverse. Que uew
:
eiaartis iutroduced iuto the more traditioual museum or gaBery

space,itisexposedtoamorediverseaudieucethatdoesuotcousistpre-
domiuautlyofexperts audperceivesthisartformlargelyas soneuiug
tadically uew. They play the most importaut role iu iutegraringuew
mediaartiutothemuseumgallery.
The museum/gallery audieuce for uew media art might be divided
roughly iuto the followiugcategories. the experts" who are familiai
withtheartform;thefairlysmallgroupofthosewhoclaima uatural "
aversiou tocomputers aud techuology aud refuse to lookatauythiug
preseutedbymeausofthem;arelativelyyouugaudieucesegmeutthatis
highly familiar with virtual worlds, iuterfaces, aud uavigatiou para-
digmsbutuotuecessarilyaccustomedtoartthatiuvolvestheseaspects;
audthosewhoareopeutoaudiuterestediutheartbutueedassistauce
usiugitauduavigatiugit.
Cettiugitright"forallthesegroupsischalleugiug,ifuotimpossi-
ble.Newmediacuratorsworkiugiuauiustitutioualcoutexteucouuter
recurriug criticisms~voiced by audieuce members, art critics, 01 the
iustitutiou itself~thatusuallycoutaiu atleasta kerueloftruth. These
complaiuts, some of which are discussed here, are a helpful reality
check" for thereceptiouofuew mediaart. Moreover, theyeffectively
highlightsomeoftheart'sdistiuguishiugcharacteristics.
"IT'S ALL ABOUT TECHNOLOGY"
Newmediaart,toagreaterorlesserexteut,isabouttechuology. "No
objector artform ,paiutiug, sculpture, orphotograpl:y) cau be sepa-
ratedfromitsowumateriality, audouecouldarguethateverypaiutiug
alsoisabout"paiutiugaudcommeutsouitsowumedium~although
self-refexivitysubstautiallyvariesfromoueworktoauother.
lumostcases,thiscomplaiutabouttechuologyexpressesfrustratiou
with its gratuitous use~showcasiug techuology for its owu
sake.
Appliedtouewmediaart,thiscritiqueisliukedtoapersou'sfamiliar-
itywith the medium. Cratuitous use oftechuology cau ouly produce
badart.Techuologyisamedium,likepaiutorclay,formostuewmedia
artists.Haviugworkedwithitforadecade,ifuotseveraldecades,they
takeitforgrauted.Thisisuottosaythattheseartistsare uuiuterested \
iu or do uot closely follow the latest" techuologies. ecause the
mediumofteulags behiudthecouceptsthatartiststrytocommuuicate,
theymustofteupushthebouudariesordeveloptechuologiestoexpress
theirideas.
lfamuseumvisitorisuufamiliarwithaspecinctechuologyoriuter-
face, itautomatically becomes the focus ofatteutiou~au effect uuiu-
teudedbytheartist.Fortheexpertaudieuce,iucoutrast,thetechuology
istrauspareutaudthusmovestothebackgrouudaudbecomesmostlya
vehicleforcouteut.Uufortuuately,suchvariatiousoffocusaudpercep-
tiou cauuot easily be addressed. Art audieuces aud museum visitors
have looked atpaiutiugs forceuturies, aud for mauy the medium of
paiutisueitherasurpriseuorauobstacle.uttheculturalheritagethat
hastraiued" usiuapproachiugcertaiuartforms,suchaspaiutiug,has
uot uecessarilyprovided us with a vocabulary to uuderstaud others,
suchasuewmedia.
Auadditioualfactorthatueedsto be cousideredhereisthatevery
emergiug medium explores its owu characteristics as a uecessary aud
importaut step iu shapiug artistic practice. Mauy ofNam|uue Paik's
works~suchasMagnet TV audTV Croun~iuvestigatedthemateri-
ality" oftelevisiouaudvideo.
Moreover, uewmediaartofteu criticallyiuvestigatesits uuderlyiug
techuologiesaudtheireucodedcultural audcommercial ageuda, auto-
matically, asaresultshiftiugfocustothemediumitself.Notuutiluew
media artmakes regular appearaucesiutheartworldwillitstechuolo-
giesbetakeuforgrautedratherthauuuderstoodasanxatiou.
.
.
\
68 CHALLENG ES FOR A UBI QU ITOUS MUSEUM
"IT DOESN' T WORK"
Describiug the reactiou to E.A.T. 's famous performauce exhibitiou9
Evenings: Theatre and Engineering iu 1966, illy Kliiver remarked,
Criticsaudpublichadanelddayattheeugiueers'expeuse. . . . Auy-
thiugthatwasassumedtohavegouewroug, whetheritactuallydidor
uotwasattributedtotechuicalmalfuuctious. ""Hiscommeutcaptures
ouepopularstrategyofcritics.ifyoucauuotdeuouucetheartforlack
ofuuderstaudiugorargumeutsattackthetechuology.
ut iu fact complaiuts aboutuouworkiug techuological art are all
tooofteuj ustined.Uulessaveuuespecializiugiuthisartformorgauizes
theexhibitiou,uewmediaartisofteushowuwithoutsufncieutorprop-
erly maiutaiued techuical support. Cousequeutly, the art is uudercut
audaudieucesarefrustrated.ltcaubedifncultforauaudieucetodistiu-
guishwhathasfailed,theartorthetechuology.
lustitutiousmusteusure that uewmediaworksareadequatelysup-
ported, butiuuewmediaart,techuicalmalfuuctiousmaysimplybea
factoflifethathas tobe accepted. Oulycousiderhowofteuofnceaud
homecomputerscrash,auditisclearthattechuologyisuotiufallible.
Whiletheiudustrystrivestomakeitsproductsmorestable,digitaltech-
uologiesare developiugataspeedthatvirtuallyguarauteescoutiuuiug
bugs aud glitches. Rather thau blame the art, oue probablyueeds to
uuderstaudtechuologicalshortcomiugsasiutegraltoitscouteut.
"IT BELONGS IN A SCIENCE MUSEUM"
Asestablishedbouudariesaudcategoriesbetweeuauartauda scieuce
museumerode,thepoteutialforuewmediaarttonudaplaceaudrele-
vauceiubothiustitutiousmightcometoseemasastreugthratherthau
ashortcomiug. luthedigitalera, thetechuologiesofrepreseutatiouiu
artaudscieucecouvergecoustautly.Eveuiftheydifferiufocus,bothart
audscieuceuowhavetoaddressissuesofcommuuicatiou,represeuta-
tiou, audsimulatiouiu, three-dimeusioualuetworkedspaces;iuforma-
tiou aud data mauagemeut; issues of iuterfaciug as well as ethical
implicatious of their exploratiou ,particularly iu biotechuology aud
geueticeugiueeriug . Scieucemoreaudmorereliesousimulatiouiuits
useofthree-dimeusioualworlds, virtualreality, audimmersiveeuvirou-
meuts. Art is exploriug the same euviroumeutsofteu usiug scieutinc
dataiuauattempttocoustructrealitiesaudwaysofcommuuicatiug.
Au iuformatiou-based, uetworked society emphasizes relatiouships
betweeubodiesofkuowledgeauduecessitatesacollaboratiouofhumau
miuds aud uetworks to establish these relatiouships. luformatiou uet-
worksrequirauiuterdiscipliuaryapproach, aud artist arecoustautly
playiugwith,appropriatiug,audexploriugscieutincnudiugsauddata.
Althoughcollaboratious betweeuartistsaudscieutistsplay a major
roleiuuewmediaartauddiscourse,theseexploratiousareuot ueces-
sarilymetwitheuthusiasmbyeitherthescieutinccommuuityortheart
world, which seldom ackuowledges them ,the 1986 Veuice ieuuale
wasdevotedtotherelatioushipbetweeuartaudscieuce . Artaudsci-
eucecaubeuenttremeudouslyfromeachother'sapproaches,however.
As art, scieuce has createditsowulauguage aud metaphors aud could
prontfromartisticprojectsthatexploretheseaspectsofrepreseutatiou.
luitsmauycrossoversiutootherdiscipliuesamougthemvarioussci-
eucesuewmedia art could support a moreholistic approachto cul-
ture aud help us bridge the gap betweeu the two cultures" of the
scieucesaudthehumauitiesthatC.P. Suowfamouslyoutliuediu1959.
9
Artaud scieuce have always beeucloselyliuked, audtheirrelatiou-
ship has iuvariably beeu a complex aud ofteu uueasy oue that has
shiftedauddeveloped,sothatartaudscieucehavebecomeattachedat
certaiupoiutsaudhavegrowuapartatothers.othRaphael,iuhisuse
ofperspective,audLeouardodaViuciaresaidtohavemarriedartaud
scieuce.The2003 showiugofLeouardo'sLeicester Codex iuNewYork
bothattheMuseumofNaturalHistoryaud,later, attheMetropolitau
MuseumofArtacross CeutralPark,seemstotestifytothatmarriage.
Leouardoseemstohavefacedsomeofthecriticismsvoicedtodayabout
uewmediaart.OueofhisdrawiugsexhibitedattheMetiucludedthe
haudwritteu uote of a critic" who suggested that Leouardo was
ueglectiugartbecauseofhispreoccupatiouwithtechuology.Thedigital
agehasthepoteutialtobridgegapsbetweeuartaudscieuceaud,atleast
theoretically,briugthemcloser.
Developmeuts iu art aud scieuce have always affected our uuder-
staudiugofreality. We attempttolocateaudquautifyourawareuessof
both iuterual processes aud exterual objects, states, or facts through
systemsaudrepreseutatious.Artisticaudscieutinctechuologiesofrep-
reseutatiou bothreflectaudstructure ourawareuessoftheculturewe
are embedded iu. Observiug aud represeutiug used to be primarily
obj ect-orieutedwhatisrepreseutedisseeu.Developmeutsiutheoteti-
calscieuce, fromquautumphysicstochaostheory audfuzzylogic , as
well as iudigital art , iuteractive, uetworked projects, virtual reality,
etc. suggestashiftfromthe objectasaformof truth tocouditiousof
possibility. Thesedevelopmeuts wereto some eteut mirrored iu the
criticaltheoryofpoststructuralismaudpostmoderuism.
The spaces betweeutheactual audthevirtualworlds audrealities,
thegapsandoverlapsbetweeuthesediffereutspacesaudstates,iuclud-
iug subjectivity aud objectivity, coustitute au uuderlyiug couceru of
bothartaudscieuce.Virtualreality" ,iuthebroadestseuseisuotsim-
ply a useful method ofsimulatiou; it is a platform foreploriugour
beiug"iudiffereutworlds,virtualaudactual.
Theuetworkiugofscieuce,techuology,audaestheticsofteueudsupiu
a simple visualizatiou ofabstract data represeuted iu a diagrammatic
structure. What is lackiug are iusights about the couuectiou betweeu
realityaudtheautouomyofimages,siucethree-dimeusioualvisualsteud
tobeideutinedwitharepreseutatiouofreal"objects.Mauyuewmedia
artproj ectshaveiuvestigatedthequestiouhowscieutinckuowledgemay
betrauslatediutoaesthetics,audwhethertherearepossibilitiesforuew
visualswithoutsimplevisualizatiou. The achievemeutoftheseprojects
cousistsiucreatiugadialogueoutheiuteractioubetweeutheactual,the
virtual, aud the hypothetical~which poteutiallyis ofgreat beuentto
boththeartsaudscieuces.Denuiugprecisecoutetsiuwhichuewmedia
artshouldorshoulduoteistruuscouutertoboththeiutriusicqualities
oftheartitselfaudthestageourculturenudsitselfiutoday.
"I WORK ON A COMPUTER ALL DAY-
I DON'T WANT TO SEE ART ON IT IN MY FREE TIME"
Computerart"isembeddediuourdailylivesmorethaumostotherart
forms~more thau video aud photography. This is simultaueously a
great asset ud a great obstacle. Ou the oue haud, the liuk betweeu
computers aud theecouomic,social, aud culturalfabricofour media-
saturatedlivesgivesuewmediaartrelevauceaudurgeucy;outheother
haud, uewmedia's poteutialaudieucemayuotwauttoreflectcritically
ouoreugagecreativelywiththemediumthatalsoisamajortooliuthe
workeuviroumeut.
Ouewouldepectthatvideo~iuitsclosecouuectioutotelevisiou,a
deliverymechauismforauythiugraugiugfromthedailyuewstopure"
eutertaiumeut aud au epitome ofcousumer culture~should provoke
someofthesamereactious. ltmayoweitsacceptauceasamediumfor
arttoitsstrougcouuectioutohomeeutertaiumeut,ratherthautowork
aud the preseutatiou strategies employedforshowiugit iu a gallery.
Videoartisuowpreseutedlessfrequeutlyoumouitorsaud moreofteu
showu as projectious or eveu elaborate iustallatious, automatically
Iiftiugthecoutet.Ehibitiuguewmedia a:tiu au4roit that
estsunofce,computersaudmouitorsoudesksmaysometimesbe
thebestoptioubutiuevitablycreatescertaiureceptiouproblems.
"I WANT TO LOOK AT ART, NOT INTERACT WITH IT"
Artaudieucesarouudtheworldhavelougplayedtherole ofartcou-
sumers"~aroleaccommodatedbyauecessivelycousumer-orieutedcul-
ture. Crauted, art movemeuts such as the Situatiouists, Fluus, or
couceptual art alsoreliedou audieuce participatiou buttheyremaiued
eceptiousto therule. Mostvisitorsto amuseumorgallerygowiththe
epectatiouofseeiuga selectiou"ofhigh-qualityartforcouteuplatiou.
Atthesametime,wealwaysiuteractwithart~eugagiugwithitoreveu
completiug" it. This iuteractiou, howevet, remaius a highly persoual
affait, audtraditioualartobjectsrequireuoactive,physicaleugagemeut
torevealthemselves.Artthatbreakswiththecouveutiousofcoutempla-
tiouaudpurelyprivateeugagemeutshockstheaveragemuseumgoet, dis-
ruptiug themiud-setthat art iustitutious so carefully cultivated. Most
iudividualseperieucetheirmostdirectiuvolvemeutwithartauditstools
iuschool;iumuseums,participatoryart-relatedactivities"arecounued
mostlytoworkshopsaudtoursforchildreuaudfamilies.lugeueral,cre-
ativity"iuartisuurturedprimarilyiuchildreuaudyouugadults.
ldeally, uew media artworks themselvesshould iuspireiuteractiou,
butgiveu the coutetoftraditioual museum culture, iustitutious may
ueed to takethe iuitiativeto overcomethereluctauceofthe public to
eugagewiththeart.Echauge~eucouragedaudmadeappealiugthrough
doceuts,iustructious,audauiuvitiugsetupofartwork~hastobecome
partofthecuratorialcoucept.
luteractiou aloue does uot take art to a higher level or coustitute
quality iu aud ofitself. lt is simply a reality ofcoutemporary artistic
practice. Asthe artistDavid Rokeby putsit, luteractiouis baual.We
talktoeachotherouthestreet.We breatheiuair,modifyitchemically,
theu breatheitbackouttobe breathed iubyothers.We drivecars.We
makelove.We walkthroughaforestaudscareasquirrel.lamlookiug
forwardtoatimewhereiuteractiouiuartbecomesasbaualauduure-
markable. . . merelyauothertooliutheartisticpalette,tobeusedwheu
appropriate. "
1 0
f)f ''. ( `\-\1 D I
72 CHALLENGES FOR A UBI QUI TOUS MUSEUM
"WHERE ARE THE SPECIAL EFFECTS?"
Thefrustratiouwiththeperceivedgratuitoususeoftechuologyiuuew
mediaartiscouuterbalauced bythecommoucriticismthatuewmedia
artdoesuotliveuptothevisual staudardssetbydigitaleutertaiumeut.
Thedigitaleutertaiumeutiudustry,whichhasbecomeimportauttocul-
tural life, has also led to a profouud misuuderstaudiug ofwhat uew
mediaartmightorshouldbe.AccordiugtoNormauKleiu,iuhisessay
lusidethe Stomachofthe Dragou. TheVictoryoftheEutertaiumeut
Ecouomy, " Termslikecousumerismaudmasscultureseemuaiveuow.
Weallesseutiallyliveiusidethestomachofthe'eutertaiumeut'dragou.
As a result, it would be uear impossible to geuerate au avaut-garde
strategy iu a world that feels iucreasiugly like au outdoor shoppiug
mall,whatlcallascriptedspace. "' ' Kleiureferstooureraasthatofthe
Electrouicaroque,"atermAugelaNdaliauisalso usesiuthetitleof
her book Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Entertainment,
iu which the ueo-baroqueisa modelfor uuderstaudiugtoday's nlms,
computergames,audthemeparkattractious. '
y
Theueo-baroquedigital eutertaiumeutiudustry, withitseverbigget,
better,audmoresophisticatedspecialeffects,hashelpedtocreateasoci-
etyofthedigitalspectaclethatueedstosatisfyitscousumers'uueudiug
demaudfortheuextlevelofattractious.Newmediaart,withitsliukto
digitaltechuologies,isofteusubjectedtosimilardemauds.lfitdoesuot
dazzle withthe latesteffects,itiscousidered lame. "Artresidesiuthe
realmofsculptureaudpaiutiug;uewmediaueedtoeutertaiu.
Eveuasophisticatedartaudieucesometimesswitchestouewcriteriaiu
evaluatiuguewmediaart,measuriugthedesiguofauartproject'svirtual
world bythestaudardsofcommercialgameswithmilliou-dollarbudgets
audadesiguteamofdozeusofpeople.Theartprojectmaybeacomplex
audadvaucediuvestigatiouoftheuavigatiouparadigmsofitscommercial
couuterpart, buttheart audieuce's desireforvisual effects issometimes
strougerthauitsiuterestiuacriticalexploratiouofhumau-computeriuter-
s
actiouorparadigmsofageucyaudcoutrol.Newmediaart'sproximityto
theeutertaiumeutiudustrycaualsoprovehighlyproblematiciuitsiutegra-
tiouiutotheartworld.Ouemightarguethatthisisultimatelyauouissue,
siuceartiustitutious~withstoresselliugcoffeemugs,posters,audT-shirts
embellishedbyart~alreadyreside iuthestomachothedragou. "
The criticisms l have discussed here offer a glimpse ofthe relatively
uusafe"placeuewmediaoccupyiurelatioutotheartworldatlarge.
lt is esseutial that both curators aud iustitutious be aware of uew
media'sprecariouspositiouaud opeuupspaceswherethispositioucau
be discussed. This meaus a diversined approach to platforms of
exchaugeaudiuterface"withtheaudieuce.Theseatteiuptsatiuterfac-
iugmustuot,however, becomeoverlydidactic,makiugartoulyavehi-
cleforeducatiugthepublic.
Thedigitalmedium,withitsfexibilityaudameuabilitytocustomiza-
tiou,allowsamoreactiveiuvolvemeutbytheaudieuceiuthecuratorial
process. Ouecaunud quiteafewexamplesiuthe ouliueartworld of
esseutially self-orgauiziug" portals aud repositories that allow the
publictoparticipateiuacuratorialprocessofselectiug,evaluatiug,aud
featuriugartworks.Artiustitutious,however,ueglecttheaudieuce,fail-
iugtoiuvolveitiuthecuratorialprocess.Theideaofpubliccuratiug"
curreutlyisiutheexperimeutalstage,butthereseemsto be agrowiug
effort to develop models for such collaboratiou~both throuh Web
sitesaudiuthegalleryspace.
lu 2001, the Massachusetts Museum of Coutemporary Art ,MASS

MoCAiuvitedgalleryvisitorsto useacuratorialsoftwareprogramto
project theirselectious from more thau oue huudred digital images of
tweutieth-ceutury works ofartfrom the museum's collectiou outo the
walls ofthegallery. ''The project, called Your Show Here, wascreated
byTaraMcDowellaudLethaWilsou ,projectcoordiuators , ChrisPeu-
uoclc, softwaredesigu,NiuaDiuoff,graphicdesigu , audScottPatersou
,iuformatiouarchitecture . Visitors couldbrowsethroughthe database
ofimages,nlteriugworksaccordiugtoartistuame,medium,date, aud
keyword; chooseuptonve;writeastatemeutabouttheirchoices; aud
title the show. y just clickiug a buttou, visitors could project digital
images atthescaleoftheorigiuals. The virtualexhibitiouremaiuediu
thegalleryoulyuutiltheuextparticipautiustalled"uewchoices,buta
priutoutofeachpersou'scuratorialdecisiouscouldbepostedouthebul-
letiuboarduearthegalleryeutrauce.
The project used iustaut recycliug, reproductiou, aud archiviug, all
facilitated by the digital medium, to propose au alteruative model for
preseutiug aud viewiug art that moves away from more traditioual
approaches.The artcautakeouuewmeauiugs iumultiplerecoungura-
tious. While this model of public curatiug" still begius with a specinc
archiveofimages,itblursthebouudariesbetweeuthepublicaudthecura-
tor, allowiug au exhibitiou model that might more directly reflect the
demauds, tastes, aud approaches of au audieuce. Some will resist the
recounguratiouofroles-~urator,artist,audieuce,audmuseum~brought
about by uew media. Aud although the uew model may ueed time to
developfully,itsuggeststhepoteutialofdigitaltechuologiesthemselvesas
auopeu-sourcemodelforcreatiugaudpreseutiugart.
`
Oueofthechalleugesthatdigitaliuterfaciugposesformuseumsisto
baInthens oI bothtraditioual artobj ects aud prcesgieuted
media)art,Therehavealwaysbeeuaudalwayswillbeartobjects.
Todaythesearesupported byacultural system" ofpreseutatiouaud
preservatiouthatiucludesmuseums,galleries,collectors,audcouserva-
tors.Newmediaartdoesuotthreateutheseobjects.ltuowhasaplace
iumultiplecoutextsaudwillcoutiuuetohaveoueeveuifitshould be
fullyiutegratediutotheartworld.Theiutriusicfeaturesofuewmedia
artultimatelyprotectitfrombeiugco-optedbytheartestablishmeut.
Nevertheless, its iutegratiou is iu museums' owu best iuterest. uew
mediaartcoustitutesa coutemporaryartisticpracticethatiustitutious
cauuotaffordtoiguore.ltcaualsoexpaudtheuotiouofwhatartisaud
cau be.Pickiugupwhereprevious artforms~fromkiuetictocoucep-
tualart~leftoff,uewmediaarthasthepoteutialtobroadeuaudques-
.tiououruuderstaudiugofthehistoryofart.
NOTES
1. See Sabine Himmelsbach, "Vom 'White Cube' zur 'Black Box' und weiter.
Strategien und Entwicklungen in der Prasentation von Medienkunst im muse
alen Rahmen, " in Digitale Transformationen, ed. Monika Fleischmann and
Ulrike Reinhard (Heidelberg: WHOIS Verlagsgesellschaft, 2004), 171-73.
2. Data Dynamics, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2001; http://artport
.whitney.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions.shtml.
3. The memory palace is an old mnemonic device and strategy that is based
on the connection between physical and mental space. In the second century
BCE, the Roman orator Cicero imagined inscribing the themes of a speech on a
suite of rooms in a villa, and then delivering that speech by mentally walking
from space to space. Also see "The Art of Memory, " http://cotati.sjsu.edu/
spoetry/folder6/ng62I.html.
4- Mark Napier, P-Soup, http://www.potatoland.org/p-soup; Andy Deck,
Open Studio, http://draw.artcontext.net.
5. See also Camille Utterback, Untitled 5, http://www.camilleutterback
.com/untitled 5 .html.
6. See also Scott Snibbe, Screen Series, http://www.snibbe.com/scott/screen/
index.html.
7. Lisa Jevbratt, Map/Jing the Web Infome, http://www.newlangtonarts.org/
network/infome; Alex Galloway and RSG, Ca1'11ivore, http://www.rhizome.org/
carnivore.
8. Billy Kliiver, in The New Media Reade}; ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and
Nick Montfort (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003), 212.
CH RI STI ANE PAUL 75
9. C. P.Snow, The Two Cultures (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1998 [1959])
10. David Rokeby, lecture at "Info Art, " Kwanju Biennale, Korea, 1996,
http://www.interlog.com/-rokeby/install.html.
I I. Norman Klein, "Inside the Stomach of the Dragon: The Victory of the
Entertainment Economy, " http://www.eyebeam.orglreblog/jourallarchives/
2005/0I/inside_the_stomach_oLthe_dragon.html (accessed August 8, 2007).
12. Angela Ndalianis, Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Enter
ta"inment (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004)
13. http://www.massmoca.org.

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