1. I’ve noticed a recent increase in the use image and video manipulation over text and vector graphics within net art. Although some have used image as a main tool for some time (brad brace comes to mind) a form of realism seems to be on the rise. Reasons? Perhaps digital cameras becoming common, more access to broadband, better software,or the change in political climate.

2. Along or against this trend, new works are being made using what Cory Archangel may have coined “Dirt Style Design” or Low-Fi net art. These works look back to the “Heroic Period” of Net.art as well as the pop home pages of the net. Think Hampster Dance (circa 1997) meets one38.org. Reasons? Who knows? Maybe it’s the same reasons as in thought 1.

3. When looking at net art as well as art in general of late, I’ve been trying to use the American movie rating system. Not as a quality judgement but as another way to look at content. “G” and “PG” seem to be the ratings of the time. I am looking for an interesting PG-13 or up. Other people have pointed out to me that using movie ratings to look at visual art is like comparing apples to oranges but it has been a good exercise for me.

The reason for the post is that for the last year or so I have felt net art has been in a holding pattern. Great art works are being made and attention is finally being given, but I miss the time of experimentation. Thoughts 1,2 and 3 have let me know that net art might change again as all art will do. permanent link to this post

Your Time Is Valuable (shockwave needed)

cool thing: it’s portable too! Just as effective online as it is in the gallery and vice versa.

yee ha! and hooo-ray! permanent link to this post

While at my girlfriend’s parents home the other evening I ran across an article called Digital Typography from a Scientific American ca. 1983. It is a fascinating read, I feel like an archeologist who has found a tome that which explains the basis of his belief system (ok, maybe that’s taking it a bit far).

Over the next few days I’ll post some of the more juicier passages from it along with scans from diagrams. One of the fun things about the article is it’s antique tone: ..once letterforms are represented as discrete elements they can be efficiently encoded as discrete and distinguishable phyical properties in any convenient medium, processed as bits of information by a computer, transmitted over great distances as pulses of current and decoded to reconstitute the letterforms… ah, email anybody? permanent link to this post