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Again, a complex year for net art, looking at the divergent and still
diverging fields of creative production within global networks. This
year's criteria of "Embodied Praxis" was complicated by the arrival
of the much-hyped Second Life on the main-stream media stage. But
material and very human networking trumped the attenuated virtuality
of SL. Making a functional parody of globalized capitalism, Feral
Trade seeks to stimulate a direct distribution network that follows
the connections of existing social networks. It takes advantage of
the un-mediated plurality of human networks and personal connections
and constructs a direct affront to the anonymous standardization of
global trade. It open a small crack in the facade of globalization
where autonomous collective be-ing can be activated. As a classic
example of a TAZ (Temporary Autonomous Zone), I hope it takes hold to
become a permanent presence that de-powers the dominant and
monolithic capitalist structure. At the very least, it points out
the deep lack in that structure, and this is a critical starting
point for evolutionary changes in human relation.
Honorable Mention:
The Call:
This work emerges out of the long-term network practice of artist
Isabelle Jenniches who has worked in a wide variety of creative
net-based activities. The particular piece, "The Call" is one of
several process-oriented works that she has initiated that depends on
the network availability of generic user-controlled web-cams. The
works are constructed over a long period of time -- time spent
watching the selected scenario, remotely -- life-time spent observing
the world. Thousands of images are made during a methodological
process of deep-looking through this mediated network eye. The
extended seeing and repetitive digital operations on the thousands of
gathered images acts to frame a meditative daily routine. The
cumulative practice approaches the classical Zen expression -- "there
is no web-cam, there is no PhotoShop, there is only the Void" -- and
it arises through the post-Cartesian possibilities of a commonly
accessible network interface. Recalling David Hockney's early
Polaroid work, "The Call" is an intimate and intense personal vision
of a scope rarely manifest in the click-through eye-candy world of
the net.
John Hopkins |
