Early Internet Art

The manifesto by Bookchin & Shulgin comes across as a mockery of the traditional art system. There is a humorous element that came into their description, guidelines and instructions for defining Internet art. Perhaps, this colored my playful perception of the examples Internet art that followed my reading of the manifesto. These ideas also reminded me of some of the contemporary art theories that have come to envelop what is know as socially engaged, community or site based works of art. Other parts of the manifesto were simply rules that any individual of any course of work could follow. It is rather accessible to a technologically based society member to comprehend. But also contained lines that could not be understood by a person who did not have experience with a computer. This makes it an exclusive type of art. The way that the manifesto called to do away with the institution foresees free internet enterprises such as google, facebook, myspace.

In Beyond Interface, the artist Udi Aloni states that his piece Re-U-Man "is a structure that helps me send my fragmented 'I' to you (plural) and re-collect your commentary, for me to speak again in a way that might surprise me." This was of particular interest to me as it spoke to the constructed identity that a member of Facebook creates for their Internet community. The Facebook Internet community also contributes to the construction of each participants identity, as they leave comments, photos, etc to connect to each member of the website. This relates to the following line in the manifesto: "Expansion into real life networked infrastructures."

Also, within the Beyond Interface site, I found the work, GrammaTron by Mark Amerika. This piece is a great example of the manifesto's ideas about embracing the crossing of disciplines through its use of sound, internet images and poetry. The length of the piece seems requires the viewer's attention to span through time. It gives the viewer an opportunity to focus attention on a cohesive piece that makes sense, rather than a chaotic over stimulation of elements that viewing some of the Internet art provided. The progression of chapters from the initial website into the second site provided a nice layered effect. A universal perspective on the connection of the Internet was portrayed through the poetic text that guided the piece. The images and text also revealed a sexual content that speaks to the voyeuristic and exhibitionist tendencies of the Internet. Finally, Amerika's style recalled the sound and performance work of Laurie Anderson, specifically the piece
O Superman.