Challenges facing artists and institutions when showcasing and collecting internet art: a comparative study
Date
2011-11-02
Authors
Vezi, Mazwi
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Abstract
Internet Art is an art form that uses the Internet as its primary medium from its
production to presentation. Internet Art characteristics and attributes bring about
presentation, preservation and colleting challenges to the curatorial practice; especially if
presented in a museum or gallery structure. Strategies used by early Internet Artists were
influenced by the characteristics of this medium; these are variability and technological
obsolescence. Internet Art is inherently process based, ubiquitous, ephemeral and
dynamic in nature. This challenges the traditional role of the curator in a gallery and
museum structure. The curator is increasingly expected to create platforms of exchange
of ideas between the viewer of the artwork and the project itself. Additional the curator
also has to provide some insight in the decision making process regarding maintenance,
support, contracts and documentation.
Internet Art questions the principles in which galleries and museum structures are based;
these include objectification, not touching objects and authorship of Internet Art projects.
These projects are collaborative in nature and created by more than one artist, normally
geographically dispersed. Internet Art demand for new modes of presentation,
documentation and preservation that are more suited for online art. These new modes of
presentation fundamentally change the role of the curator. If galleries and museums want
to start or continue growing their Internet Art collections, they need to start understanding
challenges facing the Internet as a medium, develop appropriate presentation and
preservation strategies that seek to address identified challenges.