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Interview for IDAF 2000

Transcript of the interview of David Farmer for the 2nd International Digital Art Festival, December 2000.

Event : The 2nd International Digital Art Festival

Event Dates : December 1, 2000 ~ December 30, 2000

Event Place : www.idaf.org

Subject : What is NET ART?

Interviewer : sang-yoon Lee / blindsound director

Interviewees :

Joachim Blank / Germany / What is netart ;-)?

Natalie Bookchin / USA / Digtal Revolution?

Alexei Shoulgin / Russia / Art, Power, and Communication

Natalie Bookchin & Alexei Shoulgin / Introduction to net.art (1994-1999)

Grahame Weinbren / Germany / The Digital Revolution is a Revolution of Random Access

Robert Adrian / net.art on nettime

David Farmer / Interactive creative writing

Josephine Bosma / Netherlands / Is it a commercial? Is it spam? It is net.art!

Eduardo Kac / USA / Interactive ART on the internet

Dieter Daniels / Germany / Utopia - what for?

Lev Manovich / USA / On Totalitarian Interactivity

Geert Lovink / Holland / From Speculative Media Theory To Net Criticism

Randall Packer / USA / Eulogy for the Utopian Dream of the Net

Vuk Cosic / Slovenia / Art was only a substitute for the Internet

Steve.dietz / USA / Curating (on) the Web Museums in an Interface Culture

Critical Arts Ensemble / USA / "Utopian Promises, Net Realities"

Questions 1. WHAT IS NETART? There is a clear distinction between Media Art and NetArt, which is found upon the use of the network and electronic communication. What is your definition of NetArt?

Interesting question which I hadn't focused on before. I guess I would see the distinction being two-fold.

First is the obvious bandwidth/lowest common denominator issue with any general publishing on the internet - that restricts a "broad audience" work requiring technology beyond the current general availability. Here the propogation of browser versions and add-ins like Flash and Shockwave are important.

The second distinction is the flip-side, less discussed and more interesting - that on the net the work is available to all, simultaneously. It is both an invitation to interaction on a scale never before possible and a challenge to make the work accessible to the world's diverse population.

2. NETART vs. ART ON NET. There are two kinds of works of Art exist on the web, NetArt and Art on Net. Please explain the differences between those two and further your answer by telling us your opinions on their future.

Oops. I have sort of answered that above. I think I will leave the definition of art to others, especially to those that do it rather than just talk about it.

NetArt will predominate. Interaction and universal access will become critical components of communication.

3. Art and Entertainment. The information distribution system has been and still is experiencing tremendous changes due to the growth of Internet use. More fields of studies and genres are being introduced on the net everyday and, especially, entertainment devices, such as network games, MP3s, net movies and etc, are easily accessible to many users. Please tell us what you think are some differences between the art before Internet and the art afterwards which is influenced by this new medium and its entertaining devices.

I think a major distinction is worth making between the mass commercial developments and the non-commercial or individual art forms that appear. While I like many of the commercial developments, these are clearly the result of a merged voice, and generally from a distinctly western big business culture. It seems to me that one of the liberations of the internet is that it also allows an easier media for individual, idiosyncratic voices to use to be heard. While we have had poets and public speakers in the past, the web allows such a greater access range. And it should allow the precise and narrow searching that is necessary to find the gems amongst the burgeoning web. Importantly it also empowers the introverts and reflectors who might never have stood up in a crowd, but can work away at a computer. Of course we still have a long way to go to enfranchise the majority of the world's population.

4. Avant-garde or Utopia or SF ? Since the early 1900s, many ideas and theories, which have provided new and innovative solutions to represent art, have been practiced to shape the characteristics of what we call the "Modern Art" today. From the invention of Camera to the Video Art by Paik Nam Joon and from Mail Art to Internet Art, the Media Art is continuously developing its paradigm. What role does NetArt play in contributing to this developing paradigm? And what are some objectives that NetArt aims to achieve?

I don't think I would like to personify NetArt as having its own aims. Sounds too controlled to me, I must be more anarchic. But I think one of its key distinguishing dimensions is the potential for interacting with a whole world diverse audience. This is what makes internet discussion lists so new as well. The openess and extent of the potential communication refreshes it. There is less risk of preaching to the converted, or of being incestuous with one's audience.

5. NETWORK COMMUNICATION vs. NATURAL COMMUNICATION In modern society, people exchange their ideas through electronic communication devices, such as telephone, computer and etc. However, before the invention of those devices, the only way to communicate with each other was through conversation, body language and etc. Please tell us the differences between modern network communication and natural communication.

Help, what a question. No communication system is perfect. People adapt to what they have. There is more weight certainly put on words and marks on the screen, when body language is not available. But I have little doubt that electronic language will evolve well beyond emoticons and colour schemes to effectively convey meaning.

There is a much larger question here I think, and I am not claiming expertise in it. But if language develops to allow cleaner and clearer communication of meaning between people, will this also affect the way that people think within as well. Will we lose diversity not only of culture and social practices, but also of internal thought and reflection? I think it might. Individuality might suffer. I don't think I want to be in the vanguard. Artists will be even more important.

6. Network Neo Imperialism or central power system. Network is centrally controlled and organized. In other words, if the central power system is down or not working for any reasons, all the connected systems would not work and many of the big central systems are owned and run by politically powerful nations, such as the US. Please talk about the political implications on network controlling ownership and its influences in the world.

I think I might pass on this one.

I am not greatly interested in conspiracy theories when I don't think there is sufficient conscious understanding by the "conspirators" to support wilful intent. The drivers of change are interesting in themselves without needing to put people's faces or Freudian desires in the firing line.

7. Most of the countries in the world, especially those in Asia and in Africa, do not use English as their first language. However, the Internet network system is all written and translated in English and it's becoming "the" language of all. Please tell us how you think about this issue.

I like it, but then I was born and bred in Australia. Seriously I think the battles of preserving cultural and intellectual diversity should not be fought in terms of national languages. More provocatively perhaps I don't even think they should be fought too strongly in geographic terms. I think the diversity of a century or two ahead will be far less geographically based than now.

8. Internet and Life There are many positive changes caused by the development of the web. However, some people predict and worry about the negative aspects. In fact, one of the popular commercial copy captions in Korea says that, in the future, schools will disappear because of the popularization of the use of the Internet. What do you think about the influences of Internet in everyday life?

I am positive on the whole. I am very interested in education, and see significant potential for the internet to be used to differentiate the education of children according to their particular needs, without the current economic constraint of needing to treat children in age-based groups, often of thirty or more, as if they were relatively homongenous. The internet supports a more differentiated and self-directed education, whether this be of school-age children or adults in later life.

9. Please list the names of the artists or the titles of ongoing projects and exhibitions you wish to recommend.

I don't think I am up-to-date enough to want to answer this one.

10. Please feel free to write any comments or ideas.

The only thing I would comment here about is access to creative works on the internet. I am not talking about technical issues of bandwidth or software compatibility, important though they are. What concerns me is the lack of discussion about how the individual, idiosyncratic creative works are going to be found. How will I find the work of someone who I have never heard of, doing something relatively undefined? This could be someone next door or on the other side of the planet.

Search engines work fairly well with well-defined keywords, though commercialisation pressures ("pay for higher rankings") threaten their impartiality. But new creative works are by definition not well-defined. They are also not generally fronted by an economic or government entity that might serve as a suitable gateway for those interested in finding new works. I hope that organisations such as IDAF will connect with other similar organisations to provide this kind of gateway - a loosely categorised(!) and annotated(!) directory where new artists can list their material. This needs a low level of oversight to maintain a good signal to noise ratio, but otherwise could be a largely self-service submission arrangement.

Thank you. Best wishes for the event.

David

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David Farmer
http://www.austega.com/interactive/
Austega Pty Ltd
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Last updated:16/5/07

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