I came across a print out of this article by colleague Randall Packer in the ephemerex. I suppose I printed it out to read it. Remember when....
I thought this was a succinct paragraph to an event I have never been able to thoughtfully articulate.
But with the new millennium the tides would turn: Natalie Bookchin announced the death of Net.Art, the tech boom was a bust, and both David Ross and Steve Dietz were ousted from their museum jobs for harboring visionary aspirations in an economic downturn. [hyperlinks added]
This isn’t exactly a manifesto, but there is something in the word “permeate” that captures some of the essence of ZeroOne and, more recently, Northern Spark.
There was good art and there was bad art, but everywhere you turned there was art or something like art permeating the physical spaces of downtown San Jose (including the mobile light rail cars and the dome of City Hall), as well as the invisible ether of the airwaves, from bluetooth networks to cellular tours (the latest rage). [hyperlinks added]
Is this remark ever not applicable?
In Bill Viola's keynote address, he made the prescient remark, "artists are jumping into a train for a high speed ride while they're still laying the tracks ahead."
Randall’s conclusion seems both accurate and optimistic.
Perhaps the success of Zero One / ISEA was in its commitment to concentrate on experimental media art, to emphasize media art's inclusive, democratic, and participatory nature, and lastly, that contemporary art must embrace the new technologies - shamelessly, fearlessly, defiantly.
