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By Rebecca Paoletti
How long ago was
it that the Internet was the playground of a few scientists? Though
it seems like an eternity, only a few years have passed since we
went from ASCII to e-commerce. Now the keys to the Net are back in
the hands of a marauding band of code warriors: cyberartists who
decorate the Web with their visions. And the Whitney Museum of American Art, one
of the country's most renowned repositories of contemporary work,
has chosen to recognize this emerging subculture in its 2000
Biennial Exhibition by including online art for the first time.
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Superbad
| This is contemporary art -- the voice of
the next "new" generation, which has adopted previously nonexistent
tools and exploited them in unexpected ways. Breaking form, evolving
styles, and messing with assumed uses of software code and
interactivity, these artists take advantage of inexpensive
self-publishing platforms and are being rewarded for their efforts:
They win access to an immediate global audience.
For the most part, of course, that audience has had to sift
through millions of Web pages to find the hidden gems. But the
Whitney has now made it easy. It has sent curators to surf madly and
bring back the goods. The Whitney survey not only illustrates what's
happening in online art but also highlights exactly what it is that
makes the medium so attractive: interactivity with its audience.
"Don't touch" has given way to "Please click."
Sites such as Superbad and Redsmoke.com have long (in Internet
time) been admired by Web designers for their innovative use of the
latest technology and for the images that result. Superbad, for
example, layers wickedly poignant stories of suburban millennial
angst over pop culture icons such as Beanie Babies and UFOs. The
site, with its Pop Art feel and Warholian color play, relies on the
viewer's cursor movements to create each art segment. Nothing really
happens until you click. Similarly, the pulsing geometric shapes and
myriad rainbows of Redsmoke aren't visible until the viewer rolls
over just the right spot.
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