Syndicate: WEB.ART'S NATURE

[ANDREJ TISMA <aart@EUnet.yu>]

 Here is the abstract of my article I read yesterday in Belgrade  at the NETFORUM 98 symposium (May 27-29) in Sava Center
 

WEB.ART'S  NATURE

      There is no doubt that web.art (Internet art) is a  new kind of
art that has some characteristics never seen before, in such a pure
form, in the history of arts.
 Interactivity is one of those characteristics that makes the viewer to
become the creator of the artwork, of its final form. The artwork gets
its shapes thanks to the activity of the viewer, and since the work is
open, it can always get new shapes.
     The hyperdimension is the second characteristics of the web.art,
that means that the work of web.art is infinite in space and time. It
can be developed in many directions, and without limitations.
     The third characteristic is non materiality. The web.art work
doesn't exist in the real space, only as a digital code on the disc. The
work can be seen only by means of screen, in form of  thousands of
sparkling pixels. So web.art work is impermanent visualization of the
world of ideas, and therefore it stays non material, intangible and
spiritual.
     By its characteristics the international Mail-Art movement from the
60s and Networking from 80s can be seen in some aspects as the
forerunners of today's web.art. Derived from Fluxus movement and Concept
Art, Mail-Art was based on international communication between artists,
who were exchanging ideas, artworks and collaborative projects. The
difference was only in the means of communication which then was mail