>FYI, there is a new review of the Whitney's Bitstreams exhibition in the
>magazine section of artnet.com
>it's the one Jerry Saltz wrote for the Village Voice.
>http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/Frontpage.asp
>
>It's disheartening to realize this is supposed to be mainstream new
>media art criticism. While I agree with some points, alas Jerry doesn't
>distinguish enough between Bitstreams and Data Dynamics and, after
>trashing the show for being mediocre, then lauds some of the more
>mediocre works for the fact that they're pretty, like painting.
Thanks Sara (and Matt and Patrick), I couldn't agree more. I wouldn't say
that there isn't any serious critical analysis of new media art but it's
definitely not happening in the broader, "mainstream" media landscape. It
is telling that neither Jerry Saltz nor the "critics" who made similar
points in the Wall Street Journal and the Observer ever bothered to pick up
the phone and talk to me. Unfortunately, this also is exactly what I
expected. Patrick's suggestion to choose a broader contextual view in terms
of the societal milieu surrounding the work seems very important to me. One
of the basic issues still remains dissemination -- it is sad that the
serious discourse and discussion is happening mostly on mailing lists.
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