Hi all
Welcome to 2002.
This might be off topic, but this list seems the suitable context for
discussion of the issue involved in this post.
A fairly major US museum has recently mounted a show of digital art. It
features about six installations by artists established in the field. There
is also an extensive website devoted to the show where there are links to
about 10 artist's websites featuring works made for the net. These artists
are not featured in the installation part of the show.
I do not know what the conditions were for the artists showing in the real
space of the museum but would imagine they would be the usual...a fee,
installation expenses, travel and accomodation, a catalogue, related PR,
etc. Knowing some of the artists I know that they would not show without
receiving a significant fee. Nor would I...whether for a net piece or an
installation.
I am one of the artists linked to on the site. I only found out about the
show after the fact and via a third party. The curators did not contact me
to ask for permission to refer or link to the work (or, for that matter,
select and curate it) or even to inform me of their intent. I have never
heard of them or from them. Obviously they did not offer me any recompense
of any kind nor any other benefits...although clearly they must feel that
linking to work such as mine is of significant enough value to them.
Whilst it is nice for ones work to be noted and linked to I think this
curatorial approach raises some important questions about how curators and
their institutions relate to artists in general and net based artists in
particular. I have not yet contacted the curators or their institution. I
am not sure what I would say if I did. It has crossed my mind to ignore
them, just as they have ignored me. If I was an artist of a different
character I might do something that would bounce back at them (eg: an
RTMark type thing) but that wouldn't be my style.
What are others thoughts on this? I imagine others here with similar
experiences (this is not the first time, by far, this has happened to me).
I would most appreciate feedback from the various curators on this list.
best
Simon
Simon Biggs
[log in to unmask]
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/
The Great Wall of China @ http://www.greatwall.org.uk/
Babel @ http://www.babel.uk.net/
Research Professor (Digital Media)
Art and Design Research Centre
School of Cultural Studies
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield, UK
http://www.shu.ac.uk/
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