Space and Time

Identity and Net realities

Digital critique and parody

Interactive Net Art

DIGITAL CRITIQUE AND PARODY project guidelines:

The Digital Visions committee is looking for art that criticizes digital art and its limitations, art that parodies characteristics of digital art, the internet in terms of what is expected, and what is proper on a computer and online. We are looking for digital art about digital art; art that is aware of itself and its own problems.

The ethics and moral codes of the digital world are changing rapidly. The boundaries of computer art need to be questioned as to what it can and cannot cross in terms of ethical and proper conduct. The future direction, capabilities, and dangers of digital art and the internet need to be addressed in terms of visual experimentation in a
digital space. Commenting on the method and process of creating artwork using digital hardware/software should draw specific attention to the role of the personal computer in different spaces (printed and online
spaces).

Consider the following:

1) The independent qualities of the computer as an artist's tool.

Nowadays, the computer is emerging as the newest tool in art. It must be considered, however, what new characteristics does the computer offer an artist, which earlier mediums could not? Furthermore, what characteristics of earlier mediums is the computer not able to imitate?
The boundaries and limitations of the computer and the art it produces must therefore be considered. For example, while the computer allows an artist to create elaborate images equal to that of painting or drawing, computer art does not receive the same appreciation and fascination from an audience as traditional forms would. Does it bear a different aura than traditional forms?

2) Mass media and the hidden role of the computer

The massive amount of digitally altered or digitally made advertising is so fluent in western culture that consumers are not attentive to the methods or processes that technology plays in creating such images. From the minute alteration of digitally lengthening a fashion model's legs in Photoshop to the use of Macromedia Flash on the opening page of the Reebok United States home page, the use of digital hardware/software are masked by images of commodities. Does the use of digital hardware/software in advertising comment and draw attention to the processes of digital development, or are they instead made to fool the user into recognizing dient, or are they instead made to fool the user into recognizing digital images and experiences as a real occurrence in a virtual space? Does mass media help push the technological limits of digital art or does this negatively affect the aura of digital art? In what forms can digital art be used to counter mass media's use of digital tools.

3) The popularity of the computer and subsequent dependency on the
computer.

The capability of an average internet user to shop online, go to school online, date and meet new people online, and work online- hence to live their life online- has created a technological dependency. What ramifications does this dependency therefore have on the future generations? Similarly, artists are becoming more and more dependant on
computers, be it for digital image manipulation and graphics, computer animation and special effects, or even for distribution and display. Is this becoming a dangerous dependency? If so, then why? What can the
computer never achieve, or should never be allowed to achieve? Is creativity and imagination still something that a computer cannot take away from the artist? Are talent and skill still something limited to the artist? If so, then what about the advancements in artificial intelligence research?

The above comments are to serve as directions for artists interested in this category. Feel free to take it from here, and create a net art site to submit for review and exhibition.