internet art: chapter 2

When email first came out, face to face meetings were still popular. Emails were immediate and convenient, but in person meetings were more intimate and it was less likely for misinterpretations to happen. Face to face meetings were essential to the early net art scene for bonding. I though that it was interesting that everything did not depend on the internet once people started using it. Bonding and intimacy was still crucial for artists to sell their work and connect with other artists. Conferences such as 'Beauty of the East' in 1997, also brought artists together to catalyze change for net art. I didn't know that art galleries did not initially hold internet art, because it was difficult to sell, had difficult display aesthetics and projects were technically complex. I'm sure that it was hard for artists not to have the support of galleries. I thought that John Simon Jr.'s Every Icon(1997) piece was very original. The piece had an icon described by a 32 by 32 grid, and any element of the grid could be colored black or white. With in these limited guidelines this grid, the artist estimates that this grid can manifest every image across several hundred years. I also thought that it was interesting that artists use porno films to write ASCII since they need undetailed videos and porn films are 75% close ups.