Whitney biennial accepting submissions

On Monday 07 July 2003 13:29, t.whid wrote:

> http://www.whitney.org/exhibition/biennial.shtml
>
> for those unfamiliar, it's only open to american artists.

That's so American of them.

–
Pall Thayer
artist/teacher
http://www.this.is/pallit
http://www.this.is/isjs
http://www.this.is/harmony
http://130.208.220.190/panse

> That's so American of them.
>

LOL, true. Although they do have an ever changeing idea of what "American" is. And that, I think, is positive in the end.

Are Corey Archangel and Golan Levin the only software artists at the
Biennial? How about net art? New media?

Now now…….

Perhaps it might be nice to have a "new american" category,
you know.. Iraqi/ Guantanamo/Hiatian.

We all want our cultural institutions to be in line with our cultural producers, don't we?



M. River wrote:

> > That's so American of them.
> >
>
> LOL, true. Although they do have an ever changeing idea of what
> "American" is. And that, I think, is positive in the end.

It makes sense that the popularity of digital art is declining in the
traditional art world, but it is not a bad thing. I think the traditional
art world realizes the significance of digital art and the need to embrace
it, but the physical structure and the power structure of their institutions
are not conducive to digital art. What they are doing is equivalent to New
York Times simply scanning their print edition and posting it on their
website. The digital art world requires entirely different kinds of
institutions.

Since the nature of digital art structurally contradicts the traditional art
world, it is unavoidable that the works they exhibit would suffer from it. A
computer terminal without a chair in a museum where you can only use it for
5 minutes because others are waiting behind you, is not a proper environment
to experience digital art. And, in comparison to a large painting hung next
to it at which you can stand and look as long as you like, a digital artwork
looks like a mere toy. It is jarring to present a digital artwork in an
environment that is designed to experience something physical. From this
perspective, it makes sense that the popularity of digital art in the
traditional art world would declined.

Furthermore, the traditional art world has a long-established power
structure built based on certain natures, limitations, and advantages of the
physical world. When televisions were first introduced to the consumer
market, the broadcasters struggled to come up with a structure that would
make their business financially viable. Eventually the dust settled and the
power structure emerged. A few key players secured a significant amount of
power, and with it, they stabilized the whole industry. The same happened in
the art world.

The dust in the digital world is yet to settle. A definitive power structure
is yet to emerge. Unlike the music industry where the paradigm shift is
forcing the break-up of the established power structure, the digital art
world is not a paradigm shift; it is a new, independent paradigm of art,
which does not threaten the existing art world. It simply needs its own
power structure that is based on its own natures, limitations, and
advantages. It cannot rely on the structure of the traditional art world to
deal with it. It needs its own way to sustain itself.

-Dyske

Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher''s website Learning to Love You More
is in it, as is the online/game/action Velvet Strike (Brody Condon,
Anne-Marie Schleiner, etc.). In terms of new media Tracy and Plastics,
lots of sound art…


On Mar 8, 2004, at 7:40 PM, liza sabater wrote:

>
> Are Corey Archangel and Golan Levin the only software artists at the
> Biennial? How about net art? New media?