Review of Internet Art by Julian Stallabrass

Net Art is Rarely Black and White



Book Review of:

Internet Art: The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce
Julian Stallabrass (Tate Publishing, London, 2003)

By Charlotte Frost


For Julian Stallabrass, the gap between culture and commerce is nowhere
narrower than on the Internet. His latest book, Internet Art: The Online
Clash of Culture and Commerce (Tate Publishing, London, 2003) notes that
although net art and commercial web exploits have vast distinctions, their
co-inhabitation of an essentially commercially driven space unites them, and
further than this, net art often treats its cyber-neighbour as a somewhat
ironic muse.



Initially Stallabrass appears to posit culture and commerce on opposing
sides. The book title, chapter headings and subdivisions, and even the black
and pink colour scheme of the cover appear to have been chosen to show how
the brash world of commerce clashes with the more activist elements of net
art. Reading texts on the net can illustrate this divide,

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