In the UK in 1995, when AHJ was conceived, there were very few Internet users let alone sites. Most UK artists using computers used them for image manipulation, so the idea of making a specifically web-based work was a very new one, and the experience changed our practice radically. AHJ was time-based - one month spent retracing the route of Boswell and Johnston's 18th century Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland, making a live, on-line travelogue on laptops and uploading new pages daily using rural guest houses' phone lines at a time when most people had never even seen a modem. We literally had no idea how the piece would turn out when we began, could barely write web pages, and soon we invited suggestions over email from our remote audience. Not only did this significantly affect this piece, but this collaborative dynamic became central to our subsequent work. ...
Full Description
In the UK in 1995, when AHJ was conceived, there were very few Internet users let alone sites. Most UK artists using computers used them for image manipulation, so the idea of making a specifically web-based work was a very new one, and the experience changed our practice radically. AHJ was time-based - one month spent retracing the route of Boswell and Johnston's 18th century Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland, making a live, on-line travelogue on laptops and uploading new pages daily using rural guest houses' phone lines at a time when most people had never even seen a modem. We literally had no idea how the piece would turn out when we began, could barely write web pages, and soon we invited suggestions over email from our remote audience. Not only did this significantly affect this piece, but this collaborative dynamic became central to our subsequent work. Though the piece now seems very rough around the edges, it still has the innocence, experimentation and optimism that both ourselves and the Internet shared at the time.
Work metadata
- Year Created: 1996
- Submitted to ArtBase: Tuesday Jul 2nd, 2002
- Original Url: http://www.somewhere.org.uk/hypertext/journal/
- Permalink: http://www.somewhere.org.uk/hypertext/journal/
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Work Credits:
- Karen Guthrie, creator
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