Net-Art: Designing Virtual Space

Being digital natives it is only natural that we are more familiarised with the internet, as 1990 was a tipping point for internet art, so it is relatively new and main stream at the present time. As I was born in 1992 I grew up with the internet, from that annoying dialling up tone to the wireless we have today, so it is just an everyday object for my generation. Internet art defies the conventional methods of displaying art and circumvented the traditional dominance of the art gallery. It is difficult to have art in this space as it is a public and personal space, it is always micro (you sitting at your computer) and macro (you still have an outlook on the globe), although aesthetic experiences are still achievable, more so if this experience is interactive which is quite common on the internet. Metaphorically speaking we can view the computer as a window that we can see the whole world through, in which the possibilities for new digital art is limitless, as each piece of digital art on the internet is new, as it occupies a new space, as most things on the internet are free floating signifiers and not set in context.

                 More and more commonly artists are experimenting with this new digital space, take Tracey Moberly for example she saved every text message she received from 1999 and printed them out onto long scrolls, creating a temple like installation and displayed this in a series of exhibitions, from this she continued to create a book and called it ‘Text Me Up’. I love the idea behind Moberly’s work as not only is it a new idea but it’s also a personal memory for her, which I find inspirational.

Using the same concept as Moberly a Belgium digital artist Wim Vanhenden created a similar piece of work, although instead of collecting text messages he uses software to collect data from what people are looking for on the internet and constructs this into a piece of art. He is most definitely a digital native who uses innovative technology to produce master pieces that are both interactive and artistic. On his website http://www.wimvanhenden.be/ there is an interactive space in which we can contribute to his art, which is titled ‘We Are the World’ this has a cleverly constructed technique and this video describes more:

http://vimeo.com/7292596

In my opinion Vanhenden can most definitely be viewed as a great art of the digital generation and as a great internet artist. So even though the internet can be a personal space Vanhenden proves that it is an interactive space which can connect the public through new artistic means.