ARTISTS TALKING

Published by Thames and Hudson (World of Art series)
Launch date 4 May

Internet Art seeks to historicise net art, suggesting its usefulness as a textual 'portal' that provides an introduction to the internet art community. Its author, Rachel Greene, is perhaps best known as the executive director of Rhizome.org.

The writing firstly presents a brief but useful guide to the rise of computers and internet technology, and then focuses on internet art's conception and development. Unlike much documentation of early net art, Greene offers persuasive links to artistic movements preceding the invention of the World Wide Web, such as Dada, Fluxus and performance art, as a wider context. With numerous annotated screenshots and photographs, the book delivers an accessible mix of critical and (almost) anecdotal documentation of internet artworks created in what is often called net art's 'heroic' era (circa 1994 – 2001).

Greene's text takes direct paths that follow the development of ideas as the network matured and, offers examples of artists' subject matter including tactical media, mapping, data visualisation and hypertext. These paths are so direct that at times you may question the implication that all net artists were simultaneously working so single-mindedly, or whether another critical internet tool – the nostalgic linear filter – might be switched on. Greene's prescriptive contextualisation does enable a stable introduction to the media, however, with the conspicuous absence of many 'rogue' artists, collectives and curators (who also operated during the somewhat sparse timeline presented), this history appears neither as eclectic nor as 'net' as she suggests. Readers interested in internet art's origins should perhaps think of this as a tasty net art sandwich, but for a more substantial meal, make liberal use of the useful list of URLs, lists and festival references that Greene includes to allow readers to 'explore further and draw their own conclusions'.

Jessica Loseby

Jess Loseby is a net and digital artist www.rssgallery.com

www.rssgallery.com