In the article, “Web Work: A History of Internet Art,” Rachel Greene walks readers through the fascinating history and evolution of “net.art,” the term Vuk Cosic, a Slovenian artist, began using when discussing online art and communications. Net.art is defined as the merge of communications and graphics, e-mails, texts and images. It was composed of artists, enthusiasts, and technoculture critics trading ideas and support for one another’s passions. It’s growth fueled by the freewheeling, anti-establishment spirit. Web work and internet art are both topics of which are new to me and I found greatly intriguing while reading this article. As a Computer Science major, every class I have taken, from Programming Language to Computer Architecture and Organization, have all focused on teaching students how to use computers and their software in a way that caters to huge corporations overseeing computer technology. While those learning outcomes are vital to attain a well-paying job as a software engineer, I believe net.art should definitely become a core curriculum requirement because it teaches future computer scientists how to think and design outside of the box. I am a very artistic person so it was a huge surprise to everyone close to me that I chose to major in Computer Science. Yet, I always found a creative aspect in the discipline. I see art when I program, much like Cosic, Paesmans, Heemskerk, and all other technoculture enthusiasts did, too. Therefore, we, the people of free expression, vow that for every attempt society makes to monopolize and convert our works of art into mainstream outlets, we will find a way to break from the stream.
- thisisnotanartblog
