A cut & paste from Mail Art Message Board pk
**************************** Author: honoria Date: 11-02-01 18:40 In my research on Internet and Mail art I found this article by mail artist Andrej Tisma... What is Internet Art? Author: Andrej Tisma ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [EMAIL PROTECTED] WEB.ART'S NATURE There is no doubt that web.art (internet art) is a new kind of art that has some characteristics never seen before, in such a pure form, in the history of arts. Interactivity is one of those characteristics that makes the viewer to become the creator of the artwork, of its final form. The artwork gets its shapes thanks to the activity of the viewer, and since the work is open, it can always get new shapes. The hyperdimension is the second characteristics of the web.art, that means that the work of web.art is infinite in space and time. It can be developed in many directions, and without limitations. The third characteristic is non materiality. The web.art work doesn't exist in the real space, only as a digital code on the disc. The work can be seen only by means of screen, in form of thousands of sparkling pixels. So web.art work is impermanent visualization of the world of ideas, and therefore it stays non material, intangible and spiritual. By its characteristics the international Mail-Art movement from the 60s and Networking from 80s can be seen in some aspects as the forerunners of today's web.art. Derived from Fluxus movement and Concept Art, Mail-Art was based on international communication between artists, who were exchanging ideas, artworks and collaborative projects. The difference was only in the means of communication which then was mail . Mail-Artists and later Networkers who preffered personal meetings, common performances and debates, were practicing an art of communication, collaboration and interaction, spreading ideas all over the world regardless of geographical, racial, national or ideological barriers, same as web.artists are doing today.
