At Incubation 2000, Mark Amerika curated the Ink.Ubation Salon,
a
gallery of work from a wide variety of new media writers
experimenting
with the Internet. This year the gallery is curated by Mez, whose
pioneering net.language ‘mezangelle’ has intrigued readers online
since the early 90s. In her introduction to this selection of works
chosen specifically for the web, Mez explains why codework can only
be fully experienced in a non-physical space . . .
There have been extensive [and exhaustive] efforts made by
the
technologically-inclined to use the Internet as a vehicle for the
gestation and manifestation of art-oriented practices. However, in
a disappointing truncated space and time, many of the artistic
potentialities of this [reticulation] technology have crystallized
around conventional lines, with practitioners progressing along
allegedly _fresh_ artistic trajectories which, in actuality, are
still
dependent on derivative templates. These templates have been
predicated on the linear, on traditional unitary publishing models
and the structural/physical nature of the plastic arts.
Thankfully, not all creators engulfed in net dynamics are
determined to expressively seep back into the quagmire of
historically [and academically] ratified/reiterative formats and
stylistics. Some still perceive [and participate in] the network via
a
tapestry of deformation/communication potentials. These entities
[as they cannot always be adequately defined in a geophysical,
visceral sense] shift & pulse data via infinite network
variations.
These _artists_ [or net/code.workers] revel in the fabric of
connection modes and core elements that represent the actualities
of the net in all its functional glory. The code/net.workers
selected
for inclusion here engage in production of [artistic] output that
employs and mirrors the very blueprinted mechanisms of the net
itself.
Net.workers such as solipsis, gashgirl/doll yoko, a u t u m n - f r e
q
u e n c y, alan sondheim, + lo_y + and indecoress are represented
here by works that evoke/employ the net[work] for its
structural/data packaging and dispersal possibilities. These works
have been electronically hunted-&-gathered from email lists,
[we]blogs and MOOs. They primarily reside in unconventional
display states that are sheared from regular representation
models; they are mostly accessible via search-engines, in mailing
list archives, in blogs, or on hard-drives. In short, these works
fundamentally exist in echos and [band]widths of a projected
space. They are not designed to concretely reflect economic,
narrative, linear, or even [traditional] artistic value. Their
creators
are more reflective in relation to the nodes/strands inherent in
network dissemination, and incorporate net conventions and
multivalencies in order to fabricate works that conflate
informational/contextual manipulation [eg via infofictionalised
texts/personas via various email lists].
The selected code.worker projects are also concerned with the
warping of computer language/systems into referential, aesthetic
or conceptual compositions that are replicated/sequenced in
burgeoning incremental waves, resulting in the weave & flow of
accented and disruptive code-emulations. Some are web-based,
some are post-game [mangled] patches, and some are caught in
net-based circulation and avatar adoption[s]. JODI, joe keenan,
Integer/Netochka Nezvanova, ted warnell, and brian lennon
rewrite the underlying notion[s] of code as functional/accessible
via
blatant infrastructural rewiring that encourages the redirection of
an absorbers [ie interactors] typical meaning gaze/gauge.
Of course, the separation of the exhibited works into the
aforementioned categories [code.work + net.work] is a highly
artificial [curatorially-induced] act. There are considerable
semantic
slidings/interchanges involved here, shifting signifiers and false
dichotomies resulting from the notion that conferences [such as
Incubation 2] may be devoted to the display/analysis of _all things
net_, but have as their manifest presentation-interface a
dependency on physical platforms that acts to negate the
contextual nuances of the network. This reliance on channeling the
discussion of works [that are indigenous to the network] through
physical, realtime, flesh_ presenters acts to trap the information
into culturally-negotiable/manageable assimilation packets. The
dataflow is rigid here, compartmentalized and frozen. The
emphasis on this physical steerage of data revokes the pliability
of
these projects, and leaves the code/net.work[ers] floating in a
correspondingly amputated reality/limboesque strata-zone. For this
I must apologize, and suggest - as a workable antidote - a
thorough search-immersion of all things net/code.work oriented.