nina czegledy on Mon, 15 Apr 1996 15:59:03 -0400 |
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From: Catherine_Crowston@BanffCentre.AB.CA Organization: The Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 17:52:58 MDT Subject: Press release Subject: Time: 4:54 PM OFFICE MEMO Press release Date: 12/4/96 Artists Challenge Ownership and Control of Communications To counteract the growing commercial colonization of Internet territory and the increasing tendency of governments to impose censorship, the Walter Phillips Gallery presents *Net Work* on the World Wide Web. Featured are techno-pioneers Critical Art Ensemble, Australia's VNS Matrix and the highly acclaimed Spanish artist Muntadas. Guest curator Christopher Eamon contextualizes these projects in light of a tendency of many media artists to work against the ownership and control of communication. By taking advantage of the electronic proximity of people and their terminals, Net Work attempts to create a space for critical thinking. On-line March 22, 1996 and runs until December 1996. The artists in *Net Work* critique and explore the effects of technological change on social and political organization. This is particularily pertinent as the immediate unrestricted flow of information and ideas, once hailed as the greatest promise for Net culture, is now seen in the media and in our legislatures as a threat to the security of families and nations. Resisting this tendency is the purpose or effect of the web projects in this exhibition. In *Diseases of Consciousness,* created specifically for the Walter Phillips Gallery, Critical Art Ensemble explores psychological disfigurations of the late twentieth century. Their forthcoming book *Electronic Civil Disobedience and Other Unpopular Ideas*, criticizes the naturalization of technological spectacle in our culture. It also examines, in part, our various relations to technology, capitalist production and accumulation. VNS Matrix makes an explicit attempt to infiltrate the domain of male corporate techno-domination by overturning some of the prevalent stereotypes society has about women and technology. *The File Room* by Muntadas makes use of the web-site format and gathers information on the censorship of artists throughout history. Net Work is located under On-line Projects at the Walter Phillips Gallery web site: http://www-nmr.banffcentre.ab.ca/WPG/HomePage.html Deep Web Home Page: http://www-nmr.banffcentre.ab.ca/deep_web Media Contact: Nancy Black-Spunt, Publicist Ph: (403) 762-6651 Email: nancy_black-spunt@banffcentre.ab.ca Ruby Rymer, Assistant Publicist Ph: (403) 762-6625 Email: ruby_rymer@banffcentre.ab.ca