Andreas Broeckmann on Tue, 1 Jun 1999 15:44:29 +0100 |
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Syndicate: MMirapaul: Prix Ars .net for Linux |
From: MMirapaul@aol.com Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 09:05:57 EDT http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/mo/cyber/articles/01linux.html June 1, 1999 Linux Takes Prize - In an Art Competition By MATTHEW MIRAPAUL One of the top prizes in a prestigious electronic-art competition has been given to a deliberately unusual choice: the Linux computer operating system. Linux received the highest honor in the ".net" category of the Prix Ars Electronica, beating out a number of more typical examples of digital artistry. The results were announced Friday by the Austrian Broadcasting Company, which organizes the annual "cyberarts" competition. In a statement on the contest's Web site, jurors explained that their decision was meant to show that "the '.net' category is not a prize for the most beautiful or most interesting home page on the World Wide Web... It is also intended to spark a discussion about whether a source code itself can be an artwork." Derrick de Kerckhove, director of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto, served as a judge for the ".net" category. He said the decision was intended to send a message, especially to electronic artists, that "the real material of the Web is the code." He said the selection also emphasized the Internet's essential ability to establish online communities "with endless creative possibilities. Art left to its own devices can be a crashing bore." The source code for the Linux operating system, which acts as a computer's primary control program much like Windows98 or Unix, was built by volunteers collaborating online, and it remains freely accessible. According to the jurors' statement, "Linux could only have been created in this form on and with the Internet." But should an operating system get picked as the winner of a cyber-art contest? Andreas Broeckmann, a cultural historian who served on last year's ".net" jury, said, "The Prix Ars is not so much about art as it is about the creative conjunction of technology and human creativity." He continued, "Without doubt, there is a political dimension in awarding the prize to an operating system that is non-commercial. But the prize also recognizes some of the crucial aspects that characterize a good piece of networked art" (such as being truly interactive). Robbin Murphy, a New York artist and co-founder of the artnetweb site, said: "They should have given it [the prize] to the Net movement that made Linux viable. But that's hard to classify, and who gets to take home the award money? Why not just give it to the Net itself and send the money to the Kosovo refugees?" Linux is named for Linus Torvalds, the Finnish programmer who launched the development effort in 1991. He will receive a cash award of $8,620, as well as a Golden Nica statuette. Torvalds did not immediately reply to an interview request. Prizes also were announced for interactive art, digital music, computer animation and visual effects, and a "freestyle" category open only to youths. As with the runners-up in the ".net" category, the winners were more conventionally arts-oriented. For example, the special-effects team for the film "What Dreams May Come," in which paintings come to life onscreen, earned the top visual-effects award. The winners, who will receive a total of $116,000, were selected from more than 2,000 entries. They will be honored at an awards ceremony during the Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria, in September. Matthew Mirapaul at mirapaul@nytimes.com welcomes your comments and suggestions. Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at> in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress