Reading 3: Web Work: A History of Internet Art

An actual piece of Net.art art.

Internet art as a subject is quite interesting and detailed as there are many different kinds located across the vastly large Internet. Learning about Net.art and the origins of email, text, graphic, and image digital art reminds me of some things that I still like now in the modern time. For example, using email/text: you could think of things like forum page/email signatures. Some people include a variety of image and text in their signature which is art in itself that describes the sender. (And, as I kept reading, I noticed that they too were using BBS/forums as well!) Not only that but ASCII text art also comes to mind (which was also being developed around the same time! ) ASCII text art uses a variety of letters and symbols to create small or large text art.

I had no idea about the Eastern European and Russian influences on the early Internet. During the mid-'90s there was more opportunity to be open in the media in Eastern Europe, which allowed eventual communication to the West. Due to the political and cultural reform, the media centers and its technologies sprouted! And thus, the Internet spread (though still not yet corrupted by companies, which comes later to form the Internet we use today.) I love how the Internet then sparked the "artivism" movement that pushed digital art into society outside of the internet, incorporating phones and media through that medium. It is interesting to think about how art on the Internet seemed to come to be mostly through political/activism movements, at least in the beginning. People were finally allowed to creatively speak their truths and also conveniently had a medium that allowed them to share those thoughts with people in different countries.

A person emersed in VR using a program to create 3D digital art using brush strokes.

However, because I have used the internet for art and a variety of other purposes ever since I was a child, its almost hard for me to imagine these topics. In the 2000-2010's we saw the biggest boom of internet culture and activity. Companies were starting to invest into the internet as well, creating early social media and other places for money to be spent. During this time, we saw people making digital art with video, creating games (which I personally believe to be considered a medium of digital art), creating music, and creating larger communities with upgraded graphics and technology. Not only that but companies started hiring digital artists and designers in order to help them create these websites and places for their community too! Digital art and the Internet spread incredibly fast, and still continues to do so today. While I am of the opinion that the Internet has since past its "glory days" due to oversaturation of the market and strict monetization restrictions which force cut-backs, there is still some modern digital art that is being developed. For example, VR/3D digital models in a digital space (and you can even count AI)! Comparing VR 3D models to text making ASCII art or email signatures is sometimes hard to even compare. But, they do have one thing in common, that being they are both wonderful mediums of digital art!

A variety of VRChat 3D models gathered at a virtual concert