Tatiana Bazzichelli Networking The Net as Artwork Preface by Derrick de Kerckhove Tatiana Bazzichelli Networking The Net as Artwork Preface by Derrick de Kerckhove Digital Aesthetics Research Center www.digital-aestetik.dk Layout and front cover by Jonas Frankki Cover image: “Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici” by Antonio Glessi-Andrea Zingoni, published in “Frigidaire” issue 42, May 1984, Primo Carnera Edition. Italian editing by Simonetta Fadda English translation of chapters 1, 2, 7, Acknowledgements, Webliography, Captions and Afterword by Maria Anna Calamia, editing by Grace Wright English translation of chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 by Helen Pringle First proofreading by Jonas Frankki Last proofreading by Helen Pringle Copyright © Italian edition 2006, costlan editori s.r.l., Milan Copyright © English edition 2008, Digital Aesthetics Research Center, Aarhus University, and the author ISBN 87-91810-08-6 To Musti, Sergio and Bepi EAN 9788791810084 and to the infinite possibilities of being This research is part of the Digital Urban Living research centre, partly funded by the Danish Council for Strategic Research grant number 2128-07-0011 GNU Free Documentation License. Version 1.3, 3 November 2008 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”. http://www.gnu.org/licenses A copy of the book can be found at www.digital-aestetik.dk Other reference materials on the subject: www.networkingart.eu 136 Hacker Ethics and Shared Networks Table of Contents Social Hacking , 136 Independent Magazines and Radical Websites, 149 Hackmeetings and Hacklabs, 163 The Netstrike, 170 179 Art on the Net and for the Net Net.art and Hacktivism, 179 8 Acknowledgements The Craftsmen of the Code, 188 Beyond the Limits of the Net, 197 Network vs. Network, 203 10 Preface by Derrick de Kerckhove 214 Becoming Media A Movement of Images , 214 18 Introduction Networks of Videos and Telestreets, 222 Precarious Creativity , 238 26 Networking Cultures Networking as Art, 26 From Ready-made to Fluxus, 29 257 Extra Gender Fluxus Diagrams, 33 Cyberfeminism on the Net, 257 The Mail Art Network, 37 Pink Action and Queer Networks, 262 Multi-identity, Neoism and Luther Blissett, 43 From Punk to Netporn, 272 (Open) Conclusion, 284 58 Towards the Cyber Utopias Punk and "Do It Yourself", 58 288 Afterword The Squatted Social Centres, 62 The Threads of the Web and the Tools of the Trade Cyberpunk in Italy, 68 by Simonetta Fadda Amateur Computer Networks, 75 From Cyberpunk to Industrial, 84 295 Bibliography 91 The Art of Networking: The Pioneers 315 Webliography For a New Cartography of Reality , 91 Making Networks: the First Festivals and Mailing Lists, 94 From Video to Computer Art, 104 The Man-Machine Interface , 113 Hacker Art, 124 Abruzzese, Andrea Fusco, Ninì Candalino, Pier Luigi Capucci, Mariacristina Cremaschi, Luisa Valeriani for having enlightened my theoretical course; to all Acknowledgements my friends and colleagues in Berlin for having been present, facilitating my work and to my friends in Rome for always being there; the city of Berlin, because thanks to her I was able to stop and think, and to the city of Rome, because she allowed me to be who I am; and lastly, but fundamentally important, to my family, to Marilena for her constant love, to Roberto because he is a real Steinerian anarchist and he taught me to be free, to Tamara because she believes in love and depth, to Giovanni because he believes in simple things, to Matteo I wish to thank all those who contributed to the creation and the realization of because he means the future. this book: Simonetta Fadda, for her irreplaceable advice and her passionate critical sense, for having followed the draft of this book, step by step, with her precise For the English edition of this book, I would like to thank first of all theDigital editing and for writing the Afterword; Derrick de Kerckhove for our stimulating Aesthetics Research Center of Århus University in Denmark for supporting conversations and for having enthusiastically embraced the topics explored here, this publication and hosting it on its website; Søren Pold for his interest on allowing himself to be involved in writing the Preface; Florian Cramer for his the subject and help with the promotion of the book; Helen Pringle for her brilliant insights and his numerous suggestions and for having put up with me fundamental work as English translator, for her great willingness and availability in thinking critically from afar; Federico Bucalossi, Antonio Glessi, Ferry Byte to solve all my lexicon problems and for our very inspiring Skype-talks; Maria and Oedipa_m, Giacomo Verde, Claudio Parrini, Francesco Galluzzi, Tommaso Anna Calamia for her initial translation; my colleagues at the Department Tozzi, Massimo Cittadini, Flavia Alman and Sabine Reiff because without of Information and Media Studies at Århus University, in particular Lars Bo our exchange this book would have never existed and I would have become a Løfgreen and Morten S. Riis, to create a really nice work atmosphere; and finally less enthusiastic T_Bazz; Franca Formenti for her active participation and her all my love and all my greatest thanks go to my partner Jonas Frankki for his constant and effervescent moral support; Mariano Equizzi, Fabrizio Manizza, invaluable support and extraordinary love, which allowed me to bring this work Vittore Baroni, Luca Lampo, Lee Felsenstein, Alessandro Ludovico for having to the end with serenity and passion. shared the story of their own journeys, thus helping my writing; Gaia/Nina and all the Sexyshock’s Betties, Francesco “Warbear” Macarone Palmieri, Roberto Paci Dalò for having given me illuminated suggestions and precious information; all those registered on the AHA mailing list for having always been active and stimulating, and Eleonora Calvelli and Loretta Borrelli for having put up with me in the moderation of difficult moments; Asbesto, Jaromil, Andrea Natella, Giancarlo “Ambrogio” Vitali, Heath Bunting, Eva and Franco Mattes for having answered my questions; Strano Network, Isole nella Rete, AvANa.net, “Neural”, Candida TV, CopyDown, Decoder/Shake, Luther Blissett, The Thing Roma, all the hackers, the Hackmeetings, the Forte Prenestino and the Social Centres, for having played a fundamental role in my techno-political journey and for having been fundamental for many other people; Massimo Canevacci, Alberto 8 9 of Toronto is a possible platform for the diffusion of Italian hacktivist and artistic paths such as are mentioned in this book. Preface Penetrating at the heart of current networking dynamics, of complex processes by Derrick de Kerckhove in the Internet, one may notice that instead of the usual focus on technology, there is a growing trend towards interest in people, in their way of connecting and their social-cultural friendships and relations, their direct connection to the reality in which they live. Not long ago people talked a lot about the virtual, but today it’s clear that the people in flesh and blood are the destiny of the network and not just machines. The network of participation and the formation of networks and relations Tatiana Bazzichelli is a rising scholar and critic of digital culture. This book through technology is an increasingly pervasive and global phenomenon, and is a milestone in the critical theory she began developing in the 1990s while the analysis of the methods with which these networks are formed is becoming a studying Sociology. Her interest in the connections between art and media necessity for those who deal with digital culture. One must not limit oneself to matured within academic environments, to consider their social and political solely analyzing singular contents which are present on the internet, but instead implications. She went on to concentrate more fully on the themes of art should try and understand how people who create such contents are connected and hacker ethics and collaborated directly with independent Italian hacker between themselves in a present, extended way. One must therefore consider the communities and networking activists in the art industry. social dimensions of connectivity. This book attempts to do this for the Italian This book follows the itinerary in the art field and in digital activism that she communities of networkers. has documented over time. A quest that is not exclusively personal; but that Quoting the famous phrase by Marshall McLuhan “the medium is the also recounts some of the experiences of many other people in Italy who began message”1, today one may say that the network is the message of the medium to work experimentally in art and technology during the 1980s. This type of Internet. The networking phenomenon was anticipated by the practice of mail art writing I call “global autobiography”, meaning that it connects the personal to long before Internet evolved, just as the pointillism of Seurat could be considered the larger connected realm of global activities. The book takes its place in the prophetic with respect to the subsequent development of the television image. evolution of the artistic networking project AHA: Activism-Hacking-Artivism. Until recently in America the term network was used to describe the television An initiative started in 2001 by Bazzichelli as part of her plan to promote art on medium, but today it regards a much larger and vaster connective dimension, the Internet and to give greater visibility to the Italian digital culture, AHA has which is the Internet. Network becomes “the net of social relations”, it is the contributed to the creation of a vast network of relations and projects.