Folleto-DRI-Netescopio-130214-EN_entero 13/02/14 20:36 Página 1

NETescopio is an online archive, developed by the MEIAC since 2008, designed to preserve works of art generated for the web. The museum's server functions as a back-up and stores mirror copies of net art works which are online on their creators' sites and also of those which, for different reasons, are no longer available. Thus, the MEIAC is positioned as the first museum in the world to generate a file with these characteristics, and is moving ahead with a view to expand its activities beyond its physical space. This selection of works, all belonging to the NETescopio archive, emerged from a reflection on the processes that led artists to their development, rather than from an analysis of the formal characteristics of the works. Far from making an apology of the new medium per se, the artists confront the concept of technology as entertainment and the social stereotypes and routines that the new medium promotes as something that is habitually used in society, examining the boundaries between public and private, the notion of authorship and copyright. This traveling exhibition is presented as a “mobile lab" that seeks to redefine online art practices and to imagine their future.

0100101110101101.org Eva y Franco Mattes // Ivan Abreu // Amy Alexander // Marcelí Antúnez // Kim Asendorf // Gazira Babeli // Lucas Bambozzi // Ryan Barone // Giselle Beiguelman // Amy Berk // Luther Blissett // Natalie Bookchin // José Luis Brea // Christophe Bruno // Maite Cajaraville // Martin John Callanan // Young- Hae Chang // Azahara Cerezo // Paolo Cirio // Arcángel Constantini // Vuk Cosic // Andy Cox // Critical Art Ensemble // Minerva Cuevas // Santiago Echeverry // Vadim Epstein // Evru // Fiambrera Obrera // Gonzalo Frasca // Belén Gache // Daniel García Andujar // Dora García // Emilio Gomariz // Ethan Ham // Robin Hewlett // Steev Hise // Ricardo Iglesias // Daniel Jacoby // Sergi Jordá // Scott Kildall // Ben Kinsley // Joan Leandre // Les Liens Invisibles // Olia Lialina // Fernando Llanos // Rogelio López Cuenca // Iván Lozano // Alessandro Ludovico // Peter Luining // Brian Mackern // Miltos Manetas // Rafael Marchetti // Iván Marino // Antonio Mendoza // Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga // Antoni Muntadas // Mark Napier // Eduardo Navas // Santiago Ortiz // Christian Oyarzún // Paolo Pedercini // Raquel Rennó // Ricardo Barreto y Paula Perissinotto // Benjamin Rosenbaum // Santo_file Marco Bellonzi y David Cassacuberta // Mario Santamaría // Mark Shepard // Alexei Shulgin // Mark Skwarek // Darren Solomon // Stanza // Nathaniel Stern // Igor Stromajer // Taller d'Intangibles Jaume Ferrer y David Gómez // Philipp W. Teister // The Electronic Disturbance Theater // The Yes Men // Thomson & Craighead // Eugenio Tisselli // Ubermorgen // Sander Veenhof // Angie Waller //

Colophon This publication is edited in conjunction with the exhibition Look into the Net. NET.ARTography Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art, Oldenburg, Germany. March 7 – April 21, 2014 Editor: Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) Translations: Gustavo Romano, Joanna Porter. Copyediting: Joanna Porter Graphic Design: El vivero. Printing: Willers Druck © Texts, Gustavo Romano. Download the © All images, the artists. © 2014, Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) application of augmented reality for All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, with- Android smart phones out the prior permission of the publisher. or tablets Printed in Germany

Look into the Net NET.ARTography Organized by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), the Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo (MEIAC) and the Edith-Russ-Haus, and curated by Gustavo Romano, this travelling exhibition meets the challenge of showing artistic practices on the Internet, and not solely immaterial, interactive and variable art works, but having recourse as well to multiple strategies of documentation, contextualization, reflection, and discussion. “Blick ins Netz. NETartographie” is the progeny of the NETescopio Project (http://netescopio.meiac.es/), which the MEIAC launched in 2008. The choice of works and their arrangement are based on the three working lines or production strategies used since it began to show art on the Internet nearly 20 years ago: Desmontajes (2008), encompassing online productions from the early years of the Internet; Re/apropiaciones (2009), sampling or remixing of symbolic materials; and Intrusiones (2011), interventions in common spaces such as Wikipedia or Google Maps. With more than 70 artists from all over the world, the initiative features a large number of Spanish and Latin American artists who, quite possibly because of language barriers, are not yet well-known beyond their home cultural territories. In a context that we might dub “cyber-geographic”, Spanish-speaking web art now has the chance to draw new cultural borders and establish new flows of information, generating new relational architectures.

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DISASSEMBLINGS # Disassembling # Disassembling # Disassembling # Disassembling # Disassembling INTERFACES STEREOTPYES NARRATIONS DAILY LIFE THE SYSTEM OF ART As an initial phase of the NETescopio project, for this Code, Hacking, Navigation, Camouflage, Transvestism, Media Non-lineal, Machine, Toy, Software, Technology, Self-management, Work, Market, Original, Copy, Bits, exhibition the focus has been Browser, User, Resistance, Content, Icons, Recycling, Waste, Market, Rewriting, Electronic Poetry, Corporation, Control, Intervention, Diffusion, Reuse, Virulence, FTP, placed on productions which Container, HTML, Serendipity, URL, Panic, Identities, Digital Kitsch, Author-Reader, Cannibalism, Text Public Space, Sabotage, Ephemeral, Collection, Bubble, came about during the early Remix. Antiheros, Paranoia, Invasion, Processor, Labyrinth, Avatar. Interference, Appropriation, Loss, Reification. Tourism. Routine, Radiofrequency. years of the web. Works which The advent of new technologies The Internet is fundamentally a The appearance of new experimented, for the first time, led to a considerable improvement The greatest product which network made up of a collection of Certain projects on the web can technological devices and the with the medium and which in the field of communications. consumer society sells is the texts. But in this context the be best appreciated if we understand phenomenon of reproducibility have played with its particularities in Their contribution, among other comfort arising from belonging to convention of the printed word, them not as works, but as acts of not only transformed art, but also terms of interactivity, the use of things, involved, and continues to it. What matters is not the product, which is definitive and unalterable, participation. It’s about our daily routine and our way of interfaces or alternative involve, the guaranteed but how it is sold. Or, in any case, has given way to another convention participation in a new public space, perceiving the world. In the works in browsers, the tactical use of the transmission of messages with the both product and sale form part of - fragile, mutable and unfinished – the Internet, a place of exchange, of this section, and also underlying the media, and other strategies least expenditure possible, with the same alluring phenomenon of with an exponential capacity for meetings, a sphere for personal and whole project of web art, some of which gradually defined the better and wider diffusion, and with seduction. expansion, dissemination and commercial transactions. But like all the following questions are raised: lines of activity conducted the lowest level of error in their The Internet reverts the power replication by reader-writers located participation in a public space, the How does the market respond to during the first years of art on reception. relationship promoted by the one- throughout the web. This rupture of action can be camouflaged in its the absence of goods? How does the web. The symbolic productions which directional nature of traditional the linearity of narration is linked to surroundings and the nature of one collect a series of bits in From a 1.0 web of static art generates, rather than seeking media. Though not without hurdles, other ruptures, such as that of artistic projects can be overlooked. constant flux, always appearing and and closed content, we have the message’s clarity, actually information begins to circulate History, the truth and the author as It almost seems like at the very disappearing? evolved to what Dale Dougherty favour its opacity. In the independently of the market’s an omniscient narrator, all of which moment in which the word “art” Can we call artists programmers would call the Web 2.0, with a communication system, art advertising rules and its logic. give rise to fragmented texts, to appears, participation is unmasked, who showcase their skill in the use hierarchy involving interaction functions like noise. As Deleuze Through different methods, such reading as an act of decoding, to and loses all of its danger, its edge. of software applied to the absurd? and the creation of social would say, “art doesn’t as humour, disorder, mimicry, machine-poets programmed to Fiction should meld, blending itself Or those who deceive with cheap networks, transcending the communicate, it resists.” Artistic parody or camouflage, the pieces recite words, to the toy book and into reality in order to maintain its JavaScript tricks? Or with graphics mere publication of contents for production generates a space of which make up this selection the loss of the reader-author. intensity and thus be able to retrieved from the browser’s cache? supposedly passive reflection which does not seek challenge the stereotypes of Avatars, fantastic heroes, graphic subvert it. Or those who spread viruses on the consumption. Under this new truths, but instead sabotages propaganda, understood as social, adventures, virtual toys, puzzles, In this section we will find web? web paradigm, we are language, its structure and its signs. political, military or mercantile board games and rattles are just proposals which undertake a Has the digital recovered its witnessing the appearance of The different works which make propaganda. some of the examples which we will deconstruction of daily reality, of “aura” through the singularity of the another model: Net Art 2.0. up this selection adopt a viral The process which manufactures find in this selection of works which, social order, of individual routine URL, that is, the domain name of Perhaps it is time, then, to behaviour which will be reflected in heroes and villains in the area of like a koan, will question whether and of the spaces occupied by Internet sites, which are unique and review those first works, which very different ways, while the social conflicts which this we are pieces or players. Who protocols of personal interaction unrepeatable? Will this be what an with a greater radicalism and highlighting the clash between art propaganda attempts to impose, moves who? Who reads and who is and exchange. All of this will be art gallery can sell? with a focus on experimentation and communication. The less clear begins to fracture and fall apart. A read? conveyed through irony and the After nearly twenty years of and the deconstruction of the the message is, the richer the works system of cultural recycling is set in appropriation of corporate productions on the web, these medium, began to define those are in their meanings, and the motion, as a catalyst for social strategies, or rather, by sliding into questions remain relevant. explorations which today are greater the effort necessary by remixing, with attitudes of and participating in the interstitial taken up again within a new viewers to recodify them. transvestism, fury, disregard and space of interpersonal context of production and impertinence. communications or relationships, distribution. taking advantage of noise, surprise and perplexity.

RE/ RE/MIXES RE/INTERPRETATIONS RE/ENGINEERING RE/COLLECTIONS RE/CIRCULATIONS APPROPRIATIONS Remix, Recombination, Patchwork, Cover, Reenactment, Date, Reappropriation, Distortion, Cache, Involuntary Collections, Exquisite cadaver, Cooperation, Recycling, Rewriting, Montage, Reinterpretation, Free Version, Reengineering, Disassembly, Serendipity, Object Trouvé, Joint Authorship, Simultaneity, This exhibit focuses on a Recomposition. Remake, Copyright. Deviation, Reformulation, Wunderkammer, Clip Art. Recirculation, Negotiation, recurrent practice in artistic “Hacktivism”, Reassignment of Copyleft, Wiki. The recombination of materials is Unlike remixes in which Towards the end of the past productions on the web: the re- meaning. appropriation and reuse of a practice which in the visual arts materials are taken independently century a new “continent” was Information recirculation and symbolic materials. Unlike has traditionally been associated from the narratives containing Though all remixing involves a added to those already known. A joint authorship are not new other technological media, with the collage, especially with them, there are a few works which change in meaning with respect to continent made of nothing but concepts but on the Internet they digital media makes possible regard to fixed images, painting or are based on the creative work of the original work there are certain information, and which is in have found the ideal platform in not just reproduction, but photography. In regards to the other artists and which respect works which wage decided attacks constant flux. The metaphor for the which to function. The Web's manipulation as well. Instead digital realm, however, upon their organization in the same way on the ideas conveyed by the Internet is that of an endless sea in immediacy and its power to go of invariability, it offers including the temporal element, this that a musician reads and plays originals. We will, thus, find works which the user is like a sailor who around the world in seconds have perpetual mutation. Rather practice is much more linked to the sheet music. While in music or in undertaking these attacks with uses bookmarks as anchors in an allowed humanity to become than copying, remixing. notion of cinematographic montage cinema this practice is not only tactics like sabotage or distortion. attempt to grant some kind of connected at lightning speed. This has introduced a as pioneered by Sergei Eisenstein. standard but an actual tradition, There are also other tactics ephemeral structure to a universe In the field of art we have gone series of reflections not only If the general public’s channel- it is not as established in the area comparable to certain living beings’ with no land in sight and no stars to from taking turns, with exquisite regarding the notion of surfing has led to a kind of of the visual arts. Remakes, survival mechanisms. The ability to guide him. cadavers for example, to the kind originals and copies – experimental montage creation, covers, free versions or even camouflage themselves in their This sense of randomness will be of instant negotiation, discussion concepts whose meaning fades thanks to the power of the remote karaoke are somewhat distant environment, for example, has been essential to our experience as and collaboration permitted by a in the digital realm - but also control, the television screen has concepts which are associated developed by species such as the travellers, an eternal act of “wiki.” regarding ideas such as now exploded, offering multiple with and introduced from other chameleon and some butterflies to serendipity which will take us from We can define networking as the authorship, possession and viewing possibilities. Today, screens disciplines. keep from being seen by both their port to port, making us gradually promotion of social nexuses and collecting. The artist’s role on connect us via the Internet to infinite Various concepts enter into prey and predators. We can also forget the destination towards the creation of two-way the web will no longer be that contents which are remote and play here, such as authorship, compare them to the ploy used by a which we set out. communication tools made of a creator, but rather that of distant from each other, not only original ideas and closed works. legendary wooden animal: the To our surprise, these accidental possible by the latest technologies. a "redirector" of information. spatially but in terms of meaning, There are also various strategies Trojan Horse. The well-known online encounters will have unexpected From this perspective we see that generating with each click that used by certain artists in order to version of this tactic, Trojan Horses, results, as vestiges of our days are not all net art falls into this "dialectic collision" of which generate a "crisis" around these have surpassed viruses as a threat, stored in our computer’s cache. category, but rather only those Eisenstein spoke, now in potentially concepts in the digital realm. mainly thanks to their ability to The authors of this section’s works works in which art ceases to be an infinite directions. enter our systems by hiding inside will salvage these vestiges, these “object” (albeit a virtual one) made other programs. Like viruses or unintended information collisions, by “artists” and instead becomes a memes, which are reproduced crafting unforeseen associations, kind of platform, a space, a through a human carrier used as a circumstantial “bays” and meaning machine with parts being vehicle, certain arguments are unanticipated “lighthouses” to aid added constantly, depending upon patiently kept out of sight, only us before we continue our aimless the participation which it attracts. subsequently exploited to achieve voyage. maximum “infection” levels.

INTRUSIONS # Intruders # Intruders # Intruders # Intruders # Intruders IN 2.0 PLATFORMS IN THE PUBLIC SPACE VIRTUAL INTRUDERS IN YOUR COMPUTER IN THE CORPORATE This third stage is focused on proposals consisting of an Actionism, Isolation, Cartographies, Actionism, Cartography, Control, Change, Collaboration, Cover, Drift, Audience, Automatism, Objective WORLD artistic intervention using a Drift, Dystopias, Public Space, Drift, Public spaces, Happening, Stereotypes, Strategies, Gender, Randomness, Pollution, DNA, Biotechnology, Cyber new public space: the Internet: Metaverses, Social Networks, Virtual Intervention, Sound Landscape, Inclusion, Narrative, Participation, Détournement, Desktop, Out-of- Manifestation, Dystopia, It includes projects that Relationships, Vigilance, Web 2.0 Psychogeography, Augmented Soundtoy, Terror, Violence. field, Invasion, Manipulation, Encyclopaedia, Future, Reality, Bait. Machine, SPAM, Rituals, Viruses. intervene in shared-use The Internet –and the web in The artists who delve into the Hacktivism, Parody, Pathologies, spaces, such as Wikipedia and particular– has evolved at a frenzied One of the more salient features world of videogames tend to do so The frame disappears as the Networks, Resilience, Techno- Google Maps, those which pace since its origins, and it has of the so-called mobile technologies from a range of angles, but they edge of the painting or image, and addictions, Technocracy, Utopia. parody or subvert private-use gradually shed the legacy of is the possibility of hybridizing the always aim to do more than simply is replaced by the computer Technology opens up pages, and those which traditional audiovisual media, experience in "real" space with offer entertainment. screen. A frame no longer has the perspectives for progress towards stealthily infiltrate users’ especially with regard to the emitter- geo-localized and personalized There are those who emphasize ability to lock in the image, which a Utopian future, especially if we computers and corporate IT receiver paradigm, which became digital information. The mobile the making and structure of the has acquired a temporal dimension believe the advertising of market systems. unsustainable in a network based on network offers us real-time access game, those who hack into existing and an infinite potential for the leading companies. But it would There are also instances of a horizontal and rhizomatic structure. to synchrony and allows for the games or who use the development constant permutation of the data also open the door to a dystopian individual proposals where These new environments and speedy interaction with real of the game as an opportunity to that flocks to it. The limitations are future if we look at the artists play the role of spies, platforms, which have gone so far as elements around us. experiment with collective creation. offset by depth and speed. technocrats’ plans. When we intruders and solitary flaneurs, to change the Web’s name, pushing it The projects collected in this Others encourage us to make And that frame is no longer in assess the supposed transparency as well as group projects toward the new stage known as 2.0 – section will make use of the decisions regarding issues we had museums and galleries; it now and impartiality of technology, we executed by artistic collectives Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube benefits of this hybrid reality while not examined before, by putting us surrounds us at all times. We have should not listen to these siren and productions, and which and even Second Life– have emerged at the same time reflecting on its in unknown situations or delegated tasks to our computers songs, but consider further require the mass participation as our new metropolis and housing dangers and limitations. In a hyper- environments. which used to be carried out by our investigating its mechanisms. of viewers. developments, our new marketplaces, labelled world where no Playing means daring to enter bodies. The screen has become The use of technology by artists public squares and coliseums, where uncategorized or unlegislated areas new realities. The role proposed for almost a skin that separates us can also be analysed from this Web 2.0, Public Space, we carry out all kinds of exchanges remain, where there is no spot us in these games is that of playing from the “outside”, from what is viewpoint. There are some who Vigilance, Flaneur, and interactions: business, without coordinates, the artist at being intruders, excluded or set beyond our domestic network. seize upon the advertising Cartographies, Hacktivism, friendships, conflicts, and revolutions. offers us a shield of noise and apart, but also spies, readers, In the face of this scenario it is rhetoric, but taking to the extreme Drift, Cyber-demonstration, The works presented in this futility against the technological re- musicians or passers-by. They all not surprising that many artists are assumptions. There are those, on Cooperation, Espionage, section make use of these platforms territorialisation of the public space ask us to perform the reverse driven to delve into and work on the other hand, who use Glocal, Augmented Reality, from a range of perspectives and and the idea of efficiency, engineering which was necessary to this new “canvas". Not only technological tools like a judo hold Objective Randomness. with a range of purposes. Some of confronting the notion of cost. build or intervene on the game, i.e. through the usual safe paths, to unbalance their opponents, and the proposals follow in the tradition to untangle a story, or to dismantle opening the doors to their there are those who resort to irony of performance art and urban a structure in order to reassemble webpages and inviting us to enjoy to play down such stereotypes. interventions, conveying them to it and thus understand its their works, but by entering our digital environments, while others mechanisms. system, breaking the frame, which, highlight the new customs and this time, is the browser, or altering consequences of this new virtual the behaviour of programmes social life, or explore notions such as installed on our hard drive. isolation and virtual relationships and their specific netiquette.