About windows opening to the next template
„This is a template culture”, says Ewa Woztowicz. Indeed, software became a relevant tool for this culture or more: the current paradigm is…
About windows opening to the next template
„This is a template culture”, says Ewa Wojtowicz. Indeed, software became a relevant tool for this culture or more: the current paradigm is represented by the software itself. This is the cause that makes Lev Manovich says that we live in software culture. Everything is in changing and the entire culture is characterized by exponential growth. I discussed the current paradigm of contemporary art, net-art movement, and his present relevance, to the virality of information scattering with Ewa Wojtowicz.
Ewa Wójtowicz is a new media arts researcher and art critic with a background in fine arts. In 2006 she obtained her Ph.D. in Cognitive Sciences and Social Communication, with the dissertation Net Art as an Interactive Art, at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (MA in Artistic Education with a thesis on mail art, and in Printmaking) in 2000. Author of a book about Internet art and digital culture Net art (Rabid, Kraków 2008). Selected writings in books: Wiek ekranów / The Age of Screens, (Kraków 2002), Liternet.pl (Kraków 2003) Estetyka wirtualności / The Aesthetics of Virtuality (Kraków 2005), Przestrzeń sztuki: obrazy — słowa — komentarze / The Realm of Art: Images — Words — Comments (Katowice 2005), TEKST-TURA (Kraków 2005), Mind The Map! History Is Not Given (Frankfurt/Main 2006), Tekstylia bis (Kraków 2006), Nowoczesność po ponowoczesności /Modernity after Post-modernity (Poznań 2007). More that 30 articles contributed to Polish and European, both paper and online magazines on art and culture, including Art Inquiry, This Century’s Review, Fragile, Ha!Art, Kultura Popularna, Kultura Współczesna, Lampa, Opcje, Panoptikum, Zeszyty Artystyczne.
Rares Iordache: Are you agree with this affirmation: Web 2.0 represents the end of net-art? Which is the current paradigm in art?
Ewa Wojtowicz: If we understand the notion “net.art” as it is widely associated, with the pioneering decade of the 90s, the wave of „art glasnost”, static websites, and cyber utopias, then it is history, even if the projects are still available. Its end has been announced many times, after “dot-com crash” at the beginning of the new century, or along with the commercialization and institutionalization of the digital media. However, net art has a broader meaning, and as a net-based artistic activity, it gains even more from the existence of Web 2.0 tools and social media usage. As a net-based art practice has become as ubiquitous as the net itself, there are numerous possibilities for an artist to be present within the art discourse. Also, artists using the Internet and searching for its meta-levels, often don’t even call themselves net artists, finding this medium an obvious one. This may recall the idea of ubiquitous media, coined by Mark Weiser. Seems like there is no dominant paradigm in contemporary art, though we might search for it in technology and the media. I would, particularly, see this paradigm of art in interactive, mediated communication, which has a long history, but a huge developing potential due to emerging new media.
R.I.: What represents Net Art at this moment? In the 90s net.art was a kind of avant-garde, but since the web 2.0 appearance, we can talk about a radical transformation in art. What are the relevant projects for Net Art now? Do you think that we can discuss a constructive recovery of this concept?
E.W.: Apparently the net art’s early qualities, such as the knowledge of basic programming, questioning the familiar interface, and self-referential (in terms of referring to the network as such) approach, have been replaced by some new features. There is much more open-source collaboration, some techno-nostalgia, and a lot of remixes. After a few years of a dominant “lo-fi aesthetics”, we can also talk about the emergence of digital folklore, described by Olia Lialina and Dragan Espenschied in their book (2009). It is a phenomenon, based on the “cult of the amateur”, as Andrew Keen calls it, and embracing, everything: memes, animated GIFs, glitches, and DIY re-enactment. The dialogue with Internet pop culture may be sometimes precarious, and it reminds us of the camp attitude, as Susan Sontag has taught us. However, in the world of instant schemes and ready-to-use templates, there is no way back to static websites. Also, there are numerous projects on the verge of net art and software art, or generative art, as the artwork is net-based when it relies on network qualities. The qualities change though, and this shift goes into widespread mobility, such as mobile access and locative media.
R.I.: In the sense of Lev Manovich, this is a software culture. Sure, at the same time we can talk about new media culture or such other designation, but things are not clear. What do you think about this?
E.W.: Indeed, the culture is being formed by the accessible software more than we think. There is of course a regular usage of software, and a creative one, which may be associated with generative art. Sometimes it is a “reverse engineering”, including exploration of already existing software, which is then customized, often with a subversive attitude. The contemporary digital culture is software-oriented, as well as the modes of education or consumption are connected with already existing and emerging software. I’ve been just reading a recent article by Jason Huff, on the Rhizome website, about the history of desktop images in art, beginning from the net art classic — Alexei Shulgin’s Desktop Is (1997). The author claims: “Desktops are the new studio” and, apparently, this is true. An artist’s studio, represented in many paintings, is now a screen of a computer as a cultural machine, as Peter Lunenfeld calls it. Also, in everyday life, we talk about “googling” for information and using “photoshopped” images, and we complain about “twitterization of information”, which all clearly indicates there is a deep yet not clearly perceivable change. The software culture may be, however, understood as a part of consumption culture, which would be a misunderstanding, as the meaning is too narrow. It also embraces the open-source software, and the circulation of free data, as well as a wiki-model of collaboration. There is also the whole hacktivism scene, which is, partly, still connected with the net art and new media art scene.
R.I.: The user became (v)user in 1998 with participation, but he is abused by a continuous flux of remixability..a kind of hybrid media. New media makes a dissolution of subject identity? The subject’s avatar is seized by panic when he goes into virtual space and the cause seems to be that dissolution.
E.W.: Actually, a subject’s identity requires rather constant updating, than being a coherent one. Literally, we can notice it in the appearance of Gazira Babeli, a code performer, active in the realm of Second Life. Her identity is fluent and purposely disintegrated, as well as her actions. Even when not represented by a figurative yet fantastic avatar, a user has to be aware of hers online presence and a public image in the world which has said “Goodbye Privacy” with the emergence of social media. I am relating here to one of the Ars Electronica keywords, because it is describing accurately one of the most visible features of contemporary ongoing spectacle, taking place in the Web 2.0. The identity of a subject is, in my opinion, not an imagined one, but a vividly real, with real consequences of virtual actions and a threat of thought control we remember from Orwell’s dystopia. When it comes to a viewer then, we can also notice a shift towards more autonomy and, at the same time, personal involvement as a basic rule for experiencing the artwork.
R.I.: In a recent essay, you talk about translocality and transglocality. Internet is a strong element of globalization, but web 2.0 seems to be the end of nomadism in this place. The geographical boundaries are removed, but the subject is subjugated by a sort of determination?
E.W.: The phenomenon of translocality changed ever since. Seemingly, in the realm of global network, the boundaries may be not political anymore, though if we recall the case of Google censorship in China, and the like, things are not that simple. What might sound like a paradox ten years ago, now has become a reality: sometimes users miss boundaries, being tired of the constant flow of overproduced information. Since we are attacked by user-generated content, to be a part of informational society, we are bound to the obligation of being still online, instantly informed and using, as Linda Stone describes it “continuous partial attention”.
R.I.: CMS (Joomla, WordPress, Drupal) makes possible the individual expectation on web and everything is easy to use…too friendly. What is the evolution here? Where is the line towards we go on? What is the relation of art with this place?
E.W.: A user is, indeed, spoilt by choice, having too many ready-to-use, instant schemes or fancy widgets. This is a „template culture”, another characteristic of the broader notion of consumer culture, which motto is described by Peter Lunenfeld in his new book, The Secret War Between Downloading and Uploading (2011) as “Buy now or buy later”. The paradox is, that users rarely notice using ready templates or producing content within Web 2.0 media, as an act of consumption, taking it for a manifestation of individual creativity. The standardization of the framework, in which we suppose to see and present art, might be a threat for artistic creativity, as one of the values of art is the fact it does not follow the rules. However, when searching for easy to recognize and quickly access information, users often rely on the familiar standards. On the other hand, some contemporary net artists purposely drop off the race, having their websites minimalistic if not primitive, in order to question the framework, given by template system.
R.I.: I talk about a viral culture or a kind of immersion into viral. The mechanism of information scattering is similar to a virus trajectory. Video, photos, video games, blogging, etc, everything is made to be scattered. What about art? This seems to be the difference between working online and working offline?
E.W.: The viral mechanism is an interesting one to watch when it comes to cultural forces. Although it has subversive roots, its impact is now much broader, as it is one of the basic mechanisms of dispersing information in digital culture. However, the “information scattering”, as you call it, is another key feature of this culture, as the collective model of producing and sharing information questions most of the established modes of communication. This is very inspiring for a researcher, as within the so-called “twitterization” of culture, artists have to adjust to the existing framework, or try to embrace it from the meta-level. The difference between online and offline artistic activity is a good comparison here. Also, memes may be a form of art, and the example of Technoviking meme is an interesting one. German artist Matthias Fritsch, who has been working on this meme, has gathered and assembled many amateur YouTube re-enactments of this scene. In this case, the artist takes the role of an archivist or an ethnographer, as we can say after Hal Foster. The collective mechanism of a meme circulation is then analysed and contextualized by the artist.
R.I.: Describe, please, your recent project or tell me some words about your recent works. Also, tell me what you think about cultural projects on the web.
E.W.: Currently I’ve been working on my new book, focused mainly on remix in new media arts. Also, I am involved in the project about cyber celebrities and network culture memes, which will be a part of the exhibition The Exalted. From the Pharaoh to Lady Gaga, in the National Museum in Warsaw, that will take place in May.
The particular value of cultural projects on the web is the collective potential as well as the possibility of collaboration between artists, theorists, and curators. One of the most valuable qualities of new media is, for example, online streaming of lectures, conferences, and discussion panels, which makes the knowledge available to those, who are unable to attend. Also, online magazines, cultural hubs, and resources of academic papers enrich the discourse, especially in the field of humanities. The cross-cultural experience and access to regularly