[-empyre-] net art and galleries / museums

[jaka zeleznikar <jaka@jaka.org>]

hi everybody,

it's only now that i'm able to join the discussion so i will address some
topics already discussed.

- net art in galleries:

i would like to point to several good points about exhibiting net art
works in galleries (please have in mind that i thing of gallery in it's
ideal possibilities)

- computer configuration
when we look net art from our personal computer we usually cant switch
between operating systems (Windows, MacOS, Linux, ...) and browsers
(and their versions/generations) - gallery can provide this and so
enable people to see works (or to see them in their 'made-in' environment)

there is a lot of works who were made for specific platform - it's
unreal to expect people to find and install (for example) first version
of Netscape, not to mention operating systems :)

- education
educational part of exibitions is often overlooked and considered to be
unimportant. I don't agree with this. Art has many many layers and long
history containing many ideas, movements and relationships between them.
(Gallery public has different level of knowledge.)
Also we have to consider cultural differences - it's somehow considered
that net art (online art, web art, net.art, ...) is by default part of
net culture - which is the same (or at least readable) everywhere
- i don't think this is thrue - all net art works have roots in specific
culture and their history - and this can sometimes be a big mystery, so
(at least) information about this context can be of great value.

Also, as Valerie pointed out, help to public on how to navigate (not
everybody who likes art is familiar with the computer) can be of great
value - not for the insiders but for interested 'outsiders'. (Both are
part of public.)