Far too often great art on the Internet gets lost amidst the clutter of virtual mediocrity, or simply gets far too buried in the “shared” list of your RSS aggregator of choice. We’ve done the detective work for you and present five great pieces of art that should be on your radar (or at least saved to a different Bookmarks folder):
Fuck Google, indeed.
5) F.A.T. Lab’s FUCK GOOGLE Week (2010)
Recently F.A.T. (Free Art & Technology) Lab held a week-long series of posts “themed around evil mother Google” during Transmediale10 in Berlin. This included the now-infamous alleged GPS-bugging of a Google Street View car, custom Firefox themes, and even an instructable on building your own Street View car to fight back against the corporation. (see also a recent Cargo Collective design campaign).
Vimeo link: Fuck Google Week roundup
4) Constant Dullaart, YouTube as Subject / YouTube as Sculpture (2008-ongoing)
In addition to having the best possible name for a digital conceptual artist, Constant Dullaart’s body of work consists of manipulating with contemporary methods of online viewing and production.
His YouTube works draw attention to the user interface that mediates the majority of Internet video traffic in the Western world, whether by sculpturally mimicking the effect of a loading video or by taking the “Play” icon to a rave.
3) Charles Broskoski, Films (2008-ongoing)
Broskoski’s Films is a daily streaming video program with a difference — there are no moving images to be found, only the subtitle tracks.
Broskoski’s film choices are suited to his audience and include new classics, such as Ghostbusters and Terminator 2, so that anyone who was young in the 1980s or early 90s may actually be able to identify by quotes alone.
Make sure to visit his paintings gallery while visiting the site.
The Internet’s answer to the best items for contemporary assemblage: “tinsel, inflatable object, marble, hair, fluorescent lights, ball, water, image of a cat”
Fittingly hosted on a free Blogspot account, Ben Schumacher’s portfolio holds a number of gems situated right at the intersection of Internet art and contemporary sculpture.
He presents a number of clever conceptual pieces, from a contemporary assemblage sculpture crafted according to the specifications of a Yahoo! Answers query to an iStockPhoto image of pool water printed on top of a pool cover. Schumacher merges the preoccupation with the cheap and every day by fashioning a number of his sculptures and wall pieces out of materials from IKEA and Walmart.
A view of “www.fromthedarkpast.com” by Rafael Rozendaal
1) Rafael Rozendaal, COLORFLIP.COM, FROMTHEDARKPAST.COM, INTOTIME.COM, NEKROMISANTROP.COM (2008, 2009, 2010, 2010)
No conversation about contemporary Internet art is complete without Rafael Rozendaal.
Chances are even if you haven’t heard his name you’ve visited one of his websites in the last few years. His particular blend of pop aesthetics and flash animation have made his works popular, though how he treats each website as an individual piece adds an interesting layer.
Purchasing a Rafael Rozendaal piece entails purchasing the domain name as well as the art associated with it, and the website must remain visible to the public (the collector’s name is placed in the Title bar).
