Cassie Bozicek
Visual Cultures
28 April 2016
POST-INTERNET ART
For as long as art has existed, its content has been formed based on the context which it
exists in. Art has always been congruent with history. Whether it comments on the past, present,
or future in relativity to its creation, the time in which an art piece is created greatly influences
the content, implications, and overall effect of the piece.
It is important and unavoidable now, when discussing contemporary art and cultural
history, to acknowledge that there are poignant new aspects of the art world — for which
widespread accessibility to the internet is responsible. It is necessary to recognize the incredibly
versatile and unprecedented new types of art, artists, methods and theories of art-making, art
forms, communities, and cultures that the internet has allowed for. The web has been such an
influential factor to life in the 21st century that contemporary art, which is defined as art that is
reflective of its era (Quaranta), can now be referred to as post-internet.
Media on the internet spreads with a viral characteristic, uniquely mutating and altering
with every screen it reaches. Art is no different. Rather than being reserved as an indulgence for
only the technically skilled or bourgeois, cultural concepts congruent with the art world now play
an active part in subcultures across the web, represented in popular media as well as lesser
known or niche genres. Art historians are already exploring the role that prevalent social media
platforms, designed for user accessibility and community versatility, plays in the dynamic, everevolving trends of contemporary art.
To understand the explanation of the influence that the internet has had on art and artmaking, there must be an understanding of the distinction between two similar sounding
terminologies. The first term is “internet art”, which refers to individual pieces of art designed
specifically for existence on the platform of the internet. The next is “post-internet art”, which is
the umbrella name of the genre encompassing any art influenced by the internet, whether it exists
on the internet or in physical life. Similarly to a comparison such as “all carrots are vegetables,
but not all vegetables are carrots”, all internet art is post-internet, but not all post-internet art is
internet art. For example, there can be web-influenced works which take the form of physical
objects, and there can be works which exists as an internet objects. Both can be considered postinternet. Oliver Laric is a post-internet artist who has created both post-internet objects and
internet art pieces which exist online. Laric created an installation consisting of found video
recordings from the internet, all of people playing the song Under the Bridge. By cutting up and
arranging the found clips, Laric re-composed the song, thus creating his own cover version. This
installation is an example of a post-internet art object: a work existing in the physical world
which directly references material found on the internet, while also commenting on a sharing
trend in internet culture. Laric also organized a project in which he 3D scanned seventy-four
stone statues from the Usher Gallery and The Collection in Lincoln. All of the images and
geometrical data of the scans is downloadable online for free. In this case, the physical work
which was done to scan the statues translates into a format that effectively highlights the ability
of perfect duplication by computers, as well as comments on how easily obscure and otherwise
unattainable information and images can be dispersed on the internet, establishing the potential
for anyone with internet access to create new art from the dispersed information. Since the scans
only exist as a file, this is considered internet art. With the distinction of these terms in mind, it is
notable that all work created after the widespread adoption of the internet during the 2000’s will
be considered historically as post-internet.
To discuss post-internet art is well complimented by comparing and contrasting shared
aspects with pre-internet art.
Any type of involvement in the art world, (both pre and post internet) encompasses the
experience of museums or galleries. Artists strive to display their art in these spaces. Fans,
critics, and scholars visit these spaces to observe and discuss the pieces which reside there.
Curators make life’s work out of carefully selecting which specific works appear in galleries or
museums according to a determined theme or time period, in relation to the space and the rest of
the included content. To the viewer, museum visits become ritualistic and sacred, and
pilgrimages to see certain works of art are commonly carried out, sometimes across the globe.
The practice of art involvement has seeped into social media and other places on the web.
Now, art communities online are reminiscent of the pre-internet art world. Art, artists, critics, and
curators exist digitally, with even more subject matter to absorb and regurgitate in the postinternet age.
Pre-internet art required physically travelling in order to view the specific art of a specific
location. Viewing certain artworks was not a reality to people living in certain parts of the world,
far away from a particular museum or unable to reach a gallery before a show closes. Unless
printed in a book, art pieces only existed in one singular location, and how art was seen was
heavily influenced by where it was shown. Without the internet, photos of artwork, which were
often discouraged and enforced against in museums in order to protect the sanctity and privilege
of locational art viewing, did not circulate quickly, if at all. This changed perhaps the most
drastically with the invention of the internet. Art can now exist in an unlimited amount of places,
and an unlimited amount of copies can be made. Online galleries and art blogs exist, some of
which encompass classic, iconic artworks as well as more contemporary works created for the
internet. An online gallery could contain pre-internet art, but it is a post-internet space.
Absolutely all content on the internet is able to be collected and shared.
Since there was no emailing, link-sharing, instant documentation or downloadability preinternet, artwork often required popular press coverage in order to validate its existence. For this
reason, many great artists, especially non-white artists and female artists, remained unknown or
were portrayed as inconsequential. Though visibility improved as time went on, pre-internet
exposure was nowhere near the level it has reached now that each artist has the ability to upload
their own work for the whole internet-viewing world -- not just art fans, but potentially every
internet user -- to see. The internet and computer technology in general also offers a more
efficient system of collecting material to repurpose and appropriate, creating even more new
outlets that could be accessed by not just trained individuals, but by anyone with a computer and
an interest in artmaking. Post-internet art, with all its possibilities, has even inspired new
aesthetics that did not exist prior to computer art, such as pixel-based imagery, new systems to
implement the element of chance, and references to computer glitch aesthetics or visuals
appropriated from online environments or web formats. New narrative art can even be made
referencing the constructs of non-art intended functional online spaces, such as organizing color
schemes on an Instagram layout or creating an image within a screenshotted frame of a blank
email. Perhaps the most important change is that the demographic of people who create visible
art has been opened up from the few and the privileged to anyone with access to the internet. A
higher number of creative minds functioning and communicating as artmakers results in more
profoundly developing and more rapidly flourishing forms of art, yielding an overall richer
community of contemporary artists.
Another role which has been altered post-internet in the art world is that of the critic. Art
critics have been notorious figures, classically shaping and overshadowing public opinion by
publishing reviews and opinions in magazines and newspapers. Now, every internet user has
access to platforms that were designed for them to publically voice and defend their opinions in
their own, uncensored words. Every piece of content posted by members of an online community
can potentially be met with reactions and conversations of all types, from lengthy, intelligently
worded praise to emotional and brutally honest criticism. A viewer can become a critic simply by
clicking or refraining from clicking the “like” button corresponding to content on Facebook,
implying expressions of either validation or rejection. Post-internet art criticism is the public
opinion, unfiltered and highly representative.
The internet also allows every user to be a curator. Internet users are constantly curating
their Facebook feeds and Tumblr accounts. In a less broad sense, some people curate online
galleries, which can be submission based as well as compiled by the curator or curatorial team.
Collections can be acquired publically or privately, and displayed widely on the internet or stored
as reference for a select few with the use of passwords or hyperlinks.
Even while noting the vast differences between functional roles in the pre and postinternet art worlds, it is important to consider that while being a successful artist, critic, or
curator in the pre-internet world posed challenges due to limited spread of media and a
considerable amount of social restriction, new visibility challenges also arise in the post-internet
art world, such as being overlooked or silenced due to massive influxes of other content and
competition. Becoming an influential and respected artist, critic, or curator is difficult and
requires extensive work to build credibility, networking skills, and a large following.
Illma Gore, a contemporary painter, rendered a nude image of Donald Trump in response
to the controversy surrounding the reality television star’s 2016 presidential campaign. Her
painting was originally a physical object which was not inherently related to internet culture.
However, because of the rapid speed of circulation made possible by sharing tools on social
media, and because of the prevalence of similar internet-originated images mocking Donald
Trump, the image quickly flooded social media, news journals, and blogs, and consequently
transitioned from being solely a physical object to existing simultaneously in a different format
as an internet object.
Because of the internet’s large population and nearly effortless communication
capabilities, it retains a tendency to force art objects which were once solely physical to adapt
into internet objects. “Even if the artist doesn’t put the work on the internet, the work will be cast
into the internet world. And at this point, contemporary art as a category was/is forced against its
will to deal with this new distribution context, or at least acknowledge it.” (McHugh 6) The web
is truly powerful. In order to avoid the ever-present possibility of their message being lead astray
on the internet, contemporary artists are now faced with the decision to either attempt to reject
the glaring force of the internet, or embrace its intimidatingly diverse and arbitrary features,
strategically enhancing and acclimating their art to thrive in a post-internet world.
Notably, the internet is not a physical space. Rather, it functions similarly to the human
mind; it is feasibly infinite. It is a special, distinct “place”, wherein exists the capability to create
and to generate information and material without limits — or with limits, should the creator
desire. The world wide web is unique; it provides a palpable, yet seemingly imaginary place
where individuals become entities, symbolized merely by groups of pixels. There is no
enforcement of true identity. It is not unreasonable to imagine personifying an ideal, tweaking
oneself toward an altered identity, or building an alternate self altogether.
Users of all kinds of social media commonly consciously or unconsciously filter their
online actions in order to encompass desirable traits or omit undesirable ones — referred to as
“internet presence” and often varying slightly from genuine personality. However, this is usually
done without intention of concealing one’s true identity. Some artists create online accounts for
an entirely different purpose. Twitter could be considered a platform for performance art; artists
commonly maintain experimental accounts which revolve around a theme, (@AtheistQ)
collections and recordings of found material, (@NYTMinusContext) personification,
(@big_ben_clock) or an eccentric character (@dril). Internet artists versed in programming also
create Twitter Bots, twitter accounts which implement coding in order to automatically react to
regular Twitter users, often eliciting response. Artists on twitter craft an environment in which
the general public mingles, aware or unaware, with art projects and experiments. Twitter is, like
most post-internet art, interactive and easily accessible, disguising art under the veil of common
and popular social media.
Some internet artists prefer to be more overt, creating their own open forum websites and
quirky, jarring characters. Mouchette is an alternate persona created for a project by Martine
Neddam, an artist who works in the medium of text and speech. Neddam studied English and set
design before the internet allowed her to explore other mediums, such as virtual reality and web
performance. The premise of Mouchette is an interactive, unsettling online environment
revolving around a French pre-teen. Symbols, images, and phrases used in the web piece allude
to themes of death, violence, and sex. The veil that the internet creates, the ambiguity and
impossibility of proving true identity makes it an ideal space to carry out the ongoing character
project, which has been active since 1996. Neddam has created other fictional characters as well,
such as David Still, the owner of a public email account, and XiaoQian, an artist working on
virtual humans.
Mouchette is a highly interactive piece. The website reacts immediately based on
decisions that the participant chooses while a deeply unsettling aesthetic builds, reminiscent of a
macabre paranormal encounter. The integration of original, viewer-submitted messages intended
for interaction with the character of Mouchette pins viewers as an integral part of the piece,
rejects the notion of intimidating “art speak”, and encourages participation and response.
The readymade veil of the internet provides a sort of security blanket for users to function
invisibly underneath. Internet users who have no previous art experience or confidence could feel
more comfortable under this blanket of anonymity, and therefore, a great deal of new art is
produced which would not have existed without this aspect. draft(s), an interactive and
collaborative literature project created by internet artist N Jewell. The project uses Google Docs
as a public space for text manifestation, providing a unique collaborative environment which
welcomes users with a familiar interface and a choice for contributors to remain anonymous. The
possibility of collaboration encourages participation from artists who may or may not have
considered working with strangers before. The project is published by Glo Work Press, an
independently-run organization which defines itself as a publisher of both physical and digital
artifacts, such as printable books, PowerPoints, and MP3’s from many different internet artists.
Organized collaborations and planned spaces for internet art to live in provide previously nonexisting areas for these types of experimental works to belong in and broaden the concept of
artmaking to include many different people of different creative skill sets which non-internet art
can be seen as more exclusive of. “The creation of digital art, then, feels like a space that’s ripe
for collaboration – artists working with engineers, technologists, scientists, to realise new ideas
and forms, and to experiment and innovate. It’s about transcending ego, so that the finished
project can be greater than the sum of its parts.” (Deakin)
Contemporary artists in the 21st century could easily be overwhelmed at the thought of
fathoming the extensive and diverse possibilities which the internet era has laid out in front of
them, but artists historically tend not to falter in the face of such scenarios. The internet and the
artistic mind seem to be well paired; the internet’s infinite generativity compliments the artist’s
urge to push limits, and vice versa. The seemingly overloaded information held in the imagined
space of the web provides an excellent pallet on which the contemporary artist can contentedly
dwell. The internet characteristically displays a talent for tapping into the creative minds of both
humans who are versed in the currents of the art world and art history, and those who are just
blowing off dust from a newly discovered creative artifice. The internet opens its arms; the
internet eagerly cradles human impulses which were too experimental, uncontrollable, or
unbelievable to have previously existed. Post-internet art is simply art which has evolved in
every direction. It is unapologetic and unshy. It is both boisterous and heartbreakingly intimate.
It is for everyone and everything. Artmaking is a love affair. The developments of mankind and
the evolution of art are forever entwined, waiting patiently and kindly, though neither, by nature,
has even once fallen out of step with the other.
Deakin, Fred. “Art Space”. University of the Arts, London. http://www.thespace.org/news/
Greenfield, Patrick. “Artist threatened with lawsuits if she sells nude Donald Trump painting”
Guardian News. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/17/nude-donald-trump-paintingillma-gore-lawsuits
Jewell, N. “draft(s)”. Google Document. Glo Worm Press 2016. http://bit.ly/1Ww04Fy
Laric, Oliver. “Lincoln 3D Scans”. Downloadable Digital Files. 2012. http://
oliverlaric.com
Laric, Oliver. “Versions of Under the Bridge”. Video/sound installation. 2007-2009.
http://oliverlaric.com
McHugh, Gene. “Post Internet: Notes on The Internet and Art”. LINK editions. Brescia
2011
Quaranta, Domenico. “Beyond New Media Art”. LINK editions. Brescia 2013
Wallace, Ian. “What Is Post-Internet Art? Understanding the Revolutionary New Art
Movement”. Artspace. March 18, 2014 http://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/
trend_report/post_internet_art-52138