Internet Art: The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce

by Julian Stallabrass

The development of Internet art has been short and rapid and dates from the introduction of web browsers in the mid-1990s. Artists realized the potential of a medium and system of delivery that side-stepped the mainstream art institutions and allowed them to make direct contact with an audience. Their interventions have ranged from works that deconstruct the browser itself, to works that shade into political activism. Internet art has been international, with distinct contributions emerging from the US, the Far East, Europe, the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, and the Third World.

Genres: Art, Unfinished

168 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Julian Stallabrass is an English art historian, photographer and curator. He was educated at Leighton Park School and New College, Oxford University where he studied PPE. A Marxist, he has written extensively on contemporary art (including internet art), photography and the history of twentieth century British art.

Reviews

[Gytis Dovydaitis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite well put compilation of insights into net.art. Although half of the book is outdated, but it's really useful as a historical document, depicting the public opinion, anticipations and fears surrounding internet at that time.

[Tim Pendry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 2003 book is already a bit superceded by time passing (as you would expect in this fast-moving zone of culture) but a very good starting point for explorations into the relationship between art and the internet. Some stimulating ideas and corrections of assumptions about the technology involved but probably best read by specialists.