Internet Art

I had actually never heard the term, internet art, before reading this article. I noticed that the article was written in 2004. That may seem recent, but Myspace was just getting started as a social networking site and Facebook had not launched yet. I remember teaching art at camp in 2004 and do not recall the campers (ages 7-18) too concerned with the limited internet access at camp. I suspect that the students’ responses to internet art would be very different had the study been conducted today.

The portion of the article that resonated with me was under the heading, “Form and Function: Internet Art versus “Typical” Websites". The students’ confusion about internet art versus websites with a clear function sounded like a typical reaction from a student to a perplexing piece of Postmodern artwork. I think the debate of internet art may fall more appropriately under the art versus design distinction. I personally feel that while there may be defining characteristics between the two, design still falls under the category of art.

I am not nostalgic when it comes to the definition of art, and I believe that new genres should be acknowledged, explored and analyzed in an art classroom. The depth that the teacher goes into internet art should depend on whether it is a digital arts class or a general art class.