The
Green House is the name I have given to the region in cyberspace where
these new (?) artistic forms of expression can be found - "Net Art"
or "Web Art". It alludes to the electric green colour widely
used on the Internet, especially in its links, and also, of course, to
the approximation I have made to the work of Machado de Assis. The Green
House that I am writing about can be accessed by Itaguaí, by all
the towns and villages near and far to it, by the city of Rio de Janeiro
itself and lastly, by all at any latitude or longitude of this our planet
Earth. Many artists are already exploring and researching this new stand
for art, which, despite the mathematics, in my view, has far more of butterfly
wings - art and madness in support of coming to be.
Today cyberspace
offers us thousands of possibilities to be adrift or to find ourselves
in a safe harbour amid the intricate paths of its cartography. "Net
Art" or "Web Art" would fit into which of these two options?
I don't know exactly
when the Green House was opened, but the fact is that at the end of
the seven years in which I have been watching it, the experiences have
not yet run out. In Itaguaí and in the rest of the whole world,
the possibility exists to access and enjoy this open territory of Art
that I insist on calling the Green House.
And I was right. From
all the cities and little places lost in the world artists have flowed
to the Green House. In the beginning there were those who wanted to exhibit
their traditional creations: paintings, prints, sculptures …. . Some
saw in the web a window to the world, others were furious with the difficulties
and barriers in being part of traditional art circuits. After some time,
the Green House became a settlement. They were not content in just creating
virtual galleries. They began to use the net as a stand for art. I myself,
hence imagining that I was a pioneer, created "Cyber Circus"
in 1998 - a circus which did not have a ring but whose attractions were
everywhere. Shortly after however, I discovered the existence of more
"madmen* in the world, and I dived in, fascinated by the inexplicable
pleasure of experimenting and inventing a new language. A friend of mine
that I met and who had not seen me for a while just could not believe
it. What! An artist that he had seen, three months earlier, painting in
acrylics on canvas…
* The word madness
is ambiguous. In dealing with art, I use it here as the curiosity that
human beings have and which makes them search for reason, invention
and truth for their existence.
Madmen by letters, numbers and colours had the right address at jodi.org.
There were also those who devoted themselves especially to artificial
intelligence. Amongst these, Karl Sims, who could be found at genarts.com.
There were also Aleph, Rhizome, Alt X, the House of Roses, all seriously
tackling the two-term Art/Science and, consequently, at the right address
at the Green House.
It was also there that Potatoland was found, with the cannibalism of
Mark Napier in RioT; and Alba, the luminous little rabbit creation of
Eduardo Kac; the snake house of the Federal University of Caxias do
Sul, the INSN(H)AK(R)ES Project directed by Professor Diana Domingues;
a black and virtual line, probably the biggest work of art in the world,
if not, in the history of art, as it possesses nearly 568,188 km..!
by my virtual friend Joéser Alvarez; the magazine "Arte
on Line" that showed part of what was happening in the Green House;
and many experiences with transgenic art, with tele-presence, inter-activity,
visual poetry, electronic books, hypertexts, games and whatever else
could be invented.
Thus, through artistic and scientific interest, I began discovering
in the Green House all these new languages which only became possible
through Science.
I made a magnificent gesture, and replied:
- It is about something higher, it is about a scientific experience.
I write experience, because I dare not right now assure my idea; not
even science is anything else, other than a constant investigation.
Therefore, it is about an experience that is going to change the face
of the Earth. The union of Art and Science, the object of my studies,
was until now an island lost in the ocean. I begin to suspect that soon
it will become a continent.
I said this, and
went quiet, to ponder on the amazement of all around me. Afterwards,
I lengthily explained my idea. In my concept, the use of Science for
Art and vice-versa would become more and more common. I developed this
with many transcriptions of reasoning, texts by good authors, examples.
The examples, I found all of them on the Internet itself. Hence, I located
with specialisation some sites where the matter was already being dealt
with. And because they were all astonished, I said to them that it was
all a question of time and that the Universities would have to invest
deeply in the two-term Art/Science. I even added judgementally:
- The 21st Century
will bet on this union of various forms and one of them, without doubt,
will be an odyssey in cyberspace.
- Charming, very
charming! They all exclaimed, raising their hands to the sky.
I thought for a moment, and said:
- I suppose that
the human spirit is a vast shell. My purpose is to see if I can extract
the pearl, which is reason; we demarcate definitively the limits of
Art and of Science. Reason is the perfect balance of all the faculties:
not the extreme valuing of one in detriment of the other.
Some to whom I confided
the new theory declared straight out that they did not fully understand
it, that it was an absurd piece of work, and, if it was not absurd,
that it was so colossal that it was not worth starting on its accomplishment.
- With the current
definition, they added, which is that of all times, Art and Science
are perfectly delimited. It is known where one ends and where the other
begins. Why cross the fence?
On my fine and discreet
lip, a vague shadow requested an intention of laughter, in which disdain
united with commiseration; but no word parted from my distinguished
inner parts.
And now the reader
should prepare him/herself to be amazed on finding out that some artists
of the Green House were now doing collaborative works.
- All together?
- All of them. They
call it "Net Art".
- It is impossible,
"if for the artist there exists a promise in which he/she can trust,
that is synthesised in the wish for solitude". *
- All of them, no
matter the continent where they be. Having said this, I continued the
explanation:
- 1st - The Green
House may already have recruited a good number of artists; 2nd - that
the ease of communication between them may take them to examine the
basis of these theories where it was affirmed that solitude was the
best companion for creation; 3rd - from this test and from statistical
fact, may result for them in the conviction that the true doctrine was
not that, but the opposite, and so, collaborative work should be experimented;
4th - collaborative work would not be restricted just to artists in
the strict sense of the term, it would also be the dissolution of the
artist in life, giving the possibility for anonymous creation; 5th -
that, in trying to discover the scientific truth, efforts of all natures
would not be spared to overcome egos; 6th - that this identity of the
artist with the collective would not be his/her death, and that interactive
art could eliminate the exclusive barriers and liberate the action of
the player, his/her response…
After some time
people began to question what "net art" really would be, as
limits such as connections and browsers were being overcome and ironically,
despite this progress, there was a process of homogenisation of "net
art" and a lot of what was appearing were new clichés. I
did not slacken off. I went from site to site, web page to web page,
observing, interrogating, studying; and when I found a good example
I would watch it with the same joy as in the past would herd them by
the dozen. That same disproportion confirmed these new questionings.
In the Green House many were falling into these traps of clichés;
I proceeded scrupulously and only after studying thoroughly the situation
would I try to write a text/manifest about what could really be considered
to be "net art".
I organised the
artists and sites by categories. I made, for example, a category of
those who used Flash. This was divided into two classes: those where
inventiveness predominated and the other where they took the easy route,
using the programme in the same way as any commercial site. Another
was of pseudo- hackers, who still insisted on viruses and such like
things; another which insisted on explanations for a content that should
be discovered through interaction; another of shrewd people who would
take images from other sites, instead of creating their own. In this
way, I carefully began creating categories and trying to separate the
wheat from the chaff.*
* Text inspired
by the article "Six Rules Towards A New Internet Art", by
Eryk Salvaggio (http://www.rhizome.org)
Arriving at this
conclusion, I had two contrary sensations, one of pleasure, the other
depression. That of pleasure was from seeing that, at the end of long,
patient investigations, constant work and hard fighting with critics,
I could declare this truth: - the category "Net Art"- "Web
Art" already occupied extensive territory within the frontiers
of art. The Green House was being thought out and built simultaneously
by many artists of various terrestrial co-ordinates. But as quickly
as this idea refreshed my soul, another appeared which neutralised the
first effect; it was the idea of doubt. So what! In Itaguaí and
the rest of the world there were still many people who did not believe
in that. This such absolute conclusion, would it not be mistaken in
itself, and did it not come, therefore, to destroy the broad, majestic
building of the new form of art?
My affliction was
defined by friends as one of the most awful intellectual storms that
has broken on a "web artist". But storms only bury the weak;
the strong get stronger against them and stare at the thunder. Twenty
minutes later my expression was lit up with a gentle clarity.
- Yes, that has
to be, I thought…
- On the one side,
the issue was commercial, I thought; it was about a relatively new art
form, that until now had little or no market value. Current society
is ruled by the media and by the market…
- This and that:
Science and Art were frontier territories. There was a threshold space
between them. This space corresponded to the space of the Green House.
- No rule?
- None
- Is everything
valid?
- Everything. Art,
on the web or outside it, has to be of good quality, has to awake the
emotion of the admirer. "The artist creates for himself - only
for himself. The creation of the artist is an emblem: from his innermost
he manifests all the small, ephemeral things: his suffering, free desires,
anguished dreams and those joys that lose vigour. There his soul becomes
great and festive, and he has created a dignified hearth for himself."
1
I went into the
Green House, I made it my hearth. "Often I feel such a great nostalgia
for myself and, I know that the path is still long, but in my best dreams
I catch a glimpse of the day in which I will be able to accept myself."
2
I do not intend to leave it. After all, what is the line that separates
the inside from the outside? "The creator is the ulterior man,
he beyond whom the future is found." 3