Aluminum Sites, Geek Curators and Online Conservators

by Olia Lialina


«Online Art» is of course a very careful term. It is as broad as computer art. Is there any computer which is not online now? All sorts of artistic expression, a large variety of technologies and media can be seen as online art. Generative graphics made with processing, performances in Second Life, Flash games, browser bookmarklets, Google mash-ups, Youtube videos as well as conceptual works, HTML experiments of the 1990s and networking acts of the 1960s. There is a variety of forms. For example at the time of writing this, Firefox Addons and Wikipedia art are hot and software art and interface art are out. And whatever or whoever becomes famous online attracts the interest of gallerists and collectors today, despite the complex technology or ephemerality of the work. [...]