PERFORMANCE
FRI 10 APR 2009 7:00PM – 8:00PM @ THEATRE CENTRE

Live 5: Art Since 1960 (According to the Internet)
Hanne Mugaas & Cory Arcangel

How is the internet changing our perception of art? In its indiscriminate cataloguing and non-hegemonic participation, the internet presents an idiosyncratic account of art since 1960. The democratic and self-regulating mechanisms of the internet make artworks and art world information easily accessible for reinterpretation by its users.

Hosted by Pleasure Dome and the Images Festival, Art Since 1960 (According to the Internet) is an informal multimedia lecture presented by Hanne Mugaas and Cory Arcangel that examines the alternate discourse on contemporary art that is unfolding on the world wide web. “The control systems that normally govern the systematization of art are dismantled by the search algorithms and whims of home users,” states Mugaas. The academic discipline of art history is bypassed and the curatorial rigour of the museum is rejected by internet users posting on art. Certainly institutions have their websites, but they are overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of posts by users who ignore their methodologies. What are the results when this level of discourse is lost? Are the long established theories of art merely fusty conceits; irrelevant and elitist notions?

Gathering together art images, video and audio, Mugaas and Arcangel survey the internet’s art collections and how they are contextualized by its users. They offer their view on how this open sourcing of art and ideas has resulted in a variety of contiguities, conflations and collisions.

Cory Arcangel is an internationally renowned digital hacker known for his conceptual art projects. Check out and try out his reprogramming works at www.beigerecords.com/cory/tags/artwork/

Hanne Mugaas is a curator of art ephemera as well as a thought provoking art and culture pundit. View her collection of audiovisual postings at http://hanne-mugaas.com/artblog/