Description:

This study examines whether the Internet offers artists a unique freedom from commodity status and the traditional art institutions, and how and why this freedom calls for us to re-assess our understanding of art and its social role. Areas of investigation include modernist and postmodernist understanding of avant-garde and capitalist society, with a major focus on dialogue between members of the net community itself, critics, artists, journalists and others who have first hand experiences with the new technologies, a central theme being Russian artist Olia Lialinas' Teleportacia Gallery, which opened in 1998 controversially attempting to ‘sell’ net art in a virtual gallery.