Art is still art wherever it is found ... Langlands & Bell's Superactive i2i
Viewing and participating in art online is a real-life experience. We think it's a false distinction to think of art on-line and art off-line as being two separate worlds, with one being either more or less real. Life on-line is part of the real world today and art is still art wherever it is found. What matters is whether it is interesting art, whether we find the experience rewarding, whether it has the power to transform how we see the world, and whether it conveys the spirit of our time. Digital media are contemporary media after all.
With art we have been trading in virtual realities for thousands of years. As soon as you represent something it becomes virtual, whether it is via a computer or via an oil painting. Artists have always exploited strategies to make art a more viewer-immersive experience. Hence the development of single fixed-point perspective, or installation art. Art is a visceral and contemplative experience that you discover with your emotions and your imagination.
The exciting thing about the project we are working on for Somerset House is that it is both virtual and real simultaneously. Superactive i2i is based in the life and architecture of Somerset House. It is an atmospheric and mysterious space that people can explore physically in person and also digitally. In making this work we have extended the realm of Somerset House. The WiFi allows roaming access throughout the courtyard and river terrace areas, with Superactive i2i allowing you to communicate and share these experiences with other visitors at Somerset House and over the internet.
The internet is good for art in so many ways that we are only just beginning to realise or even imagine. First, it is an extraordinary tool for enabling art and for the creation of art as we already understand it, especially in the areas of access and diffusion. It has expanded the field for art and allows new audiences to participate. It also enhances and transforms research, education, archiving and marketing of art. The list of benefits is potentially endless.
Second, the internet has opened up a whole new world where art can exist and it is creating the terrain for it as it goes along. It's almost as though we have suddenly discovered a whole new solar system on our doorstep that we can inhabit and explore, and it's still expanding.
We can't predict what online artistic developments there should be in the future. Access should continue to increase for individuals across the world. Individual perspective and experience are the most interesting thing for us, not just corporate viewpoints. People like and need to express themselves and find common interests. With the internet, art crosses boundaries, surprises people, and unites them.
