It wasn't many months ago that art critics were turning up their noses at digital art. Some suggested there really wasn't yet such a thing. Now digital art is hot. The Whitney's 'BitStreams' exhibition, which opens March 22, is the first show devoted to such work at a major New York museum. The explosion of new technologies over the last decade has meant an ever-increasing range of options for artists looking to explore new mediums.
Digital art seems to be gathering a critical mass with museums.
The commitment of these museums to new media has prompted debates on the issues of collecting and conserving digital media, even though there is currently little commercial support for the creation and production of net art. Digital art has hit the big time in terms of recognition now that major museums are showcasing it. Canada's Minister of Culture launches a new Virtual Museum of Canada. It contains an art gallery with more than 200,000 images, including paintings from the Group of Seven, Inuit sculpture and photographs. In the month before it closed for a five-year renovation, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art attracted 54,000 visitors.