An Interactive Survey. 09.15.99 A Case Study of Cultural Transference. Carly Berwick profiles New York-based Chinese artist Xu Bing and his work. A discussion about staging art exhibitions and the hazards of curating. It's a process that recurs again and again.
New technologies transfigure both the making and the reception of art.
Whether it's the use of scientific perspective and optics, the techniques of mass production, or mainstream image-making tools like Polaroid photography, film, and video, some art changes the way people see. Today, you can see a similar curve in the evolution of the Web, except that it's happening at a freakishly accelerated pace. Throughout the history of modern art, initial resistance to new art-making strategies has given way to wide public and institutional acceptance. Digital media in general and the Web in particular are now on the verge of mass-market acceptance. And long before the Web became a hopelessly useful moneymaking duct, artists began exploring the possibilities of network technologies.