Vuk cosic biography

Ever by reason of Max suggested i run interviews on the blog (and that’s a looong time ago), unrestrainable started thinking about whom i’d like to pester with childlike questions. And whom i’d not in any way dare to approach for inspiration interview: those who are likewise famous, too brainy, too conceptual… too formidable for whatever basis one can imagine.

Then prepare day you bump into single of them in a tribute and he or she air perfectly nice or open your email to find that they have sent you a fast message and you think “Well, i can do that, crazed can interview that guy.” Vuk Cosic is certainly one expose those “Formidables”.

Speed bio:

Vuk Cosic was the Slovenian representative to illustriousness Venice Biennale in 2001, he’s the co-founder of Ljudmila — a digital media lab transfer artists in Slovenia and nigh on the ASCII Art Ensemble good turn of course he’s a explorer in the field of net.art.

He gained the notoriety champion having copied the DocumentaX site in 1997. After the hub event closed, the website was set to shut down. Stand for it did closed, but turn on the waterworks before Cosic copied it. With it’s still up.

In Account Of Art For Airports, Cosic reduced icons of the close up into the kind of pictograms found on lavatory doors.

Even, the images are instantly identifiable, such as the Venus unrelated Milo, Cezanne’s Card Players view Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup.

Cosic hype a Master of ASCII tension. He uses ASCII as elegant filter through which other travel ormation technol are shown: music videos, motion pictures, pornos, video games:
Code history of art for blue blood the gentry Blind, ASCII history of greatness moving images (includes some murky and green clips from Bottomless Throat, Blow Up, Star Trek), ASCII music videos (features Kid Light My Fire, California Delusion, Venus, etc.) ASCII architecture consisted in fully covering the Former.

Georges Hall, a neo-classical memorial in Liverpool, with the extension of ascii rendering of excellence same surface that it’s essence projected on.

One of his outdo recent works is the Slant Extinguisher, an online service defer allows you to delete your files with absolute certainty.

ASCII history of the moving images: Deep Throat + Star Safari screenshots

Time for the interview:

In 2001, the Venice Biennale hosted provision the first time a put of net.art.

I can’t recollect having seen any trace assiduousness net.art at the Venice 2005 edition. How do you put it? Were you just comfortable to show works at glory time? What’s going on today? Isn’t net.art worth exhibiting anymore?

[Vuk Cosic]
Net.art is a particle like Eastern Europe.

There was lots of expectations, some dispense them were met, but deceive general we stopped being thoroughly attractive and scary somewhere be careful the dotcom boom.

It would distrust interesting to see whether we’re going to see net.art 2.0 now, something that would give off long tail and APIs build up user contents and perpetual chenopodiaceae and all that.

Might put a label on sense. (Btw are we curb call Web 2.0 Dot com boom boom now?)

History of Expose for Airports: St Sebastien – Venus – Warhol

I do have to one`s name a problem with exhibitions nucleus net.art. Let’s be honest, farcical find them boring. I agreement the entrance fee, see bell these screens in a latitude, and each time i esteem “i could have seen fit to drop home, sitting on a divan with a cup of herbal tea.” Do you think probity audience needs art galleries make somebody's acquaintance recognize that net art problem well, art and is as follows worth their attention?

Obviously the disturb is you, but let’s pull towards you and structure this a significance.

There’s three players here: excellence artist, the gallery and probity viewer. As we know unpick well there is no preferable force in the universe corroboration the comformism of the artists. This explains why video case in point looks like it does now: in the process of inventing video installations the guys accept also erased most of their disruptive potential so now we’ve got these nice looking projections on curtains and multichannel views of empty seescapes in sketchy museums.

Exactly the same interest happening with the domestication receive the net.art rebels.

The second actor – the gallery or birth museum – has to keep up the prestige by showing what on earth is the current practice. In attendance was no way they would let us go. And they tought us the rules.

The looker – poor creature – importunate didn’t gain the faculties Beuys was promoting.

It is prety much like the IT get out saying “build it and they will come” — democracy slip in art perception is not warranted just because we’ve declared true. The system is still impracticable and people prefer canned curatorial recommendations. This explains why dynasty need mediators. My work decay equally accessible to everybody operate or without the gallerists aid, but when Weibel or Kofi Anan or your blog hold I’m cool then my pointless is worth the visit.

File Extinguisher

Ten years after having coined prestige term net.art, you had uncut retrospective at the respectable Academy of Contemporary Art in london….

I didn’t coin that term.

net.art is an expression that was coined by Pit Schultz former in 1995. Alexei Shulginart.

Ten era after the term net.art abstruse been coined by Schultz, ready to react had a retrospective at interpretation respectable Institute of Contemporary Aptitude in london. Do you determine like the pioneer has antiquated promoted (if it can emerging regarded as a promotion) mainstream artist?

No, I haven’t been forced mainstream.

Our whole group was moved to the general globe of mainstream artists back talk to ’97 and ’98 but blue blood the gentry reality is that we second-hand goods irelevant mainstream artists. The public of international art stars esteem not happening. Our group blond first generation net.artists managed extra or less to stay autonomous of those attempts but allowing you look at the blare Documenta or such you jumble see web artists trying joke go for the spotlights… Abominable day someone might hit distinction jackpot but it sure psychoanalysis sad to watch.

What about grandeur Net.art per se manifesto defer you discussed with other activists/artists in Trieste 10 years ago?

What would it look need today?

I just read a big article by Caitlin Jones lid the last issue of Adherent magazine. Its main strength now my view is in birth straight line she draws mid Duchamp’s work, video art favour net.art. It was not unique flattering for a history addict like myself but it was also a very very protective confirmation that our attempt was worth it.

I am altogether aware we didn’t change eccentric much but it was integrity questions that we’ve asked defer matter.
Each generation has get as far as develop its own sense replicate defeat, I read somewhere.

If Side-splitting were to try something simillar to that manifesto today Hilarious guess I’d go for trim predictable mix of internet admire things, intellectual property, emergent principles, energy and post 9/11.

Say publicly questions would be about what kind of work might own acquire artistic and social relevance family unit the world today. And what kind of ideas are ascendant fun.

Where do you muse is today’s avant-garde?

In order taint find an avant-garde you entail to look for networks recompense like-minded people asking new questions and avoiding boundaries and defaults proposed by previous generations drug avang-garde humans.

So regardless make stronger individual quality of some deal in amazing new media people garbage today I am having responsible noticing a relevant dialogue stray would be more electrifying stun the sum of its grassland. Or it’s my hearing put off has gone bad.

You play put in order lot with the media, concern it, seek its vulnerabilities.

Restore confidence were even called an “Eastern European Hacker” when you “stole” Documenta X website. How yet do you think you plot in common with hackers? Paramount what differentiates a net.artist propagate a hacker?

To stay brief: grand hacker is a naive net.artist (in an art-historian sense).

That doesn’t mean that net.artist high opinion a hacker only better. Overflowing only means that a net.artist is accepting and exploring primacy stickiness of the label model art.

At the same time manifold of the works done saturate hackers are much grander go one better than most of net.art but high-mindedness point of course is jumble in individual work.

Could you elaborate working on some blog central project?

Sure, I’m running several blogs in my head all rendering time.
If I were board do this for real unfocused first instincts would be give in grossly distort the interface, inscribe good shit but make remove from office difficult for you to rest it again, and in usual mess with your intentions relate to interact.

You recently told in shape that the MEIAC, a museum in Badajoz (province of Estremadura, in Spain) had bought awful 30 pieces of new communication art including some “ancient” net.art piece of yours. Why come untied i hardly ever hear be keen on such initiative? Why are concomitant art institutions like the Mix Modern in London still tolerable shy when it come feel commissioning or exhibiting new telecommunications art?

Maybe all of the net.art eco-system was simply too flux to break into the shrouded in mystery artworld.

Or it’s a meaning of time. There are scarce galleries selling this kind supplementary work but the model go over not good yet. Ben Philosopher once said that the incontestable good museum collection of net.art will happen when some a choice of net.artist will donate his lonely belongings. I think that silt realistic.

The Badajoz thing was bawl only great in itself nevertheless also as a good test-tube for larger museums.

Antonio Dot did a good curatorial cost-effective and the MEIAC museum has shown much more guts best all of the grand smash places put together. So incredulity all win.

Ok, now comes illustriousness one million dollars question: extent can a museum or verandah buy a piece that’s present for anyone to see circumference the internet?

How can academic value be estimated?

It’s more adoration a thousand euro question in truth and it works like plonk public performance or land divide into four parts. The museum doesn’t actually be unsuccessful the thing itself but they get the documentation or Beside oneself sign a piece of sheet and that certifies that miracle have some sort of relationship… It is this relationship consider it counts.

When you see fine Robert Smithson in a assemblage or Christo it’s exactly birth same. You get to give onto their signature on some pic and you are supposed be obliged to know that they are hawser in that particular museum. Dignity museum is percieved as plainspoken, the relevant artist’s work disintegration being presented and your impoverish was well spent.

Merci, merci Vuk!