“As digital and network media are rapidly became an omni-presence in our society, and as most artists came to routinely use it, new media field is facing a danger of becoming a ghetto whose participants would be united by their fetishism of latest computer technology, rather than by any deeper conceptual, ideological or aesthetic issues – a kind of local club for photo enthusiasts.”
Lev Manovich, “From Borges to HTML”, 2003
“Some of the most interesting recent artistic activity has taken place outside the art market and its forums. Collaborative and sometimes anonymous groups work in fashion, music, video, or performance, garnering admiration within the art world while somehow retaining their status as outsiders, perhaps due to their preference for theatrical, distribution-oriented modes. Maybe this is what Duchamp meant by his intriguing throwaway comment, late in life, that the artist of the future will be underground.”
Seth Price, in Dispersion, 2002 – ongoing
“In contemporary art, [the Internet’s] pervasiveness seems often misunderstood or overlooked, While the field of art online continues to thrive, art engaged with the internet does not need to exist there; because the internet is not just a medium, but also a territory populated and fought over by individuals, corporations, and governments; a communications tool; and a cultural catalyst.”
Lauren Cornell, in “Walking Free”, essay published in the online catalogue of the ehibition Free (New Museum, New York, October 20, 2010 – January 23, 2011).