Nettitudes: Let’s Talk Net Art

In the 1990s, net art burst onto the scene as a radical reflection on the role of technology in contemporary art. In Nettitudes, Dutch art critic Josephine Bosma documents the tumultuous history of art as it became situated in the Internet, from the spectacular interventions of the first decade to today's dispersed practices, including online acoustics, poetry and archiving. Never the darling of the media art institutions and ignored by many curators and critics since its emergence, net art still persists as a "non-movement," residing in the cracks of contemporary media culture and based on Internet cultures, which revolve around technology, games, social networks, commerce and politics. Works of net art are almost always interdisciplinary. Whether stage director, filmmaker, sculptor, musician, painter, photographer, writer, poet or dancer, making net art allows the creator to escape from the corner in which traditional art criticism has held them hostage for decades. A well-known exponent of this artistic trend is Jodi (the Dutch-Belgian artist duo Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans). The artist Peter Luining and the Internet personality Mouchette.org also enjoy international renown. Nettitudes provides an analytical foundation and an insider's view on net art's many expressions as it grapples with the aesthetic, conceptual and social issues of our times.
Josephine Bosma is an Amsterdam-based journalist and critic who has written on art and new media since 1993. One of the first to probe into and engage with the domain of net art, she has published internationally in books, periodicals and catalogues.