Intervista
a Vuk Cosic e 0100101110101101
di Daniele Perra
Daniele Perra:
When and how did you become interested in the Internet as a new form of
creative media?
Vuk Cosic: Initially, I adopted a relatively disciplined approach to media. I would concentrate on developing my idea first and only decide upon the most suitable working medium when this was clear. I used this methodology for my "Short Stories" and "Land Art" series, and it seemed to work perfectly. My first encounter with a browser was back in 1994. The potential of the thing struck me immediately and I was soon totally hooked. It took me several months to find any really good projects, however, and to form a clear opinion of its possibilities as an artistic tool.
0100101110101101.ORG:
Machines are far more interesting than men. They're less predictable,
more complex. The Web is faster, more efficient, and farther reaching
than any other means of communication. If you spend most of your time
using the Internet, the slowness and inefficiency of the offline world
becomes unbearable. Thanks to the Web, projects that might previously
have seemed unattainable can be realized in an impossibly short space
of time. And this applies to art too. 0100101110101101.ORG has learnt
to take advantage of the ways and means of the Web to achieve, in only
a few years, the sort of widespread influence that most artists wouldn't
obtain in a lifetime.
Art with the Internet has become a service for all, not a pleasure for
few. It's the end of an era for art that requires contemplation; "accessibility"
is the new paradigm.
Daniele Perra: Which aspects of the Web do you find most interesting?
Vuk Cosic: I'm still amazed by the speed at which one gets global feedback on ones ideas-often in less than an hour-and by the apparently unlimited potential for communication.
0100101110101101.ORG:
Visibility. Ideas can be in the hands of the public within seconds, without
having to compromise to the dictates of third parties. And visibility
is power. People spend more time on our web site than they would do in
a gallery or museum-we have more visitors per week than the Louvre in
a year.
Daniele Perra: Numerous international exhibits and events have paid considerable
attention to net art. Do you believe this indicates its acceptance within
the contemporary art arena or is it simply a passing trend?
Vuk Cosic: It seems quite normal to me that art institutions are interested in net art. After all, it is the latest thing, and big museums will naturally seek to maintain prestige by commissioning works of net art. Things could go in any direction from here.
0100101110101101.ORG:
The fact that the art world is finally sitting up and taking notice of
the Web isn't much consolation when one thinks that economic, political,
and even religious ones have been using it for years.
Daniele Perra: Do you feel that the fact your work is being hosted in
the Slovenian Pavilion constitutes a statement on the part of Eastern
Block countries regarding net art and new media?
Vuk Cosic: It's true that Slovenia seems to have the highest pro capita number of net artists, but I don't think this should lead us to seek meaningful conclusions in socio-analytical terms. I would say, however, that there is a natural correlation between net art and the artistic tradition that has always reflected our system.
0100101110101101.ORG:
In cultural terms, Slovenia has shown itself to be light years ahead of
all the other so-called "Western" countries. Most of the interesting
events in the last ten years have originated from "Eastern"
countries such as Slovenia, Croatia, Latvia, and Russia.
Daniele Perra: What are your plans for the future and how do you see net
art developing?
Vuk Cosic: I have stopped doing net art and I am now looking for new challenges. I did work with ASCII for a while, but was obliged to abandon that too, due to excessive museum interest. With regards to artistic experimentation online, I'm sure there'll always be room for innovative young people. If, however, you're asking me whether the future of net art lies in hacking into shopping sites, I can't say.
0100101110101101.ORG: We want to be Web Stars and then take advantage of our high profile position to make our ideas public. Applying a terrorist strategy to the arts system, we aim to raid the coffers of culture to finance our activities: infiltrate, inculcate doubt, instill panic. Art is a tool, a weapon with which political beliefs can be promoted in the guise of entertainment. We are currently engaged in a battle against copyright and privacy rules, which we intend to continue. The 2.0 version of our life_sharing project-which amasses the largest amount of information possible about an individual in today's society-allows anyone surfing the net to access our computer 24 hours a day and share in our lives. We consider visibility to be our product and privacy an obstacle that must be surmounted. What we produce is really "abstract pornography" and the public seems to like it. They spend hours accessing our computer, rummaging among the folders, copying texts and images, downloading software, and reading our post; life_sharing has struck a chord with public voyeurism. Our aim is to be one with the computer, to enter the machine, to be dispersed throughout the Web.