"Do Something Different"

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Part of this week’s work is to explore a variety of Net Art that might be of interest when producing a “Field Guide to Surviving the Darkness of the Internet”. One of the suggested sites to start with was “The One Million Masterpiece”, which caught my eye right away. What stood out at first, was the idea that this was a global project, capturing how people viewed the world from a variety of different eyes.
As a teacher in a not so diverse town, it’s my job is to teach diversity through the stories I put in my students’ hands, which is part of why this piece of Net Art stood out for me. Through exploring the site, I found that this is one of the worlds largest collaboration of art, and that anyone can participate, no matter how ‘artistic’ they feel they are. This is one picture/image made up of millions. With the creation of the internet, it’s easy to get lost in all there is, part of why the ‘darkness’ is so scary. This collection of art is a beacon of hope, a lighthouse for the sailors of the world, and an anchor to connect us all. We must remember that the world is large, but through our humanity, we are all connected. And art. Art can remind us of this.

 buntingThe second piece of Net Art I chose to look at has nothing to do with the internet of 2019 but it does have to do with connecting people-which net art appears to be all about-so I feel it's relevant. Any who...in my research into the Net Art world I came across Artspace-proclaiming itself "The World's Best Contemporary Art. Online", and an article by Dylan Kerr titled "The Early Disruptors: 7 Masterpieces of '90s Net Art Everyone Should Know About". The first example I came across was by Heath Bunting, and in short, he posted a list online of all the payphone numbers for King's Cross Station and suggested people all call at the same time and have a "chat" or "do something different". It's this spirit of connectivity that light at the end of the darkness, I think, is partly about!

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