The mystery behind exactly what is considered Internet Art and particularly what kind of art falls into the category. In this week's post discover who created Net Art;
Eva & Franco Mattes (b. 1976) - Emily's Video (2012)
Internet Art, or simply known as Net Art, essentially is a specific art practice that
circulates freely on the internet. The post-modern art practices, such as Surrealism, Modernism and Net Art are part of a new contemporary practice that focuses on the utopian reality, places, where humans have not stepped in. Internet Art has been receiving tons of comments and, some of them are pretty negative. What exactly classifies an artwork to be Net Art? Two artists define the concept on their own perspective.
Eva and Franco Mattes are considered the pioneers of the recent post-modern art movement. The unusual setting is quite unlikely to be found at a well-known museum because it is quite controversial. The artwork Emily's Video (2012) is a video format installation. The artists created the installation with the help of many other volunteers, who agreed to be recorded and to have published the footage used for the artwork. The installation shares only one perspective of the video. The video shows people's reaction to what are they seeing and it does not appear to be any kind of comedy. The video used was retrieved in the dark web, a place where not many people have access to it. The screen installation is divided in two, the top part is the video of people's reactions, and the bottom a totally black screen. The meaning both artists wants to convey is to bring a double meaning to this artwork, where you not only see traumatised reactions, but you see yourself watching the screen. The black screen works as a mirror, and that is the trick of the artwork. According to the book A Report on the City by the artist and art critique John Menick "sanity, good taste. It's as if the existence of a project like this - research into a snuff film, or a possible snuff film - casts doubt on my own motives, my own well-being, not just Edeza's. If the video madness, then the maker, too, must be mad; as are all of these who gather around the video, ask questions of it, watch it, exhibit it, speak of it, write of it."
The critique questions the morals of the installation, because how are these volunteers who watched the video supposed to process what they have seen? The images must have been very perturbing. Images as this kind may cause serious mental issues and could lead to a permanent mental health problem. The artists who created the installation they had a perfect plan on how this would work, they had access to this information. The deep web is not accessible by many...but the artists might not have thought of the aftermath. There was any kind of therapy support offered to these volunteers, a total inhumane situation.
Net Art is based on a contemporary world, it surrounds the concept of being made digitally and fictionally. This concept may not give a negative impression on the movement, but rather serve as a critique of the effects on using this kind of material that Eva and Franco Mattes used to create their artwork.
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