Net Art: A Problematic Introduction

A beginner’s guide to net art specta(c)torship.
In English and Romanian.
34 lessons, 6 hours of video content

By Mihai Băcăran in collaboration with contemporary artist and musician Darie Nemeș Bota.

Open access online course on Net Art. An experiment in independent online teaching. For full access to course material sign up for free at: https://spectactor.thinkific.com/courses/net-art

Net Art: A Problematic Introduction offers a beginner’s guide for specta(c)torship in net art. It aims to provide intellectually challenging content that encourages students to problematize received narratives regarding art and its relation with larger social, political, environmental and cultural issues. For newcomers to the fields of art history and art theory the course provides, in the context of net art, a basic overview of foundational questions such as: What is art? Is art political? Is the materiality of the art work significant? etc. For those already familiar with these basic theoretical debates, the course further complicates them by addressing the particularities of net art practices and processes of specta(c)torship, and by providing a large number of relevant examples for consideration. By engaging with relevant art works, Net Art: A Problematic Introduction aims at addressing social, political, environmental and cultural questions pertinent to the contemporary condition, as they emerge through the lens of net art.

Mihai included my poem Apparatus_is {Other-s}, as an example of electronic literature in chapter 3 on the diversity of net art practices.

With works by Alexei Shulgin / Martine Neddam / Olia Lialina / JODI / Shu Lea Cheang / Natalie Bookchin / Ubermorgen / MTAA / Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz / Eduardo Kac / Mendi and Keith Obadike / Zahra Malkani / Nkhensani Mkhari / Sheida Soleimani / Annie Abrahams and Emmanuel Guez / Young-Hae Chang / Eric Thiele / Kim Asendorf / I/O/D / Mark Napier / Jonas Lund / Rafael Rozendaal / Interspecifics Collective / Amalia Ulman / Electronic Disturbance Theatre / etoy / The Yes Men / Olivia Jack / Alex McLean and Felix Roos / Cory Arcangel / Open AI / YoHa / DFAP / Ryan Maguire / Heath Bunting

Filed under: Net art, poetry, research, Video, free course, Mihai Băcăran, ReadingClub