I originally got involved online as a student of Museum Studies at NYU
after an interesting but not terribly notible career as an artist (I've
retired but am getting restless). My naive goal was to create new methods
for artists to enter the art museum, to create the kind of working space
many U.S. museums were intended to be by the artists who founded them (the
Met in particular).
I thought I saw a flicker of light appear when Remo Campopiano and I
organized PORT for the MIT List Center last winter. But that light seems
to be sputtering out. There really is not a demand for this to happen and
so the institutions don't bother. Or they are downright hostile to letting
go of curatorial control. They certainly don't want artists messing the
place up.
When the List Center asked us to do an "internet exhibit" they handed us a
"wish list " of artists that we should try to include. That's how they go
about exhibition. They were the usual suspects (how does Jenny Holzer
manage it all?). We ignored the list and did what we considered a
reflection of what certain aspects of online were being explored at that
particular time by artists (in particular, time and performance). It was a
glorious mess and I wish we could do it again. But...
In New York the Dia Center is probably the most interesting prospect, with
the least amount of resources. They do seem to know what is going on. MoMA
is doing a few things but very curatorially based and the Whitney is as
inbred and as frustrating as ever. As for the Guggenheim, who knows what
they're doing other than looking for sponsors to seduce with that handsome
Matthew Barney guy.
I'll suggest a conference the next time I share a joint with George Soros.
Robbin Murphy
murph@artnetweb.com
<i> i o l a </i> http://artnetweb.com/iola/
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