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"It is difficult to distinguish today's computer-aided designer from the designer-aided computer. This is because thanks to the DTP industry's furious development efforts, the computer has surpassed the designer's expressive abilities and imagination and has come to govern the majority of visual development." John Maeda
What is good and bad art and design on the Net? How do we agree a critical framework, and common language, within which we can discuss that issue? To what extent does the technology itself determine the form and aesthetic of the work? Is the artist or designer merely a choreographer who sets the parameters for the work - the series of steps by which the user engages with the system? Is the system itself the artwork?
www.jodi.org - Jodi
"In a sense, artists Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans (collaborating as JODI since 1994) are the Dadaists of Internet art: Like those early members of the avant-garde, their work employs strategies of rupture and subversion to create an estrangement effect, jarring viewers for a moment out of their everyday lives online." Margaret Sundell, ArtForum
An innocent visit to www.jodi.org brings immediate, alarming results: Mini browser windows, each completely black except for the standard white menu bar, manically proliferate on your desktop; they'll persist until you close your Internet browser completely.
Does www.jodi.org still stand up as a seminal piece of net art? Or is it simply a virus? Does the work reveal something mysterious about the hidden programming that lies beneath the smooth surface of corporate software? And what does Jodi's work tell us about our Net condition - the complex online world we increasingly inhabit?
Seminal welsh hip-hoppers the Goldie Lookin Chain hit just the right tone in their sarky site. very funny.
everyone wants to throw rocks at boys from time to time
Monday, Mar 01, 2004 
As was the case with video art. the first generation of net artists tended to focus on the form and aesthetics of the technology itself. Jodi's piece was groundbreaking in that it alerted us to how the structure and form of computer interfaces can dictate our experience and response to work on the Net. It also hinted at a state of information overload and data bombardment that has become the reality of the Net condition. But as the technology evolves, our sophistication in using it (and decoding it) grows with maturity. Jodi may have alerted us to the possibility of some form of data meltdown in our cyber experience, but some of us have also been able to find clarity and new order in the chaos of the Net. And also the possibility of creative dialogue with others, our audience, rather than using the technology to baffle or panic them.
Digest was open during March 2004 - PLEASE NOTE it is now closed and available for browsing only... we hope you enjoy your visit.
new japnese movie from big j-pop director.. check the trailer .. it will blow you away.. honest.. :)
bristols greatest low five, vibrant photo maker.. one to watch.. check out adams work for inspiration and a lesson in lushnes
some fun from benetoon.. nice idea.. nice photos.. all round niceness..