Vidal, Genevieve

How to get into an artistic site : web art uses in question

Abstract

Art pieces on Internet (visual arts, music, photography, cinema, litterature, etc.) could be heavy to transfer on the computer, could be appropriated with difficulties. Despite those difficulties, art pieces on line offer a new kind of experience. Internet users live a visual and emotional meeting with various subjective temporalities and a concrete contact with the screen, the mouse, the computer. The analysis of the users's interactive attitude on artistic web sites contributes to a better understanding of the commitment of internet users in an art piece on line : ephemeral, and in a possible permanent and unexpected evolution. What are the temporalities of the art piece and of its reception : immediacy, singularity, synchronous time ? Can we talk about interactions mediated by computer, between art pieces and artists, between art pieces and users ? We must remember that creators contributed to the design of the internet before virtual art galleries or on line auctions, and still do. Artistic practices are rich of experiences with computer and network material, to create and to exhibit art pieces. The dialog between artist and computer (even software), between artists and users leads to concentrate on the problematic of the aesthetics of interactivity, thanks to uses's analysis.