An open letter to Larry & Sergey
Dear Larry & Sergey,
Art made with code and computers has been around since the 1950s. There is no need to define it as DevArt, and market it as something shiny and new. In the sixties, artists like Frieder Nake, Lillian Schwartz and Vera Molnar started creating and exhibiting art made with computers. The Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition opened in 1968 in London, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. An exhibition somewhat similar to the DevArt exhibition Google is hosting now. In 1971, Manfred Mohr did the first solo show in a museum with works entirely generated by a computer. All of this happened before you guys were born.
We make art because we love it. It keeps us sane. It's the driving force of our existence.
We like that you commissioned artists like Karsten Schmidt and Zach Lieberman to create art for your exhibition. We love their work. However, we can't afford to work on a piece of art for two months, only not to get the commission in the end. We have to pay the rent, and eat once in a while too. That's why we didn't enter the DevArt competition. Exploiting artists is evil.
Demanding artists to use some Google technologies to create art is also a bit awkward. It's like asking a sculptor to use graffiti as a medium. Let artists choose and create their own tools, and they will make better art.
If you want to reach out to the art community, don't spend your money on a marketing stunt: buy our art instead. Digital art can be collected too, so maybe you can point your wallets at the Paddles On! Auction organised by Phillips.
We have installed our own art at the same location as the DevArt exhibition. Don't worry, we didn't do any physical breaking and entering. We have placed a geofence around the Barbican and installed a virtual exhibition. You can visit our exhibition by surfing to this website if you are inside the geofence.
Even though digital art has been around for some time now, the art world still treats it like something irrelevant. Some even say it doesn't have a place in galleries or museums. The art world is still stuck in an era of paintings and sculptures. It's time to disrupt.
Hack the Art World!