Artmedia VIII Symposium Traces Communication Art to Net Art Lineage

The Artmedia VIII symposium, held from November 29 to December 2, 2002, in Paris, explored the evolution from communication aesthetics to net art. Organized by the Olats association, the event examined how artists from the 1970s and 1980s used telephones, radio, television, fax, slow scan, satellites, and early networks like Minitel as artistic materials rather than mere transmission tools. Key historical projects cited include Moholy-Nagy's 'Tableaux par téléphone' (1923), Fred Forest's telephone actions, the Futurists' Radia manifesto (1933), and Karen O'Rourke's City Portraits (1989). Pioneering network works by Bob Adrian (Artbox on I.P. Sharp) and Roy Ascott (Terminal Art, 1980) were highlighted. Landmark events such as Electra (1983), Les Immatériaux (1985), and the Planetary Network at the Venice Biennale (1986) were discussed. The symposium aimed to identify continuities and divergences between communication art and net art, noting shared traits like experimentation, ludic and provocative approaches, and concepts of connectivity, virtual community, distributed self, and telepresence. It also contrasted ephemeral event-based works with enduring net art objects, and traced metaphorical shifts from aerial/orbital imagery (Artsat, Aspects of Gaia) to aquatic/rhizomatic networks. The event featured presentations and analyses of diverse projects, with a program available at www.olats.org/artmedia8.html.