Tate

Net Art at Tate: A Program of Net Art Commissions

(London, England, United Kingdom)

The Foundation supported the first year of Net Art at Tate: A Program of Net Art Commissions, an extension of Tate's existing program for the commission of on-line art. Commissioning artists to create on-line art is indeed integral to Tate's commitment to developing new audiences, exploiting new technologies and increasing public awareness, understanding and appreciation of art.

Tate has been presenting on-line art on its Web site since 2000. The first commissioned works for the site were added in the summer of that year and created by the artists Harwood@Mongrel (Uncomfortable Proximity) and Simon Patterson (Le Match des couleurs). Following the success of these initiatives, Tate started a pilot program of Net art commissions and in July 2002 launched two new works by the artists Heath Bunting (BorderXing Guide) and Susan Collins (Tate in Space). To date, critical texts (written by Matthew Fuller, Florian Schneider, Paul Bonaventura and Josephine Berry) have accompanied all the projects. These texts are still available on the site.

As with past commissioned projects, certain artists were invited to submit proposals for the permanent Net art program. In total, two new works have been created in 2003 and 2004 for tate.org.uk: Shilpa Gupta's blessed-bandwith.net launched in November 2003, and Natalie Bookchin and Jacqueline Stevens agoraXchange in March 2004. In addition, these new works are complemented by a series of educational and public events and by critical texts accompanying each project. Tate plans to keep the commissioned works on its Web site for five years.