 friend = net art, a summer group show, 2003 Artists: ( in order of the show, from left to right ) Marisa S. Olson, Eryk Salvaggio, Patrick Lichty, T.Whid of MTAA, Amelia Bauer, Milo Fisher Curatorial statement: Sometimes, when looking at a group show, I wonder; “Hey, wait a minute, are these artist being shown together just because they are friends of the curator?”. Although it may seem like an easy way to select artists, I think this may be a honest method to join artworks together. Sometimes groups of people in relationships can unveil all sorts of odd things. In spring of 2003, someone asked me to be their “friend” on friendster.com. With an amazing amount of social fear, I said; “Yes, I will declare my friendship with you in this public / commercial networked space. I will make new friends. I will be happy, if only in make believe. I will be a good friend.” After month or so on friendster.com, I asked my then total of 18 networked friends if they would like to send me a jpeg for a summer online show. The resulting images were then placed side by side in the order they showed up in my email box. As a whole, please think of this exhibition as a group self portrait culled from an ambiguous social space. |