Adjunct Curator of New Media Arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Director of Intelligent Agent, New York

“If one ignores the art-historical references of this question, the claim that new media art is “different” from other art forms could have the disadvantage of separating it from “the rest of art” and neglecting its histories. New media art is rooted in, or connected to, many other art forms throughout the 20th century; from the combinatory experiments of Dada to kinetic art and the participatory, instruction-based works of Fluxus and Conceptualism. (Given that the question references the famous 1956 collage “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?”, the connection to movements from Dada to Pop and cybernetics is already ‘built in.’) At the same time, the computational, variable, networked and interactive “character” of new media art certainly makes it different from painting or drawing. What attracts me to new media art is its inherent connectivity, its possibilities for simulation, and its shift from an object to a (networked) process or system. All of these qualities have become important aspects of the social and culture fabric of many societies around the globe and have shaped the world we live in. While contemporary art in general certainly reflects on these conditions, new media art is unique in that simulation, connectivity, networks are characteristics of its medium and its “natural habitat.” It is an art form that “lives” the technological conditions of our time and its multiple effects, asking where and what art is today..”