Artist and curator. He is the founder of Rhizome.org and author (with Reena Jana) of New media art (Taschen, Köln 2006)

“The remarkably memorable and appealing title of Richard Hamilton’s iconic 1956 collage holds a key not only to Hamilton’s work, but to most British and American Pop art. By adopting an ironic attitude towards popular culture, Pop artists opened up a field of artistic possibility between critical engagement and celebratory homage. It is precisely this field of possibility - a zone of exploration and experimentation - that Pop shares in common with New Media art. Unlike New Media art’s other art-historical precedents (Dada, Situationism, Conceptual art, Fluxus, Video), Pop was quickly embraced by collectors and dealers, perhaps due less to its decorator-friendly palette than to its intimate connection with consumer culture. New Media art, by contrast, has been largely sidelined by the art market. However, New Media art’s lack of commercial success may be coming to an end, as curators continue to recognize its significance and gallerists work with artists to devise ways to make it palatable to collectors.
I define New Media art as art that makes use of emerging media technologies and addresses their significance. Contemporary art is simply art that was made in the past few years. Recent New Media art would thus count as contemporary art, but most contemporary art would not count as New Media. That said, as more artists work with new media and as new media permeates contemporary culture, it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate contemporary New Media art from the rest of contemporary art.
About New Media art collecting: I see no reason not to collect New Media art. In fact, there is a tremendous opportunity for a visionary collector to catalyse the market by building a strong collection.”