Internet Art: Critical Aesthetics of Digital Culture

Internet umetnost svoj vrhunac dostiže između 1990-ih i početka 21. veka i značajno je uticala na stvaranje i promišljanje digitalne kulture i informacionog društva. Delovanje net.art umetnika (Vuk Ćosić, Heath Bunting, Olia Lialina, Alexei Shulgin i duo Jodi), kao i eksperimenti u oblasti softverske umetnosti, hiperteksta i umetnosti internet platformi, kritički su ukazivale na uticaj informaciono-komunikacionih tehnologija na društvo i predlagale alternative u njihovoj primeni i razumevanju. Tekst istražuje tri aspekta internet medija sa kojima su internet umetnici eksperimentisali: računarski kôd, hipertekst i interaktivnost, kao i „demokratizaciju“ interneta i umetnosti koje vidimo kao središnje uzroke transformacije ove umetničke prakse u 21. veku. Predstavićemo i analizirati relevantne primere internet umetnosti od njenog pojavljivanja 1990-ih godina sve do savremenog perioda i razvoja kulture internet mimova, post-internet i AI umetnosti. Cilj nam je da ukažemo na internet umetnost kao vid umetničke kritike paradigma informacionog društva i tehnologije, te otvorimo pitanje važnosti ovakve kritičke estetike za savremenu kulturu i umetnost.Internet art, which reached the peak of its activity in the period from the 1990s to the beginning of the 2000s, significantly influenced the creation of digital culture and critical reflection on the information society. The text explores three important areas that characterise critical aesthetics of Internet art: computer code, hypertext and interactivity, as well as democratisation and massification of the Internet and art as key aspects of the transformation of this practice in the 21st century. We present and analyse examples of the practice of Internet art in these spheres from its appearance in the 1990s until modern times and the development of the culture of Internet memes, post-Internet art and AI art. Unlike art on the Internet or the impact of internet technology and digital culture on art institutions and discourses, Internet art is difficult to distinguish from the World Wide Web from which it came. Internet art can never escape from the technological framework—the interface in which it is created and the contexts of that framework are always an integral part of the work of art. The work of net.art artists (Vuk Ćosić, Heath Bunting, Olia Lialina, Alexei Shulgin and the duo Jodi) produced alternatives to early applications and understanding of the impact of information and communication technologies on society. They explored hypertext as a new approach to reading, software art as alternative ways of presenting information, and Internet platforms and interactive art as models for pushing the boundaries of communication and collaboration in cyberspace. Internet art, as a specific artivist movement characterised by the intertwining of the spheres of digital activism, programming culture and the world of art, went further than all of its predecessors in the realisation of the avant-garde’s dream of erasing the boundaries between art and life, and its successor—the culture of internet memes seemingly makes this work complete. We point to the practice of Internet art as an important critical model of paradigms of information society, technology, and digital culture, which predominantly started to frame contemporary societies by the second decade of the 21st centur

Jacques Derrida and the Question What is Theory?

Miško Šuvaković navodi kako se „Teorijom ili teoretizacijom nazivaju hibridni žanrovi ili poližanrovi koji su se paralelno razvijali u umetničkim, aktivističkim i akademskim krugovima (Francuska, Velika Britanija, SAD, Istočna Evropa) kritikom autonomnih kanonskih modela i institucija naučnog i filozofskog rada u društvu, kulturi i umetnosti“ (Šuvaković 2008). U ovom radu promatraću pitanje „Šta je teorija?“ čitajući dela Žaka Deride, Pola de Mana i Ričarda Rortija i polazeći od gore pomenutog okvira „teorije“ definisane pre svega kao pravca mišljenja danas praktikovanog dominantno u akademskoj sferi u SAD. Za Deridu je pitanje „šta je?“ u osnovi svih drugih pitanja, a ponajviše onih koje upravljaju (governmentality) našim razumevanjem sveta kao što su pitanja istine, svesti, subjektivnosti. Ova pitanja su se u filozofiji razmatrala na različite načine, ali onaj koji je najznačajniji za moju temu jeste odnos prisutnosti/odsutnosti, unutrašnjeg/spoljašnjeg, physisa/mimezisa promatran kroz pojam pisanja.Miško Šuvaković states that „Theory or theorization are hybrid genres or polygenres that developed in parallel in artistic, activist and academic circles (France, Great Britain, USA, Eastern Europe) by criticizing autonomous canonical models and institutions of scientific and philosophical work in society, culture and art“ (Šuvaković 2008). In this paper, I will look at the question „What is theory?“ by reading the works of Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man and Richard Rorty and starting from the above-mentioned framework of „theory“ defined primarily as a school of thought practiced today dominantly in the academic sphere in the USA. For Derrida, the question „what is?“ is at the basis of all other questions, especially those that govern (governmentality) our understanding of the world, such as questions of truth, consciousness, and subjectivity. These questions have been considered in philosophy in different ways, but the one that is most significant for my topic is the relationship of presence/absence, internal/external, physis/mimesis viewed through the concept of writing

How To Narrate the Holocaust (On Film)? From History to Communication

Iako se svaki medij susreće sa problemima u predstavljanju Holokausta, stav Žaka Ransijera da je istorija filma istorija moći stvaranja istorije ispravno nam ukazuje na to da filmska umetnost donosi poseban etički i umetnički izazov predstavljanja genocida. Ova studija predstaviće istoriju pripovedanja Holokausta na osi četiri ključna pojma post-Holokaust diskursa: istorija, sećanje, predstavljanje i komunikacija. U segmentu istorija biće reči o tome šta je zapravo Holokaust?; u segmentu sećanje o tome čiji je Holokaust, ko treba ili ko sme da o njemu govori; u delu predstavljanje, reč je o glavnim dosadašnjim izazovima pitanja „kako pripovedati Holokaust?“ i tome zašto i dalje, skoro 80 godina kasnije govorimo o Holokaustu; konačno, kroz segment komunikacija ukazaćemo na pristup analizi narativa i diskursa o Holokaustu čiji je cilj bolje razumevanje samih narativa i motiva za njihovo nastajanje. Tumačenje ovih diskursa sprovedeno je kroz kulturalnu analizu i predstavljanje filmskih ostvarenja Noć i magla, Alana Renea (Alain Resnais), filma Šoa Kloda Lancmana (Claude Lanzmann), CBS-ove i NBS-jeve TV miniserije Holokaust i adaptacija Dnevnika Ane Frank.Although all media forms meet unique problems in (re)presenting the Holocaust, Jacques Ransier's view that film history is the history of the power to create history rightly indicates that film art faces special ethical and artistic challenges in representing the Shoah. This study will present the history of Holocaust narrative on the axis of four key concepts of post-Holocaust discourse: history, memory, representation, and communication. The history segment focuses on what the Holocaust really is; in the segment concerning memory we will discuss the issue “who does it belong, who should or should not talk about it”; in the part about representation, our discussion will consider the main challenges of the question “How to speak about the Holocaust?” and why we are still talking about the Holocaust, almost 80 years after the event. Finally, through the segment referring to communications, we will point out the approach for the analysis of narratives and discourses about the Holocaust, the goal of which is a better understanding of the narratives themselves and the motives for their creation. The interpretation of these discourses will be conducted through cultural analysis and presentation of examples from key film achievements on the topic of the Holocaust: Night and Fog, Alan Resnai, Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah, CBS and NBS TV series Holocaust and adaptations of The Diary of Anne Frank

Internet i umetnost na prostoru Srbije 1996-2013 – Odlike umetničkih diskursa na polju Interneta u Srbiji

Sredinom 90-ih godina XX veka sa razvojem Svetske mreţe (WWW), Internet postaje istinski globalni fenomen. Koncepti kao što su informaciono društvo, mreţno društvo i digitalna kultura nastaju da oznaĉe promene u svim sferama društva koje dolaze sa sve većom primenom informaciono-komunikacionih tehnologija. Na prostoru Republike Srbije i pored teške ekonomske situacije i politiĉke nestabilnosti, od 1996. godine kada internet ulazi u komercijalnu upotrebu do danas, sajberprostor se postepeno transformiše od zasebne sfere delovanja u deo svakodnevnog ţivota graĊana. Transformacija medijske ekologije koja sa Internetom dolazi u Srbiju nije zaobišla svet umetnosti i kulture i upravo su primeri ovakve prakse, kako u Srbiji, tako i u svetu, posebno znaĉajni za razvoj i promišljanje savremenog informacionog društva. Ova studija predstavlja mapiranje i analizu globalnog uticaja Interneta, kao i njegovog uticaja na kulturne i umetniĉke prakse u Srbiji, mogućnosti i posledica bivanja u globalnom mreţnom društvu, ali i uloge umetniĉkih praksi, posebno internet umetnosti, u razvoju i promišljanju granica, identiteta i politika sajberprostora. Kao prva studija koja istraţuje kontekste susretanja sveta umetnosti i Interneta na prostoru Srbije od 1996. godine do danas, rad donosi rezultate istraţivaĉkog rada o uticajima informacionog društva na nosioce dominantnih diskursa kulture i umetnosti u Srbiji danas: Narodne biblioteke Srbije i Narodnog muzeja u Beogradu. Primer Muzeja savremene umetnosti Vojvodine donosi nam savremene pozicije umetnosti i otvara polje istraţivanja internetskih umetniĉkih praksi na prostoru Srbije. Istraţivanje praksi kolektiva Kuda.org iz Novog Sada mapira tokove razvoja digitalne kulture i umetnosti, kao i potencijala interneta kao alata za transformaciju društva, dok nas internet platforma Widewalls.ch uvodi u procese novih oblika kapitalistiĉke proizvodnje u sajberprostoru i pozicija savremene umetnosti, kao i srpskog društva, u poslednjem talasu globalizacije koji dolazi sa sve većim širenjem Globalne mreţe (Interneta). U ovom radu pronalazimo i prvu sveobuhvatnu studiju na srpskom jeziku razvoja, elemenata i diskursa Globalne mreţe od njenog nastanka do danas, kao i u kontekstu današnje Republike Srbije.In the middle of the 1990s World Wide Web marked the Internet as a truly global phenomenon. Concepts such as Inforation Society, Network Society and digital culture became signifiers of significant transformations in all aspects of society that came about with ubiquitous use of information and communication technologies. On the territory of today‘s Republic of Serbia in spite of difficult economic situation and political instability since 1996 when internet was commercialy available in Serbia, cyberspace slowly moved from a seperate area of production to an integral part of every day life. Trasnformation of media ecology in Serbia that came with the Internet did not baypass the world of art and culture and it‘s exactly these forms of practice in Serbia, as well as around the world, which came to be especially significant for development and thinking about information society. This work brings the mappings and analysis of global impact of the Internet, as well as the specific impact it had on cultural and artistic practices in Serbia, opportunities and consequences of being in a global network society, but also the role of artistic practices, especially Internet art in deliberating the issues of borders, identities and politics of cyberspace. As a very first study which analyses the crossings of the world of Art and Internet in Serbia this thesis brings results of research about the impacts of information society on authoritative discourses of art and culture in Serbia today: National Library of Serbia and National Museum in Belgrade. The example of Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina illuminates contemporary positions of art world and opens up a field of research for Internet art practices in Serbia. The analysis of collective practices of Kuda.org in Novi Sad frames the development if digital art and culture in Serbia, as well as the potentials of the internet as a tool for cultural transformation, while internet platform Widewalls.ch introduces us to new forms of capitalistic production in cyberspace and positions of contemporary art and Serbian society in this last wave of globalization that came about with colossal spread of the Internet. In this paper we also find a first comprehensive study and analysis in Serbian language of paths of development, elements and discourses of the Internet from its very beginnings until today together with specific contexts of such development in today‘s Republic of Serbia

Два лица мистификације: представљање Холокауста у делима A Survivor from Warsaw Арнолда Шенберга и Different Trains Стива Рајша

The paper discusses the approaches of different media to Holocaust (re)presentation, with special reference to art music in the 20th century. Following the classification proposed by Michael Rothberg on two possible perspectives for representing the Holocaust: realistic and anti-realist (2000), we analyse two compositions: Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor From Warsaw (1947) and Steve Reich’s Different Trains (1988). The aim of the paper is to point out how artistic music reflects and participates in the dominant historical and contemporary discourses of Holocaust representation, especially the discourses of “heroism” and “non-representability”.У раду се разматрају приступи различитих медија представљању Холокауста, с посебним освртом на уметничку музику у 20. веку. Пратећи поделу коју Мајкл Ротберг (Michael Rothberg) предлаже на два гледишта на могућности представљања Холокауста: реалистичко и антиреалистичко (2000), анализирамо дела A Survivor From Warsaw (1947) Арнолда Шенберга и Different Trains (1988) Стива Рајша. Циљ рада је да укаже на то како уметничка музика рефлектује и партиципира у доминантним историјским и савременим дискурсима представљања и разумевања Холокауста, посебно дискурса „херојства” и „неизрецивости”

Internet art and the dispersed public body: Question of "user" as audience

How discourses of “art audience” intersect with how we relate to the Internet, or at least how we’ve become - users. How is the user defined, and how traditional, albeit even before the Internet, fragmented roles of artists and their audience fit in this new subject position

Book review: What you are doing is important: learning about the Holocaust according to the recommendations of Yad Vashem [author Nada Banjanin Đuričić, Belgrade: Grupa 484, 2019]

Publikacija "To što radiš važno je: učiti o Holokaustu po preporukama Jad Vašema" autorke Nade Banjanin Đuričić je priručnik namenjen nastavnicima i praktičarima u oblasti obrazovanja u Srbiji koji žele da obrađuju temu Holokausta s učenicima uzrasta starijih razreda osnovne škole i srednje škole. Iako autorka navodi u samom naslovu da je publikacija zasnovana na preporukama Jad Vašema, ona daleko prevazilazi osnovne obrazovne smernice ove memorijalne institucije i predstavlјa originalni metodički doprinos promišlјanju i izvođenju obrazovanja o Holokaustu u našem lokalnom kontekstu.The publication "What you are doing is important: learning about the Holocaust according to the recommendations of Yad Vashem" by Nada Banjanin Đuričić is a manual intended for teachers and practitioners in the field of education in Serbia who want to deal with the topic of the Holocaust with students of the older grades of primary and secondary school. Although the author in the title states that the publication is based on the recommendations of Yad Vashem, it goes far beyond the basic educational guidelines of this memorial institution and represents an original methodical contribution to thinking about and carrying out education about the Holocaust in our local context.Knjiga "To što radiš važno je: učiti o Holokaustu po preporukama Jad Vašema" može se preuzeti preko linka (The book "What you are doing is important: learning about the Holocaust according to the recommendations of Yad Vashem" can be downloaded via the link [https://www.jevrejskadigitalnabiblioteka.rs/handle/123456789/1481

Abraham Kapon

Krajem XIX i početkom XX veka Bosna je još uvek bila zabačena provincija Austro-ugarske monarhije, a u sefardsku jevrejsku zajednicu u Sarajevu, sporo je prodirao uticaj Zapada. Takve su bile prilike kada je 1900. godine u Sarajevo došao Abraham Kapon, pokretač prvog jevrejskog lista u Bosni. Bio je odličan poznavalac španskog jezika i kao takav proučavao jezik bosanskih Sefarada, beležio njihove poslovice i romanse. Jedna od osnovnih komponenata njegove ličnosti bila je otpor prema svakom konzervatizmu, verskom i društvenom. Prvi broj "La Alborade" izašao je 28. decembra 1900. godine. Imao je karakter poučno-literarnog nedeljnog lista i kao takav je stekao svoje čitaoce. List je imao 30 brojeva a onda je iz finansijskih razloga prestao da izlazi. Kapon je 1903. godine prihvatio mesto hazana i propovednika u hramu koji je bio osnovan na inicijativu sarajevskih intelektualaca u zgradi škole sazidane iste godine. Bila je to prva moderna sinagoga u Sarajevu u kojoj žene nisu stajale iza rešetaka (mušebeka)...By the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, Bosnia was still a remote province of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and the influence of the West was slowly come in the Sephardic Jewish community in Sarajevo. That was the occasion when Abraham Kapon, the initiator of the first Jewish newspaper in Bosnia, came to Sarajevo in 1900. He was an excellent expert in the Spanish language and studied the language of the Bosnian Sephardim, recording their proverbs and romances. One of the basic components of his personality was resistance to all conservatism, religious and social. The first issue of La Alborade was released on December 28, 1900. It has the character of an educational and literary weekly newspaper and has readers. The newspaper had 30 issues and then for financial reasons stopped publishing. In 1903, Kapon accepted the work as hazan and preacher in the temple, which was founded on the initiative of Sarajevo intellectuals in the school building that was built in the same year. It was the first modern synagogue in Sarajevo in which women did not stand behind bars..