Composition: the arrangement of elements in time and space.

The browser is very different from other media, especially when it comes to composition. I believe we are at the very beginning of the aesthetic potential of the networked image.

This is an (incomplete) list of compositional characteristics of the browser.

The internet presents artists with challenges, opportunities, and best of all, a lack of history.

The size of a browser can change at any moment. There is no fixed dimension or ratio. Think of an image, that can shrink or expand at any time. Ideally the artwork anticipates every possible dimension. Colors are rendered differently depending on hardware, software and usage. Websites are ubique yet inconsistent in appearance.

There are many kinds of devices. Some have big pixels, some have small pixels. A 1 pixel line on a smartphone is different from a 1 pixel line on an old CRT monitor. The physical experience of each device is unique.

The user is present in the pictorial space. There might be a cursor or finger that can influence the composition. Interaction is not unique to the browser but it is something that is natural to internet users.

Many people at the same time can influence an image. There is a potential for social images that change over time by allowing users to modify an image, like a wikipedia article.

Computers are good at generating random numbers. I’m not sure if those numbers are truly random, but it’s good enough. Each time the artwork is viewed, it can be slightly or dramatically different.

The networked image can keep pulling information from the web. The elements of composition can change all the time, because the web’s content changes all the time.

In the early days of the internet, bandwidth was very limited. This digital frugality created a new visual language.

Browsers do not have the same rendering power as native applications. This is a limitation and an opportunity at the same time. Challenges like these force artists to come up with new solutions.

On this photo you see the certificate/contract for likethisforever.com.

I sell my websites as unique art pieces. The collector receives a certificate, a backup disk with source files, and ownership of the domain name.

Part of the sale is still “physical”. I still print the contract on paper and I still burn a disk. But that will change, from now on it will be a digitally signed pdf certificate and I’ll email the files.

I think it’s cooler that way.

According to Wikipedia:
“Composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art.”

Works of art usually have a fixed size. The artist will carefully position all the elements until a perfect tension is found.

What if the medium does not have a fixed size? How do you deal with composition?

Everybody uses their browser in their own way. Websites are viewed in various dimensions. This is an interesting moment for artists. Composition has been exhausted, many artists in many media have explored all the options, leaving little room for invention. But now you can make art objects (websites) that adapt.
A good website acts like gas, using all available space.

I’ve always tried to make websites that work any way you want them to, small, large, square, tall, flat. Some of my websites stretch, some scale, some crop, and some rearrange according to your browser size.

My approach (vector based generative images) is one possibility, but I think there are many ways to deal with composing images for a browser. Art historians of the world, please be alert, there are probably a lot of artists right now inventing ways to deal with “the liquid canvas”.

What was the art that captured the spirit of the industrial age?
What will be the art that captures the spirit of the information age?

Should art capture things, freeze them?
A lot of art freezes reality, it makes time stand still so we can have a better look.
Can today’s time still be frozen? Or are things moving too fast?
Or perhaps things are not even moving that fast? Is today that different from 10 years ago?

classic subjects in new formats
new subjects in classic formats
new subjects in new formats
classic subjects in classic formats

Dates: February 3 – 8, 2012
Location: VIPArtFair.com
Tickets: Visiting VIP 2.0 is free.

“Enter the art world online”. VIP is the only art fair that is exclusively accessible on the internet. The world’s most prominent contemporary art galleries are part of it, and of course most of the works are paintings, sculptures and photographs.

This year Rhizome was asked to participate and curator Lauren Cornell asked me to present my websites in the booth. Doesn’t it make sens to show online artworks at an online art fair?

You can see a video-tour of my booth here.

Press release by Lauren Cornell:

Rhizome is pleased to present a solo exhibition of work by outstanding artist Rafaël Rozendaal, who is known for his trailblazing explorations of the web browser, and for his forward-thinking contributions to the curation and sale of digital art.

Rozendaal is noted not only for his own digital work, but for his inventive, free-form curatorial project BYOBthat has been staged around the world, and his contract that outlines how a browser-based work can be sold. This contract applies to all works for purchase at VIP Art Fair, and is available online here. As an organization dedicated to advocacy of digital art, and education around its history, preservation, and exhibition, Rhizome is proud to share Rozendaal’s contract within the VIP Art Fair as an example of an artist’s bold move towards defining best practices around the sale of digital art. Proceeds from the sale of Rozendaal’s donated works will be split between the artist and Rhizome.

Here it is, a group-artist-talk at DLD, a series of “quick espresso shots” in the words of curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Karen Archey, Cory Arcangel, Ed Fornieles, Oliver Laric, Keller/Kosmas, Jon Nash, and me at the end of the video. We all present our work and talk about how we each use the internet in our own way.

Digital Life Design (DLD) is a global conference network. It was great to meet very different people doing very different things, from scientists to financial software engineers to hackers. Expect some new One Question Interviews soon with people I’ve met at DLD.

Ideally the work is not a manifestation of an idea, the work is the idea.

Smart Robots, Digital Dollars Lure Collectors as Internet Rocks Art World, By Caroline Winter

Am I drawn to it?
Do I feel a strong attraction or connection?
Does it trigger a series of thoughts?
Does it change my thoughts?
Does it set a mood?
Does it amplify my emotions?
Does it encourage me to make something?
Does it provide new information?
Is it beautiful?
Does it intensify perception?
What is the level of abstraction?
Does it awaken memories?
Does it make me curious?
Do I want more of it?
Does it summarize an era?
Is it innovative?
Does it stand out?
Do I remember it after 10 minutes?
Does it surprise me?

Article in the current edition of Flash Art. Thank you Christophe Boutin.