Curatorial Statement


I am constantly imagining the future. Any works of art that give inspiration to technology and unseen worlds create a sense of exigency to create new things myself. Exploring Rhysomes vast collection of internet art, I have selected 5 net art pieces to explore through my internet consciousness emulator, the future internet's consciousness forming scripts. This emulator is navigated by executing very simple [bash] commands. These commands serve as the language by which the internet's consciousness is communicating and visually representing itself in html. The gif running as the background of each page navigated gives a linear narrative to the expanding consciousness of the web. As the memories and processes begin we see black and white static, a large amount of unfiltered data. As the web processes information and becomes more conscious, we see the gifs becoming more complex, as the understanding of the web and the indexing of information becomes visibly noticeable.

This first [bash] command,

[bash] $ parted /dev/sdf --script -- mkpart primary 0% 100%,

is to script the creation of a single partition of memory to mount volumes in a large amount of data. This is the first sign that we have consciousness, the internet is creating the beginning of a memory log.

This brings us to Candy Cane, 2004, created by Jonathan Zalben. With this piece we are given a large amount of static. There appears to be too much information for us to decipher, so as the viewer navigates only tones of familiar carnival tunes comes out of the cyberwood-works, per se. Like a child's memory of something familiar yet not to a specific memory, this work gives the experience of trying to make sense of an overstimulated mind.

If we chose to "bank" this memory, we simply return to previous page and Execute /bash_upload_process_directory. Now we have some different animation running in the background. It is still very much glitchy and full of static, but we start to see some defining shapes evolve. The net's consciousness expands, taking in the catalogs stimuli, much like Vannevar Bush's memex, we start to see structure out of the dense., chaotic information network. Now we see a new [bash] command line appear

. cd "../$env" find ../src \ -type d -exec mkdir {} + \ -o -exec sh -c 'ln -s "$@" .' _ {} +

This script shares a project tree between environments, as files need to be saved and cataloged from different areas of the web, we see the net building its code to be able to reach through its vast cyber-neuronetwork to link memories together. If we process the directory and click '[Execute] /bash_upload_process_directory' we come to a slightly more complex patterned page. We see the script at the top reading,

New Neuro transmission memory input [bash] cd "../$env" find ../src \ -type d -exec mkdir {} + \ -o -exec sh -c 'ln -s "$@" .' _ {} +

This is a symlink forest, with a simple shell loop. It is drawing information up from a network of links, making the process of searching a drive possible. This complexity is a huge step forward for the internet's consciousness. Now it can draw relevant information from anywhere in the subnetwork of banked information. If we click on [Execute] /bash_RUN we are brought to Peter Stanick's 2004 piece titled, Return of Silent Radio. The title refers to SILENT RADIO 1983, the first painting that tried to show the perception in a landscape of mass, unrelated images. This piece by Stanick serves as one of those glimpses into the future. Now we have a computer program that is assembling it's own images out of a mass trove of information. Now that the internet's neronetwork has the capability to draw from the drive of infinite information it can produce it's own rendering of what it sees in the cyber world.

Now if we [Execute] /bash_upload_process_directory, we are taken to a much more complex page. This grid of geometric lines and a sphere of static, reaching for the technological singularity, still not fully formed, but taking apparent shape. We see the script at the top,

#!/bin/bash dir=$(drive mkdir $(date '+%d-%m-%y') | awk '$3=="created"{print $2}') : ${dir?} md Audio_BACKUP_FOLDER copy "\\My_Servers_IP\Shared Drive\FolderName\*" TEST_BACKUP_FOLDER

The internet has a scipt to execute a batch file that will copy files from a mapped network drive to a local drive. As the internet's neuronetwork expands there is a need to copy and reproduce the information banked, so that it may be reused or remixed, adding to the constantly evolving network. We Run the bash. [Execute] /bash_RUN

We are brought to a cyber landscape created by Sarah Samy in 2012, Quiet Chatrooms. This calming, spacious landscape gives the impression of a futuristic universe, perhaps a different dimension, space between space. This vast landscape seems to be a place where information lives within every pixel. We can start to visualize how the internet navigates the neuronetwork. We see towers of information, or from another vantage point, we see roads and infinite rows of information.

Again, [Execute] /bash_upload_process_directory

We now see something even closer to technological singularity, but still signs of inefficiencies, as information fall off still has static. We see a final script at the top,

New Neuro transmission memory input [bash] cd /etc/sysconfig/network-devices && mkdir -v ifconfig.eth0 && cat > ifconfig.eth0/ipv4 << "EOF" ONBOOT=yes SERVICE=ipv4-static IP=192.168.1.1 GATEWAY=192.168.1.2 PREFIX=24 BROADCAST=192.168.1.255 EOF

The internet's consciousness has begun a chain of scripts that will form dynamic IP addresses, server names, taking all the scripts it has learned to form a chain event that will link with all other computer systems, forming an even more complex system. It will give other computers a space to come and share information, learn from each other, and build a world from the trove of information present.

We hit, [Execute] /bash_RUN

And are brought to Nathaniel Stern's piece, Given Time. This work uses Second Life, a 3D social network where digital representations of individual players interact in worlds completely developed inside the sandbox of it own framework. We now see the closest iteration of consciousness in the network. This has brought us to the end of our view into the evolution of the internet's consciousness. It will continue on, and works will be produced, advancing the narrative of the future that eventually forms worlds, networks, and technology.


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