How do you fancy viewing some art on the Internet? You鈥檙e probably yawning
already 鈥� thumbnail images of prints made from the old masters are not
something most of us care to return to day after day. But Netropolitan has
heard that art and technology can be combined in a much more stimulating way
at some sites.
On Thursday 8 February, Colin Jacobson and Rick Smolan will be running
their 鈥�24 hours in Cyberspace鈥� exhibition. Jacobson, a former picture
researcher at The Independent, and Smolan, a photographer, got together with
Eastman Kodak, Sun Microsystems and Adobe Systems to bring the exhibition to a
monitor near you.
On the big day, 100 professional photographers will transmit images of how
technology is affecting people鈥檚 lives and Smolan will turn them into a Web
site at http://www.Cyber24.
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For those of us with less advanced photographic skills, part of the site
will be dedicated to Net surfers鈥� ideas on how Cyberspace is affecting
people鈥檚 lives. You can post your text and pictures here, either as a Web page
or as an Acrobat document.
Meanwhile, last week London鈥檚 Hayward Gallery joined forces with the Oldham
Art Gallery to launch its latest touring exhibition. Among the exhibits are
two composite images that you can also view over the Net.
They were created by two Russian artists, known as Komar and Melamid, who
are living in New York. They built up one image using responses to a
questionnaire that they sent to a wide range of people in Russia. Questions
ranged from choosing landscape or abstract pictures, to which person they
would most like to see in the picture. The other image is based on the
preferences of a similar group in the US.
The result is a pair of 鈥淭he Most Wanted Paintings鈥�, which you can access
at http://www.diacenter.org/km/
search/index.html. While both Americans and Russians showed a preference for
slightly kitschy, unspoilt landscapes, the people they chose to look at were
rather different. While the Americans plumped for George Washington, the
Russians want Christ gracing the middle of their picture.
The artists want to build up a collection of 鈥淭he Most Wanted Paintings鈥�
representing views from around the world. France, Turkey and Iceland have
already been surveyed.
NETROPOLITAN is at edit-news.newsci.ipc.co.uk. Put 鈥淣etropolitan鈥� in the
subject line. And don鈥檛 forget to check out our New 杏吧原创 Planet Science
Web page at .
