In the Net

I WAS invited to London by the Tate Modern Gallery, to present my work at a seminar on New Media Art, this April. Kicking off was Steve Diet...

I WAS invited to London by the Tate Modern Gallery, to present my work at a seminar on New Media Art, this April. Kicking off was Steve Dietz, founding director of New Media Arts at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, who questioned whether art on the Internet could be defined by national lines?

Then, it was time for artist presentations. Carey Young8217;s new website project sent visitors feel-good SMSes. Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead8217;s web-based work projected live news headlines in endless spirals. Historians Geoffrey Batchen and Charlie Gere questioned the 8216;new8217; medium. Was it just that the Internet post-dates painting, photography, installation and video art? Or was the 8216;new8217; tag to attract audiences? In the Indian context, the media is new too8212;even video art was suspect, till recently!

The session on the cultural and social context was chaired by writer Saul Albert. Presenting works were Nick Crowe, Desperate Optimists and I. Interestingly, all of us work across a range of media. The Internet8217;s more to extend our current practices and engage with wider audiences. Crowe showed his online simulated radio website, with police interviews during daily patrols. I spoke about recent Internet works Sentiment Express website critiquing virtual romance, sending fake love letters to visitors, Xeno Bio Lab visitors can choose their religious, caste identities and Blessed Bandwidth conferring virtual blessings, the last commissioned by Tate Online.

Seminar over, I met old and new friends, did the pubs and walked the Brick Lane8212;the erstwhile Bangladeshi immigrant ghetto, now an artists8217; hub, where even rich American kids rent apartments. While gallery-hopping, we were constantly directed to the East End Galleries. The established West End ones were too 8216;8216;safe and boring8217;8217;. Also, the former offer free entry unlike, say Saatchi, with a ridiculous entrance fee of pound;8. It8217;s difficult to stop converting during a five-day trip!