***  Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Forum1 Archive  ***
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   [Date]: Thu, 07 Oct 1999 11:34:20 -0400
   [From]: Christy Sheffield Sanford <christys@gnv.fdt.net>
     [To]: Cultural Exchange via Internet <forum1@hkw.kbx.de>
[Subject]: Re: [forum1] Re: The Shrinking Web and What to do about it.

At a University of Florida museum showing, the late Juan Downey said
something I thought was astute. A student was asking about the viability
of the film medium.

Juan said he'd lived through the death of God, the author, the movie,
and that they were all still alive!  Any inherently satisfying medium
will live.  I love painting and I don't view the web as a threat to
visual art.  Both my parents were visual artists, and I have an enormous
respect for the field.  If anything, the web offers opportunities for
cross-fertilization and, of course, exhibitions.  

I am one of those defining web-specific work; it is an important purpose
in my creative life.  As a writer who wanted to combine visual art and
text and to use color and motion, the web has set me free.  I don't know
that the phrase "elitist" was ever used for film and video artists
though those mediums are probably more expensive than the computer.
There is a tremendous amount of energy and excitement about the web as
an artistic medium.  The fact that that is no commodity, no tangible
economic product, makes many suspect our intelligence!  That we continue
with a lack of respect is a tribute to the medium and some kind of
pioneer spirit. 

I don't consider myself technically adept.  This is like blackberry
picking for me, you go in in spite of the briars and snakes just to get
to those delicious berries!  I've been impressed by how many free
programs there are on the net and how many programmers offer their
scripts for free.  The generosity on the part of many of the more
technically inclined is unparalleled in history.  This attitude is
spreading.  Perhaps not as fast as we would like.

All best wishes.

  
Christy Sheffield Sanford
Web-specific Artist-Writer
http://gnv.fdt.net/~christys/index.html