- Net Art: Net Art is a new form of art that uses the Internet as a medium, which is distinguished from traditional physical art. It usually has more freedom and is more interactive with its audience.
- Introduction:
Mark Napier was assigned by the Guggenheim to create an internet artwork in 2002, which led to the birth of the net.flag. Napier and his assistants made a lot of efforts to bring almost all the national flags on this net. In fact, it was initially written as a Java applet and then restored in JavaScript in 2019. After restoration, more recently recognized countries’ flags and more languages have been included. In general, it’s a place for people to reorganize and combine different elements of the existing flags across the world in the name of treating the Internet as our new shared territory. It’s a public art piece that allows everyone to create and make any change they want. Every modification will be recorded as part of the art, which can be accessed by clicking the buttons on the right side of the website. Basically, it’s an artwork that celebrates the equality and unity of the world. The new flag created by people from all over the world can represent a new common identity for the Internet generation.
- Discussion:
The reading claims that the net art shows its connectivity through the variety of users who get involved in the artwork. As the ideas of Johnson and Adrian, they both devote themselves to guaranteeing the widest possible access. Net artists hope to create works where people can engage in an innovative form of collaborative art. In Mark Mappier’s net.flag, It allows users to remix the shape, color, and badge to design their own net flag. And the flags are stored on the web. That means the collection of the user’s personal flag is a collaborative art from the public. As the reading says many artists employ IT tools to convey strong messages of a social or political nature, Mapier explores national borders, globalization and online communities in his work. He used the Internet to create a new realm to break down geographic boundaries and national borders and bring people together.
The feature of the internet matters a lot in Nappier’s net.flag. In virtue of the wide access to data, everyone with access to the internet can participate in this project and the new flag that the users made can be stored. Also, the feature of the internet makes it easier to split the different elements of national flags and combine them differently.
The process of making a new net flag in this project is a formation of generative art. What makes this project special is that it also shows the users where the elements come from before they are generated by letting them choose shapes from different nation flags. In this research, we learned that we can provide a platform for users to do their generative art.
- Individual Conclusion：
In Nappier’s net.flag, I found that users can express their aesthetic ideas by selecting shapes and combining them. It’s inspiring that I can include my users’ thoughts through their interaction with my project. Instead of just moving the click to interact, I will consider asking them what’s your choice or what they want to add to my project.