Art.Net
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Art.Net is a noncommercial, not for profit web-based artist collective of more than 450 artists, poets, musicians, painters, sculptors, animators, hacker artists, and other creative people from around the world, helping each other to share their works on the World Wide Web. Also known as Art on the Net, the site was an early artist collective on the web, established in June, 1994 with a manifesto and statement of purpose [link].
Artists create and maintain studio web spaces where experimentation is encouraged, and gallery pages where they show their works and share information about themselves. Artists are also encouraged to collaborate with each other and to help each other promote and improve their art. The site is also used to train artists to curate presentation of their work on the web. Several member artists teach art in their studio space. Art.Net is open to new artists and new areas. New artists are invited to join on their website and submit their work for display. The site provides and supports a variety of online art resources.
Art.Net is owned and operated by the member artists, and has been active in defending free speech on the Internet. With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, Art.Net has been active in many court cases defending freedom of speech on the Internet. In each case, members were asked to testify in court about how laws censoring content on the Internet prevented the sharing of art due to fear of prosecution. There have been four such cases, in four different states. Each was successful in bringing injunctions against unjust laws, preventing their enforcement. This happened during the time that each state was trying to create local Communications Decency Act (CDA) laws for their local states.
Art.Net typically receives more than 65,000 page views a day from more than 14,000 unique visitors, and has won several awards. [link]
Selected historical milestones
June, 1994 - established.February, 1996 - joined in the Black World Wide Web protest from February 8 until February 24 to protest the signing of the telecommunications bill that included the CDA by Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996 as part of the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign. Art.Net continued showing the Blue Ribbon on site entrance page to show support of freedom of speech on the Internet.
June, 1996 - new links submission form [link] was added on the site.
March, 1997 - joined in the lawsuit ALA v. Pataki as a plaintiff to challenge New York's Internet censorship law. [link] Art.Net was placed in jeopardy to help defend freedom of speech on the Internet by joining this case: If it had lost, there would have been a strong chance that the site must shut down because of censorship laws. Represented by the ACLU, the case was won for the plaintiffs Art.Net and many others, and a preliminary injunction against New York's censorship law, preserving freedom of speech on the Internet, was issued.
June, 1998 - joined in the lawsuit ACLU v. Johnson as a plaintiff to challenge New Mexico's online censorship law. [link] This was an important case because even though the ACLU won [link], the case was appealed by New Mexico. [link] The appeals court upheld the ruling, so now this case is federal precedent, supporting the freedom of speech on the Internet for all U.S. citizens.
June 1999 - joined as a plaintiff in Cyberspace v. Engler, with the ACLU, challenging Michigan's cyber-censorship law, citing the Constitution's commerce clause and free speech rights. [link] The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, again upholding the right of free speech on the Internet.
March 2002 - in the article, "Fahrenheit 451.2: Is Cyberspace Burning?" [link] the Internet is shown to deserve the same high level of free speech protection afforded to books and other printed matter. Art.Net is shown as an example of why self-rating is burdensome, unwieldy, and costly for websites to implement.
See also
- Hacker artist
- Internet art
- Online art galleries
- SITO
External links
- [Art.Net] also known as [Art on the Net]
- [What's New at Art.Net]
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