Art goes Cyberspace
Review of the first BiennialOnline by the InEnArt team, Thomas Büsch and Anja Pross
On 2nd of May the BiennaleOnline curated by Jan Hoet opened officialy on https://www.artplus.com/ and it displays works of art only on the internet in a bold and promissing experiement.
In presenting BiennaleOnline the makers „have aimed to offer an exhibition which breaks away from the conventional notion of Art as an elite pastime, confined to faraway galleries and those with the leisure and funds to enjoy it.“
The site invites visitors to involved active by leaving comments, by getting connected with the curators and the 180 artists. The website displays high resolution images of multimedia art works – most of them from the classical media, photos, videos, images of installtions, drawings, expanded by a CV of the artist and a comment by the curator who selected the artist. The show will be displayed until 2015 online.-
Watch a video interview with Jan Hoet about Reflection & Imagination.
First published on the facebook fan page of the Biennial
By becoming a free member of BiennialOnline you are able to visit the online exhibition. Unfortunately the InEnArt team had every second try problems to register as a member of Biennial Online, finnaly we just used one account for visiting and a broad check of the presentation.
When you visit the BiennialOnline, you will have a choice of viewing artwork by curator or by artist – select either “Enter via the curators” or “Enter via the artists”.
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If you enter the Biennial via curators you can visit their virtual exhibition. A positive experience we see the curators images as manifestation of the connection between the virtual and the physical worlds enhancing the credibility.
Next to the artists’ work, there is a text that explains the work. When you click on one of the works, the image becomes bigger and on the left side you will find the biography of the artist. On this surface you can also decide to follow the artist or add one of his works into your binder(click on the star) to create your personal exhibition.
Prommising is the network facility and the interactive section of the site. As a registered user you can select your favorite works, you can create your own exhibitions and share them with your followers.
Moreover the network is a great opportunity to connect with other people which can be categorized into professionals, enthusiasts, collectors and artists. Unfortunately this function will work only after May 10th, so the InEnArt team was not able to test this section for you at the moment.-
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The interface is not completely intuitive. Sometimes you need to search for the right buttons. Instead of clicking on the picture of a curator and directly reaching his virtual exhibition, you have to click on his picture and then find the button „enter here to view your selection“ on top of the page.
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In general the layout, the presentation and the interface looks cool, tidy and clear but the usability, the virtual gateway and the interrelations need improvement, which we are hoping to find soon on this promissing enterprize.-