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What does it mean to art to get on the net? Or more specifically, what does it mean to the art scene that a great deal of its activities are actually going on via Internet? As the chief editor of Art Orbit this is the topic of the late night conversations I´ve had with myself in front of the screen. Of course I´ve not come up with any complete answer. But what is clear is that Internet makes as lot of things concerning art more accessable to a much wider range of people. What Sanne Kofod Olsen says about Inserts (see article by Ulla Ronberg, Copenhagen) goes for most net projects: "Moreover, being on the internet means that inserts has a potential circle of 'surfing' readers that reaches far beyond the traditional buyers of art historical books." Sanne Kofod OlsenBut an increase of access does not mean that life is easy for surfers looking for quality information on the net. On the contrary, I think that the internet demands a lot of a surfer looking for art; there is a lot of junk to be bumped into along the electronic highway. You have to sharpen your capacity of judgement and selection – your sense of quality – as all the information is wrapped in the appealing package of Internet sites. Art Orbit strives to guide the visitor towards quality both within the internet and outside. (See articles from some of Scandianvias´ best art magazines) But nevertheless, the Internet as a whole creates many diffent possiblities to suck up information about art; using sound, images, video clips and live casting. And it is this sphere that Art Orbit likes to experiment within.(Click and hear the voices of asian architects Fumihiko Maki and Tay Kheng Soon.) During the work with this very first issue of Art Orbit I have been confronted with a wide range of opinions about the Internet and of a project like this magazine. The perfect blend of fear, curiosity and enthusiasm. Or in other words – the very best starting-point for an art magazine that is urging for a lot of feedback, comments and debate. So what is the fear about then? Well, first of all it´s about the question whether Internet is going to replace the good old paper magazines and books. Nope. I don´t think so. Books and paper have survived the emergence of radio, TV and cinema – so why not Internet? And the intention of Art Orbit is to lead you on to some of the best art magazines in Scandinavia, as mentioned above. You get a sample of them in Art Orbit and then you can buy "the whole story" in the newsstand. But the biggest fear and confusion in the art world seems to be that of images on the net, works of art that are published on the Internet. What about the manipulating of art works? What about illegal use of them? What about some one else taking credit of another persons art work? These topics should not be neglected and everyone involved with images on the site should really try to get informed about this issue. However, it is a fact that the portrait of Mona Lisa had moustaches long before Photoshop and the Internet. As for the curiosity about Internet I hope that Art Orbit will keep it alive and stimulate it. People who are blasé are boring so we want to avoid that state of mind. Art Orbit wants to present and use the technical possiblities of Internet as mentioned above, bit by bit in a playful manner. And we want to encourage our contributors to use the possiblities that Art Orbit can provide thanks to an excellent technical back up from Art Node. So what about the enthusiasm for the net , then. Well, Art Orbit likes to take part in a dialouge with people with different opinions. Taking to the project or rejecting it. Or somewhere in between. My aim is to make Art Orbit a vibrant site as opposed to the bunch of stathic web sites that already exists. You can read more about this under the heading What is Art Orbit.
ANNIKA HANSSON,
chief editor, hansson@artnode.se
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