From Mail Art to Tumblr: Making the Future ’Net Work for Art21

[How] can digital artists begin to make an income through the sale of their computer-based artworks? In a two-part article that kicked off Art21’s The Future issue, I draw a few parallels between Ray Johnson’s mail art – perhaps the original ‘networked art’ – and the artists who are using the internet to create works that are inherently bound by their form. Is the highly open and shareable nature of the internet at odds with the traditional art market? In my opinion, the answer is yes – and this is why we need to push for a new and better system for getting the most creative computer users paid for their work in a way that feels fair and natural.

From Mail Art to Tumblr: Making the Future ’Net Work, Part I→ 

From Mail Art to Tumblr: Making the Future ’Net Work, Part 2→