What was net art and what can we learn from it? In the 1990s, the Internet offered a chance to redefine the relationship between art, theory, politics, and the public. Mostly overlooked by the art world at the time, this art movement is coming into clearer focus as the Internet turns into a commercialised tool of social control. Moving from the currents that accompanied the emergence of net art through ideas of hacking and disruption to questions of technological obsolescence, the panelists will explore what Net Art has to offer for the situation we find ourselves in today.

The panelists included two prominent historians of net art: Tilman Baumgärtel, author of net.art 2.0. New materials for net art along with many other books, and Josephine Bosma, whose publications include Nettitudes: Let’s Talk Net Art. They were joined by Stephan Schwingeler, a curator at the ZKM in Karlsruhe specialised on art and video games. Moderated by Alex Scrimgeour, an editor at Spike.