Enter Y2K

The decade of the 2000s began with the optimism of the dot-com era and the promise of the Internet’s potential. While markets were cooling on the initial profitability of Internet companies, the realization of the full power of the Internet was only being realized by the developed populations that were benefiting from them. This interest in the Internet sparked a renewed interest in digital art, especially as it pertained to net art and software art.

For more context, we suggest [watching or listening (transcript) to our Ch 8 Artist Discussion with Christiane Paul⁠, ⁠Casey Reas⁠, ⁠Christa Sommerer⁠ and ⁠Golan Levin⁠.]

This optimism was exemplified by exhibitions at the Whitney, such as BitStreams and Data Dynamics. Bitforms Gallery opened its doors in 2001, celebrating artists engaging with new technologies and media art. This optimistic trend was solidified and forever memorialized by the seminal 2003 publication of Christiane Paul’s Digital Art. Paul explained further in a conversation with me:

“We have seen these waves [of optimism] before. Like 2000 [2001] was a big one, when at that moment the Whitney did BitStreams and Data Dynamics and suddenly all of the institutions were commissioning net art. And then it all collapsed. I’m not saying that will happen. I think this is a more sustained engagement but there are also always ups and downs.”

This optimism, combined with the emergence of Processing in 2001 and computer-generated art, experienced not its first nor its last renaissance. Or perhaps, as Paul also noticed, the baton changed from one digital generative art movement (Algorists) to another (Process-ists).