Why Singlecell? A review by Gerfried Stocker Artistic Director, Ars Electronica There are no major projects on Singlecell, no Gesamtkunstwerks, no career masterpieces. Singlecell is a side-project of side-projects, a compilation of small pieces executed by artists who probably had something larger and more important that they should have been working on. Nevertheless, although Singlecell is a small project with modest goals, it is also an exceptionally clear example, on multiple levels, of a wholly new mode of artistic production. Of course, its focus on the medium of "computational design" is quite contemporary, made possible by a new breed of designers who are skilled in both programming and the arts. To this, however, is added the way in which these people have come together. Many of the contributors have never met face-to-face. Most of them would never have even known about each other had it not been for the Internet. Quite a few of them might never have known about each other had they not independently agreed to participate in the Singlecell project. Singlecell is interesting because it precisely portends the new form of art product, practice, practitioner and community made possible by the Internet revolution. |
What is the basic premise of the Singlecell project? |