Top » Computer: Web & Internet

Arty Pants Browser

If a browser is unveiled at a gallery, does that make it art? New York artist Maciej Wisniewski has created Netomat http://www.netomat.net/ a nonlinear meta-browser. That gives the viewer control over, well, everything and nothing. From the description, "random visuals and snippets of sentences mined from the Web float endlessly across a black backdrop, accompanied by clips of sound," I would guess it to be Neo-DaDa Browser art. Labeled a meta-browser, it grabs and displays pieces of text, images, and sound from the Internet, based on your input. Navigation is by keywords (typed, not clicked) and you can have the browser retrieve on specified subjects. Okay, that's the scary part, and yes, it's cool. But the gallery unveiling smacks of elitism to me, and a step away from the Web being "The Great Equalizer," our Guttenberg Press. Wisniewski plans on making the components open source, but art galleries... I smell money. Get it while it's free.

Thu, 16 Mar 2000 07:30:56 -0800