badinfo@well.UUCP (Judy Malloy) (03/17/87)
There are artists on the WELL, at least: John Cage; Jennifer Hall; Stephen Moore; Fred Truck, Jim Rosenberg, and I have all done pieces on the Art Com Electronic Network (acen) on the WELL. Acen was started by Carl Loeffler, the director of Art Com (a San Francisco based artists' video; artists' books; performance art distributor) Acen participated in Planetary Network, an artists' networking piece which was part of the Biennale of Venice last summer. I know many other artists who are interested in networking or in using computers in other ways - artists who are doing exciting, meaningful. good work. Unfortunately, most of them barely make ends meet working part time jobs. They don't have access to computers at their jobs, and they can't afford to buy even a used computer - a good example of the widening gap between the "information rich" and the "information poor". Artists who teach at Universities *could* use computers/Usenet, but University art departments are notoriously conservative. Artists who are University professors tend to be sculptors or painters who *are* threatened by new mediums. In their defense, the lack of graphics capability in current networking systems is a valid deterrent to artists whose work is wholly visual. Networking is more likely to appeal to artists, like myself, whose work is text and information oriented. Judy Malloy.