Duly Noted: Young Art Folks say "Frak the Internet"

I'm a bit of an oldster in tech terms--turning 35 next month and still (!) use a hotmail account on occasion--so it's been interesting for me to see some younger early-20s artists and curators start to make work that is critical of the interwebs with which the have been suckled.

A recent example of this was "On You On Me" at the new artist-run/living-room space Butcher Gallery. Curated by young artist Kaitlin Till-Landry, the show was intended to deal with "themes inspired by the Internet’s influences on identity, narcissism and voyeurism." (In the interest of full disclosure, I met Till-Landry a couple of years ago when I was hired to curate a show of student work for the U of T vis arts department.)

For one "On You On Me" performance, Till-Landry took a knife to a webcam-streaming digital LCD screen, and seemed to find it harder to destroy than initially thought. Video of the performance is below:

Performance at Butcher Gallery from Kaitlin Till-Landry on Vimeo.

The work didn't end up functioning as intended during my visit, but the overall premise--including the handwritten, nondigital curatorial statement--was interesting. Most of the rest of the work in the show was analog. (I think the show has now closed, but a word to the wise if you're planning on visiting the gallery--because it's over a butcher shop, it does smell a lot like fairly odorous cheese and meat in there--er, unless that was some extra-analog piece that I somehow didn't identify.)

It's also worth noting that earlier this year, another young curator, Jennifer Chan, made related critiques of the web in her essay for a show at Interaccess. (As an aside, it looks like after many months of staffing-and-financial chaos, Interaccess is finally showing art again this month. Here's hoping they pull through.)

Finally, there's one more example I've come across of this internet-critical sentiment, albeit in the clubbing realm: Tony Cushman's regular FUCKtheINTERNET dance party. Says Cushman in an interview with BlogTO:

The crowd that we are attracting - artsy types in their 20s - are part of the last generation that can still remember a time before the Internet. The tracks [that we play] - New Wave, Old School Hip-Hop, 90s Dance - are a celebration of the pre-internet era, but the name also speaks to the ambivalent relationship we each have with the Internet.

I don't think any of this means Google will have to batten down the hatches for mutiny anytime soon; far from it. All these kids use the internet a lot--but it's interesting to me how some of them are also more critical about it than I would have expected.

Image from Hacking for Christ