_ Domenico Quaranta Urbino, December 2016
Editor’s note
7 Domenico Quaranta
an artist duo. After closing the selection and choosing the book title, I decided to include, in the form of a second introduction, the essay “Art and the Internet 1994 - 2014. Notes and Comments” that I wrote for the catalogue of the exhibition Megarave - Metarave, at Kunsthaus Langenthal in 2014. Someway, for me this text sums up the shift that came along in recent years, and the difference between In Your Computer and AFK, pretty well. The artists featured in this book are more or less of my generation - sometimes a little bit older, sometimes a little bit younger. As me, they experienced the impact of digital means of production and dissemination, they experimented with them, they thought about them, and all this is reflected in their work. As Peter Sunde, the co-founder of the Pirate Bay, they think the internet is real, and they spend a lot of time in this real space of life, communication, love, hate, surveillance, sharing, and copying. Most of the works discussed here are made to be experienced in a brick and mortar space, away of keyboard; but reflect the current way of living, communicating, loving, hating, spying, sharing, copying, on and away of keyboard. Like this book, that has been written mostly on keyboard, but should be better enjoyed away of keyboard; and that, if it’s of any value as an editorial project, it’s because of its ability to shine a light on our current way to live, communicate, love, hate, spy, share, copy and make art, on and away of keyboard.