DOMENICO QUARANTA
the opening lines of the catalogue text by Larry Rinder, one of the curators: «Nothing since the invention of photography has had a greater impact on artistic practice than the emergence of digital technology». [28] This celebratory tone did not escape the critics. In Art in America, Barbara Pollack dedicated a long article to the exhibition, which she called a «irony-free digital extravaganza» which does no more than show that «artists, like everyone else, use computers». In Pollack’s view, the exhibition revealed «studied superficiality», and the artists appeared to have been selected to represent specific technological gizmos. Pollack continues with a critique that is more circumstantial, but no less valid: the absence of the human dimension, in any form; the predilection for abstract languages, the almost total exclusion of female artists, reinforcing the stereotype of technology as the preserve of young males, and the total absence, in its general celebratory tone, of the dark side of technology, and the artists whose work sets out to subvert it. Pollack’s article is interesting because it is based on a good knowledge and appreciation of New Media Art, while challenging its existence as a category. She writes: «Digital art […] is a messy category that turns formalism on its ear by simulating art forms such as painting, sculpture, photography, film and installation, and by subverting the once sacred distinctions between these categories». This critique is shared by Stefanie Syman, in Feed: «Being digital or made with digital tools doesn’t really say much about the art itself […] digital art is a category of convenience that should be retired». [29]
The End of the Dance (2002 – 2010) Little by little the museums’ passion was cooling, however. There were various reasons for this: financiers with a vested interest were bowing out; critics were questioning the utility of a
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