Submitted by niki gomez mailto:niki@nirvanet.net at 2002-07-07 08:09:03

niki gomez writes "In 1992, the year in which the Oscar for Best Picture went to Clint Eastwood's technical, realistic and expressive western "Unforgiven", the European Organisation for Nuclear Research launched the world wide web. Since its unveiling, the web has come on at an astonishing rate, and the growth in users has been nothing short of extraordinary, yet the medium is still in its infancy. If, as a conceit, we were to compare the story of the web with the story of cinema, we might expect the web to be dominated at this early stage in its development by revolutionary inventions of a formalist or realist kind. Without the technical impulses of the pioneers, there would be no foundation for the web to build on, and certainly the medium has a genius for realism, but what has been remarkable in its short history is just how rapidly the web has been colonised by the exponents of personal expression. Like cinema then, and within a decade of its birth, the web has become reality neutral. Arguably, no art work encapsulates the reality neutral position of the web quite so succinctly as Tate in Space. Formally, the site presents us with no radical surprises, based as it is on the existing graphic identity of Tate Online. Indeed, our belief in the veracity of Tate in Space is predicated on the optical and conceptual fit between the new division of Tate and its four earth-bound siblings. Similarly, the database and network technologies which the project currently makes use of have been around for years. Susan Collins has initiated a development programme for a Tate in Space. At this stage of the programme, the Tate in Space website is the key route through which members of the public can follow developments, witness the architectural process, and follow the notional Tate Satellite orbiting earth every 92.56 minutes. The site explores ways in which a Tate in Space might extend visitor experience and engage new audiences. Tate in Space online will act as an arena for debate and reflection on the nature of art in space, raising questions about cultural and institutional ambition and the very human desires to observe and communicate. See http://www.tate.org.uk/space/"