Hello Valery,

the .net jury never claimed that Linux is 'art' - only that it reflects the
aesthetic of the net.   I guess this is the point that has caused much
debate here recently.   If one assumes that the prix ars electronica must
only be for art, then perhaps Linux would not qualify at all.   Linus
Torvalds does not consider himself to be an artist;  his intention in
instigating the development of Linux was to create an operating system, not
a work of art.

However, being Art was not part of the stated criteria for the jury.  Here
is an excerpt from the jury statement published in the CyberArts 99
compendium:

"....Linux is an example of a work that advances the development of the Net
in a novel way.   The .net jury sought out pieces that are community
building, self-organizing, distributed, impossible without the Net, and
have grown beyond the original design of the artist.   During our
deliberations, Linux emerged as an unparalleled example of a work that
meets precisely those criteria:  it has birthed an aesthetic showing how
something can be built on the Net through an intentional, but not
necessarily direct, description.   As an open-source project, Linux relies
on the contributions of thousands of volunteer programmers who collaborate
online in a group effort that has created a remarkably robust operating
system.  The effort is steered - but not directed - by Linus Torvalds.   We
felt that the community that has assembled around this anarchic effort
demonstrates how strong an aesthetic can be in bringing a community,
assets, ideas and attention together."

While you may not agree with this decision, I hope this at least clarifies
what we were thinking about.

I guess one could equally say that the French language reflects a cultural
aesthetic that is distinct from any other language....and I can see your
point that this argument quickly loses its meaning.   But we really were
hard pressed to fin a better demonstration of what sets the Net apart from
other media.  And we also wanted to establish a direction so that there
will be some self-organizing, distributed Art for future Ars Electronica
.Net juries to review.

-lisa



At 12:19 PM 9/12/99 +0200, valery grancher wrote:
>Dear Lisa;
>
>    I saw that in history, art has always changed the way how people is
>perceiving his environement, and how he's thinking it.  If we are
>considering art on this level, we'll see that nothing has changed since
>thousands and thousands years in human history. But there was big changes
>on formal level:

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