Jon Ippolito
Encyclopedia
Jon Ippolito is an artist
, educator, new media
scholar, and former curator
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
. Ippolito studied astrophysics
and painting
in the early 1980s, then pursued Internet art
in the 1990s. His works explore digitally-induced collaboration
and networking, a theme that is prominent in his later scholarship.
, where in 1993 he curated Virtual Reality: An Emerging Medium and subsequent exhibitions that explore the intersection of contemporary art and new media. In 2002 Ippolito joined the faculty of the University of Maine
's New Media Department, where he co-founded Still Water
with Joline Blais. His writing on the cultural and aesthetic implications of new media has appeared in the Washington Post, Art Journal
, and numerous art magazines, including in a regular "Cross Talk" column for ArtByte magazine.
Ippolito also has an abiding interest in the legacy for today's artists of conceptual practices of the 1960s and 1970s. His contributions to this subject include curating events for the New York presentation of Rolywholyover A Circus for museum by John Cage
. He is particularly interested in the parallel between digital art
and Minimalist and Conceptual art
, a parallel that led him to propose a new paradigm for preserving art called the Variable Media Network.
, new media
, and community
building. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Maine
’s New Media Department where he teaches classes on programming, online culture, issues of variable media, and viral media. With Joline Blais in 2002, he co-founded Still Water
, a new media lab
at the University of Maine at Orono devoted to studying and building creative networks
.
In the 1990s, Ippolito worked with artists Janet Cohen and Keith Frank
creating works that exposed the adversarial side of collaboration (Agree to Disagree and the Unreliable Archivist). During this time he also curated the Worlds of Nam June Paik
and Virtual Reality: an Emerging Medium at the Guggenheim.
In the 2000s, Ippolito began working with collaborators John Bell
and Craig Dietrich
on digital tools. These projects include the distributed publication tool ThoughtMesh, a 2005 Vectors Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular
commission that has grown to include conference proceedings
, poetry
, and full length books. ThoughtMesh is an unusual model for publishing and discovering scholarly papers online, which gives readers a tag-based navigation system that uses keywords to connect excerpts of essays published on different Web sites. Authors can choose to post an essay in a central repository hosted by the Vectors program at USC
, the sponsor of this project, or to self-archive an essay on their own Web site. Stemming from research into variable media at the Guggenheim, the team is producing the Variable Media Questionnaire and the Metaserver, a lightweight metadata registry that automatically connects related data in separate repositories.
Ippolito and collaborators, including Bell, Blais, and Owen Smith, developed The Pool, an online project design workspace noted by the Chronicle of Higher Education as a "new avenue for new-media scholars to do their jobs." The Pool is a collaborative online environment for creating art
, code
, and texts
. In place of the single-artist, single-artwork paradigm favored by the overwhelming majority of documentation systems, The Pool stimulates collaboration
in a variety of forms, including multi-author, asynchronous, and cross-medium projects.
Additional projects include MARCEL, a permanent high band-width network for artistic experimentation, and the Maine Intellectual Commons Web site, helping to establish standards for creative and scholarly research that contribute to a culture of sharing.
and jodi
, arguing that the confines of the established art world are failing to recognize the home–grown and often ephemeral
art found online
. The book creates a metaphor between digital art
and the human immune system
, relating the auto-immune response to the important role of art in society.
In addition Ippolito has published over a dozen book chapters and over forty print articles in a range of outlets such as the Washington Post, Artforum
, and Leonardo. He has also presented at numerous academic and culture venues including the National Academies, NASA
, and the American Assembly.
Apart from examining a new genre of creative expression, each of the six main chapters in At the Edge of Art also examines a different function performed by art of that genre. The book's central metaphor suggests that these functions are analogous to those performed by the antibodies in the human bloodstream, leading to the provocative conclusion that art is an immune system for the collective unconscious.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, educator, new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
scholar, and former curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
. Ippolito studied astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
and painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
in the early 1980s, then pursued Internet art
Internet art
Internet art is a form of digital artwork distributed via the Internet. This form of art has circumvented the traditional dominance of the gallery and museum system, delivering aesthetic experiences via the Internet. In many cases, the viewer is drawn into some kind of interaction with the work...
in the 1990s. His works explore digitally-induced collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
and networking, a theme that is prominent in his later scholarship.
History
After applying to what he thought was a position as a museum guard, Ippolito was hired in the curatorial department of the GuggenheimSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
, where in 1993 he curated Virtual Reality: An Emerging Medium and subsequent exhibitions that explore the intersection of contemporary art and new media. In 2002 Ippolito joined the faculty of the University of Maine
University of Maine
The University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...
's New Media Department, where he co-founded Still Water
Still Water
Still Water is a research and development laboratory at the New Media Department of the University of Maine that studies and builds networks for artists, academics, and other creative professions...
with Joline Blais. His writing on the cultural and aesthetic implications of new media has appeared in the Washington Post, Art Journal
Art Journal
Art Journal may refer to:* Art Journal , 1941–present, published by College Art Association of America* The Art Journal, 1839–1912, London* Art diary, art journal or visual journal, a daily journal kept by artists...
, and numerous art magazines, including in a regular "Cross Talk" column for ArtByte magazine.
Ippolito also has an abiding interest in the legacy for today's artists of conceptual practices of the 1960s and 1970s. His contributions to this subject include curating events for the New York presentation of Rolywholyover A Circus for museum by John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
. He is particularly interested in the parallel between digital art
Digital art
Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...
and Minimalist and Conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
, a parallel that led him to propose a new paradigm for preserving art called the Variable Media Network.
Projects
Often working collaboratively, Ippolito’s work traverses digital artDigital art
Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...
, new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
, and community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
building. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Maine
University of Maine
The University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...
’s New Media Department where he teaches classes on programming, online culture, issues of variable media, and viral media. With Joline Blais in 2002, he co-founded Still Water
Still Water
Still Water is a research and development laboratory at the New Media Department of the University of Maine that studies and builds networks for artists, academics, and other creative professions...
, a new media lab
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
at the University of Maine at Orono devoted to studying and building creative networks
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
.
In the 1990s, Ippolito worked with artists Janet Cohen and Keith Frank
Keith Frank
Keith Frank is a zydeco musician from Louisiana. Frank started his band, The Soileau Zydeco Band, in 1990 and was active as of 2010. Frank is a 1998 graduate of McNeese State University.Frank records on Soulwood Records.-Studio Albums/EP:...
creating works that exposed the adversarial side of collaboration (Agree to Disagree and the Unreliable Archivist). During this time he also curated the Worlds of Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the first video artist....
and Virtual Reality: an Emerging Medium at the Guggenheim.
In the 2000s, Ippolito began working with collaborators John Bell
John P. Bell
John P. Bell is a digital artist, educator, and software developer who is presently on the faculty of the New Media department and Innovative Communication Design program at the University of Maine.-History:...
and Craig Dietrich
Craig Dietrich
Craig Dietrich is a digital artist, scholar, and educator who is presently on the faculty of the Institute for Multimedia Literacy, part of the School of Cinematic Arts, at the University of Southern California.-History:...
on digital tools. These projects include the distributed publication tool ThoughtMesh, a 2005 Vectors Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular
Vectors Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular
Vectors is an international online journal produced by the University of Southern California's Institute for Multimedia Literacy. Launched in March 2005, the journal's current issue is its fifth, titled "Difference". Through all of the issues, Vectors has featured over thirty scholarly new media...
commission that has grown to include conference proceedings
Proceedings
In academia, proceedings are the collection of academic papers that are published in the context of an academic conference. They are usually distributed as printed books either before the conference opens or after the conference has closed. Proceedings contain the contributions made by researchers...
, poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, and full length books. ThoughtMesh is an unusual model for publishing and discovering scholarly papers online, which gives readers a tag-based navigation system that uses keywords to connect excerpts of essays published on different Web sites. Authors can choose to post an essay in a central repository hosted by the Vectors program at USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, the sponsor of this project, or to self-archive an essay on their own Web site. Stemming from research into variable media at the Guggenheim, the team is producing the Variable Media Questionnaire and the Metaserver, a lightweight metadata registry that automatically connects related data in separate repositories.
Ippolito and collaborators, including Bell, Blais, and Owen Smith, developed The Pool, an online project design workspace noted by the Chronicle of Higher Education as a "new avenue for new-media scholars to do their jobs." The Pool is a collaborative online environment for creating art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, code
Code
A code is a rule for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
, and texts
Text file
A text file is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists within a computer file system...
. In place of the single-artist, single-artwork paradigm favored by the overwhelming majority of documentation systems, The Pool stimulates collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
in a variety of forms, including multi-author, asynchronous, and cross-medium projects.
Additional projects include MARCEL, a permanent high band-width network for artistic experimentation, and the Maine Intellectual Commons Web site, helping to establish standards for creative and scholarly research that contribute to a culture of sharing.
Publications
With Joline Blais, Ippolito produced the 2006 book At the Edge of Art. The book examines prominent new media artwork and artists, such as Alexander R. GallowayAlexander R. Galloway
Alexander R. Galloway is an author and associate professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. He has a Bachelors Degree in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University, and a Ph.D. in Literature from Duke University in 2001. Galloway's research...
and jodi
Jodi
Jodi, or jodi.org, is a collective of two internet artists: Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans . Their background is in photography and video art; since the mid-1990s they started to create original artworks for the World Wide Web...
, arguing that the confines of the established art world are failing to recognize the home–grown and often ephemeral
Ephemeral
Ephemeral things are transitory, existing only briefly. Typically the term is used to describe objects found in nature, although it can describe a wide range of things....
art found online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
. The book creates a metaphor between digital art
Digital art
Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...
and the human immune system
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
, relating the auto-immune response to the important role of art in society.
In addition Ippolito has published over a dozen book chapters and over forty print articles in a range of outlets such as the Washington Post, Artforum
Artforum
Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
, and Leonardo. He has also presented at numerous academic and culture venues including the National Academies, NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, and the American Assembly.
At the Edge of Art
Each of the six main chapters in At the Edge of Art charts a different edge of creative expression that has emerged during the Internet age.- Code As Muse
- Deep Play
- Autobiography
- Designing Politics
- Reweaving Community
- Preserving Artificial Life
Apart from examining a new genre of creative expression, each of the six main chapters in At the Edge of Art also examines a different function performed by art of that genre. The book's central metaphor suggests that these functions are analogous to those performed by the antibodies in the human bloodstream, leading to the provocative conclusion that art is an immune system for the collective unconscious.
- Perversion
- Arrest
- Revelation
- Execution
- Recognition
- Perseverance
Dialogues
- Interview of Jon Ippolito by Karen Verschooren
- "Artificial Life and Natural Death," discussion with Stewart Brand and Kevin Kelly, New Media and Social Memory, University of California, Berkeley, January 18, 2007
- "How to Hack Copyright for Fun and Profit," Open Source Culture Lecture Series, Columbia University, New York, December 2, 2004.
- "Creators and the Commons: Why and How To Share" at Conference on the Intellectual Commons, University of Maine, November 20, 2004.
- Interview by Dominico Quaranta, "Leaping into the abyss and resurfacing with a pearl," Noema (Ravenna, Italy) (November 2005).
- Interview by Liisa Ogburn, "What's Your Story: Jon Ippolito," Eatthesewords.com, October 2, 2001.
Essays
- Permanence Through Change
- Three Threats to the Survival of New Media
- Canon Fodder: Why Distributed Culture Makes Academics Nervous
- Death by Wall Label
- Can Museums Evolve as Fast as Their Assets?
- The Politics of Perspective
- Whatever Happened to the Gift of Economy?
- Does the Art World Really 'Get' the Internet?
- Should Some Code be Censored
- Whatever Happened to the Scary Cyborg?
- Do we want Convergence
- Deconstruction or Distraction?
- Should you Feel Guilty Turning off the Computer
- Is Cyberspace Really a Space?
- What Does Cyberspace Look Like?
- Intellectual Property or Intellectual Poverty?
- The Museum of the Future: A Contradiction in Terms?
- "Given: The Universe. Shown: Every Artwork"
- Looking for Art in All the Wrong Places
- The Art of Misuse
- An Open Letter on Dot-Museum
- Whose Opera is it, Anyway?
- Why Art Should be Free
- Who Controls New Media
- Missing Links
- Artist as Researcher