RE-writing the History of Media Art: How Hypermedia Change our Vision of the Past (The Case of Artistic Collaboration)

Abstract

When we discuss the issue of the collaborative practices in the context of the avant-garde art we have, first of all to say that the avant-garde has been always considered a phenomenon based on the idea of the artistic collaboration. When we analyse however more precisely this attribute of the avant-garde we can notice that the collaboration in that context had very often, especially in the early stage of its development, only the social-strategic character, and did not manifest itself in the area of creative work. The main aim of the avant-garde collaboration was to create sort of shield protecting avant-garde artists against the power of traditional art institution. This means that avant-garde artists created groups within which however they often worked individually. Another reason for their collaboration was to underline the similarity among artists involved (and their works) and oppose all the others. What we would consider the most important aspect of collaboration - working together - seems to be the less present and the less important character of avant-garde collaboration. The situation looks different when we have a look at the collaboration in the context of media art - film, video, and especially - from the perspective of hypermedia arts. In my paper I want to analyze generally the process of transformation of the idea and practice of collaboration in the history of twentieth century avant-garde art and emphasize the role of media in this process (from film to hypermedia). I will distinguish three models of artistic, avant-garde collaboration and locate in within the historical context.