"...Mary-Anne Breeze, better known on line as 'Mez', [is] an Australian artist who sends poetic collections of thoughts to lists, whereby she plays with the different layers of lists and platforms on the net. Her work seemed most difficult to present well in an art space, which made me curious for any ideas about this from herself. Mez has developed her own language, which takes a bit of time to read and understand….As an example of how she writes I show you what she answered to my question whether an exhibition changes the nature of her work:
"due 2 the open source nature of my ][net][wurk][s][ - ie the writing packets that i circulate via email and various other communication technologies ][eg IRC or MOOs][ - make it easy 2 n.tegrate in2 an overall _complete_ wurk that can find itself blinking away on a cursored screen in a white-cubesque room ][gallery][. obviously, i'd prefer 2 let the net itself support the wurk N allow its sporadic growth, rather than having 2 digress in2 these established methods of x.posure N presentation ][ie in a traditional real-time gallery]. howeva, when i choose 2 x.tend these net.wurk tendrils b-yond the mezangelled text, 4 woteva reasons, this multifaceted work re][construction][wiring does add complex facets N lurvely f.fects that may prove 2 shift the piece in2 somewhere other....whether that's a loaded _other_ or not i'm not the 1 2 type....."
("Due to the open source nature of my net-works (ie the writing packets that I circulate via email and various other communication technologies (eg IRC or MOOs) it is easy to integrate them into an overall complete work that can find itself blinking away on a cursored screen in a white cubesque room or gallery. Obviously I'd prefer to let the net itself support the work and allow its sporadic growth, rather than having to digress into these established methods of exposure and presentation (ie a traditional real-time gallery). However, when I choose to extend these network tendrils beyond the 'mezangelled' text, for whatever reasons, this multifacetted work reconstruction wiring does add complex facets and lovely effects that may prove to shift the piece into somewhere other... whether that is a loaded other or not I am not the one to say.")
She further states that she prefers to give the work to a curator and say 'do what you want with it', as 'networks are difficult to control anyway'. So Mez, like many other net artists (and also other artists before them), is not used to having control over her work. This aspect of net art could very well be the reason we have seen so many net artists go along with rather bland or, from the perspective of their work, unexpected exhibition situations. There is not just the technological barrier, but also a psychological difficulty to deal with a physical space that is so far from the net artists' first environment. The first environment of course being the one in which the artist more or less controls the presentation of her or his work, and in which the artist is very close to her or his audience.”
-Josephine Bosma, 'How To Exhibit Net Art' presented @ the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Stuttgart, May 2001.
