Art 2.0

By+Ellen+Laughton

‘Shake your head with the cat.” It may take a moment to realize what the words mean. The cat in question is frozen on the screen. Then the Internet catches up and the white feline begins waving its head back and forth. The way its whiskers bounce is endearing， but after five bounces it has lost its entertainment value.

“Maintain eye contact please.” This time the screen is filled with what appears to be a .gif taken from the 1973 movie Enter the Dragon. Martial arts star Bruce Lee is staring through the computer screen while hundreds of black and white ninjas fight around him. His eyes never move， not even when two ninjas locked in a grapple go hurtling past. The eyes are captivating， but then so is the background. The battle on screen quickly becomes a real life battle to retain focus. Too late， the ninjas have won. Well， its the trying that counts.

This bizarre series of .gifs is titled Nine Computer Exercises for the 21st Century Online Digital Interactive Era， an online exhibition created by Chinese art duo， Aspartime. The work was released on January 29 and is the second piece to be commissioned by the online archive Netize.net in collaboration with multimedia publishing platform NewHive. In their statement， Aspartime described the idea behind their collection as “very simple.” They said asking their audience to engage in arbitrary activities is all an exercise in killing time through “these simple silly interactions with the online world.”

Michelle Proksell is a Beijing-based artist， researcher and the founding curator of Netize. net. She believes Aspartimes piece has a deep- er level that transcends its simplistic form. “It is very lighthearted and simplistic，” she said， “but it is easier to see how profound it really is when you contextualize it.”

Avant-garde artist

Proksell is in a Beijing café talking about her work over the top of her laptop. It is the kind of café where people wear hats indoors and the drinks have names like Mandy. Proksell， however， looks right at home and is talking confidently about her early influences.

Proksell was born in Saudi Arabia to American expatriate parents. Following the outbreak of the First Gulf War （1990-91）， she moved along with her family to the United States， but Proksell insists that her short time abroad has had a huge influence on the course of her career. “I grew up traveling the world in airplanes，”she said. “It did define my perspective of the world and I wonder if that is somehow linked to my interest in China.”

Proksells first encounter with the Internet was making cyber-friends with a girl her age who lived in Trinidad. She described the experience as a “liberating” one that crystallized her understanding of the contrasts that existed between different online spaces. Take one look at Proksells work， and it isnt hard to see how formative those days tapping away to far-off friends really were.

From assisting the curation of a new-media gallery space in Texas to managing five Tumblrs that collect data and images off the Web， Proksells career rests squarely within the cyber world. At one point， she was even at large as Shelly Pro， her “e-dentity” which she inhabited for four months as part of an online reality show that took place on Facebook.

Since moving to China in 2012， Proksell has been an active researcher， artist and curator. In November last year， Proksell collaborated with Redscale Studios to bring the collective art DIy initiative ByOB （Bring your Own Beamer） to Shanghai， the projects second location on the Chinese mainland after Proksell co-founded ByOB Beijing in June earlier that year. The project was originally conceived of by artists in Berlin and later trended on the blogging platform Tumblr. It aims to encourage artists to free themselves from institutions and work independently and collectively. What Proksell found the most surprising during ByOB Shanghai was that artists who had heard of the project were traveling some considerable distances to be involved.“What this showed me was that actually there was a thirst for this，” said Proksell， “but unfortunately no one knows how to do it.”

Enter Netize.net. With funding from NewHive， Proksell has been able to incentivize independent production by commissioning Chinese artists to make works that circumvent the traditional establishments of art. “Its about finding a voice outside the institution， because here it has been dictated by the West，” said Proksell.

The Western-centric view of Chinese art has been a topic on the lips of many turtle-necked art enthusiasts following a recent exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. The collection of works by five Chinese artists caused a stir in late 2014 when the works challenged conceptions of contemporary Chinese art by appearing strikingly un-Chinese. Philip Tinari， Director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that dislocation of cultural heritage “is perhaps the biggest trend of the past few years.”

Limitless creativity

Maybe it is just the light radiating off the hundred or so Apple logos in the room， but when Proksell explained what drew her to China， her face seemed to glow.

“The Chinese Internet has a uniquely different history from the rest of the world，”she said， readjusting her computer screen.“Unfortunately， the Western perspective of what the Chinese Internet is and how it works is too mediocre of an impression， but there is something much richer and deeper happening here.”

In order to understand the origins of Chinese Internet art， it is naturally useful to look first to the history of the Internet in China. The first connection to the Internet from the Chinese mainland occurred in September 1987. But as Proksell explained， the primary vehicle used by Chinese people in recent years to access the Internet， particularly for those living in remote areas， has been the mobile phone. As a result， the way in which the Internet in China has been accessed and used is quite different from most of the Western world， and is hence often misunderstood.

In the West， the “Chinternet，” as it is humorously referred to by some， is largely talked about in relation to its perceived limitations. For all those living beyond the firewall， it is difficult to see Chinas online culture as anything but a barren wasteland. However， it was Anglo-American poet W. H. Auden （1907-73） who wrote， Blessed be all metrical rules that forbid automatic responses， force us to have second thoughts， free from the fetters of Self. Granted， he was talking about poetry， but in a way there is something strangely poetic about the Chinternet.

“In the whole history of human beings， limitations present situations for new creative thought，” said Proksell. “That is how I view the Chinese Internet.”

In the first collection curated by Netize. net in late 2014， artist ying Miao explored the law and culture of the Chinese Internet in a work that was surprisingly rich and entertaining. Her work， titled So in Love， Will Never Feel Tired Again， used a vibrant combination of .gifs， videos， comments and pictures， many of which were taken from popular Chinese social networking sites such as WeChat and Weibo. Miaos work demonstrates the depth of creativity that exists in Chinese Internet culture—one that is rarely， if ever， seen by the rest of the world.

Digital anthropologist Gabriel de Seta believes one of the triumphs of Netize.net is showcasing this creativity in a “cohesive manner.” “Net art often tends to get lumped together with digital arts … losing its cohesiveness as a form of commentary on vernacular creativity and intervention on everyday media，”he said. “What I think Netize.net does is give these artists a context and focus.”

In an interview with Proksell on their most recent work， Aspartime were asked to describe the Chinternet in a Chinese idiom. Their response was xuanmiao moce： mysterious； you cant imagine how deep it is； and difficult to guess or comprehend. In just four characters， Aspartime have captured a side of the Chinese Internet that is rarely seen. With the help of artists like Aspartime and Proksell as well as that silly head-waving cat， perhaps more people will one day appreciate the Chinternet for how profoundly peculiar it is.