Artists use the Internet all the time - whether it is for research, promotion or as a space to work. By the nature of the 'network' whatever we show on the Internet is guaranteed to reach a dispersed, often global, audience.
The One Million Points of Light Project is just one of those dispersal exercises. Launched in the UK during 2006 as a collaborative, online, project, it now has almost 400 people taking part and is being viewed in 121 countries world-wide.
A possible 10,000 people can participate by visiting the project's website and "switching on" a block of light. They are then invited to link this 'point of light' to a website of their choice and so offer another '"place to visit". They have to pay to do this (£2.50) - to 'own' a luminous rectangle on a global network.
Anthony White, known for his pioneering ‘Money Series” paintings which inspired many of the current Internet sale projects, and also part of the project, commented online “It is not art unless people are prepared to pay for it.”
So is this art, a money making scam, a positive collaboration between diverse groups and individuals, a network of fascinating places to visit on the Internet or a data gathering exercise?
The Project has two phases. The first runs until 2010 collecting participants from a world-wide audience. The second will be the production of a three-dimensional holographic interpretation of the blocks of light which have been 'switched' on'. A virtual space in three-dimensions constructed from a virtual space online.
At the moment the visual appearance of the project is an 'aesthetic train crash' - a disparate collection of luminous 'chunks'. But it is constantly changing as each new participant 'switches on'.
Take part here.
View background details about the project here.
If you think it is art (or not) you can express your view by casting an anonymous vote here.
View the whole project at: www.OneMillionPointsOfLight.com
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