Lesson Plan: Net art debuts at museum

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Goal

Students will analyze and broaden their understanding of what signifies "art."

Objectives

At the completion of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Define "Internet art"
• Analyze components of a new medium for art and evaluate the effectiveness of the compositions

Standards

The National Standards for Arts Education
Students should be able to:

• communicate at a basic level in the four arts disciplines - dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts
• develop and present basic analyses of works of art from structural, historical, and cultural perspectives
• have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods
• relate various types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts disciplines.

Length of time

Two to three class periods (45-50 minutes each). The essay can be assigned as homework.

Materials

• CNNfyi article, "Net art brings 'geekdom' to the Whitney
• Internet access
• (optional) printer, preferably color
• Pen and paper

Procedures

1. Ask students to define "art." Talk in class about their definitions and try to shape a definition that most of the class will accept.

2. Ask students to read the CNNfyi article on the Whitney Museum's Biennial Exhibition. For review, ask the following questions:

• Where is the Whitney Museum of Art? What does "biennial" mean? What is unusual about the museum's 2000 Biennial Exhibition?
• Who is Maxwell Anderson? How does he justify including Internet art in the exhibit? Who is Wassily Kandinsky? How does Anderson liken the art of the Internet to that of Kandinsky? What other kinds of art are featured in the show?

3. Before directing students to view some of the Internet art in the Whitney's exhibit, ask students to try to define "Internet art." What elements do they think it would use, and what do they expect it to look like?

Assessment

1. Break students into five groups, and ask each group to look at one of the first five websites listed at the end of this lesson plan. Have each group report back on what they find: elements used, subject matter, themes, use of color and composition, etc. (One group will have a site of Kandinsky's art, rather than Internet art. Ask them to contrast elements of his art with what they hear about the other sites.)

2. Ask each group: "If you had only your site by which to define art, what could you say about the elements of art? How would your definition differ from the definition created by the class prior to reading the CNNfyi article and looking at these sites? Do you think that your definition needs to be broadened, based on your Internet findings? In what ways?"

3. Challenge the students to look at some of the sites that were examined by other groups. Ask them to write an essay commenting on the Maxwell Anderson quote found in the article: [the sites are remarkable for using] "an entirely new vocabulary of forms and methods, taking advantage of the seemingly random free association of the Internet." If possible, have them print out some pages from the sites to illustrate their opinions. Have them complete the essay by writing their own definition of art that would include the newer forms found on the Internet.