20-21 Visual Arts Centre; Q Arts; Space4; The Brindley; Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, UK
Blurring the boundary between the tangible gallery and the transitory Internet, Net:Reality commissioned seven UK artists to create works that existed simultaneously as online environments and physical installations.
The shared medium, rather than a prescribed theme, connected the exhibition. Each artist interpreted the relationship between the web and the gallery, using networked and new-media practice to address subjects ranging from emerging technologies to social science.
The commissioned works were IDfone by Simon Biggs; Packet Switching by Glorious Ninth (Kate Southworth and Patrick Simons); Exquisite Copse by Neil Jenkins; Position/Disposition by Jess Loseby; Data_cosm by Michael Takeo Magruder; Urban Generation by Stanza; and Some Fragments by Michael Szpakowski.
Michael Takeo Magruder curated the exhibition in partnership with 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, and Q Arts, Derby. It developed from an idea by Magruder and Jess Loseby and was supported by Arts Council England.
The tour opened at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe (23 July–29 October 2005), then travelled to Q Arts, Derby (12 November–18 December 2005); Space4 at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery (19 January–3 March 2006); The Brindley, Runcorn (15 April–13 May 2006); and Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery (9 June–9 July 2006).
The original works relied on period browser technologies including Flash, Shockwave, QuickTime, VRML, webcams and live network data. The surviving website preserves artwork descriptions, technical requirements, installation documentation and commissioned reviews.