acheron.org

acheron.org
acheron.org
ACHERON.ORG
informing the underground art scene for two years

sections


articles

NEWS
as of 05 APRIL


Acidcon Midwest on 22nd May

Ice release 9904

Gutter actually makes
it to 10th release!



PACKS
for April


avenge #15
gutter #10
ice 9904
purg #24
vow #02
All hirez releases on hirez.org



SITES


hirez.org (high res)
lit.org (literature)
jlh (fan site!)



SERVICES

Join our mailing list!




Powered by ListBot


 


You're looking at the last static copy (1999) of Acheron.org, more recent but partial copies exist in the wayback machine. This site is online out of nostalgia and because of it's historic content, an up to date ANSI/ASCII art archive is available from 16colo.rs

  articles
acheron.org > articles > regular articles

  CMC and the Art Scene
by dangermouse


The scene has been around for more than ten years now, and in many eyes is still thriving. It is meeting new grounds, and exploring new areas of the Internet to produce works of art. This article will attempt to show that the scene embodies much of what the Internet stands for: Computer Mediated Communication and the resulting Global Communities.

 

Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)

Computer Mediated Communication is all what the Internet is about - people communicating with each other over a large network of computers - exchanging pictures, sounds, video, and general small talk. The underground artscene has embodied this form of communication since its inception, from the Bulletin Boards to IRC.

Back in the late 80's when the artscene as we know it was just getting off to a start with players such as AAA, communication was already rife across the global BBS networks such as Fido. These message networks were widely used by the scene to communicate with other group members, announce new releases, and generally spread propaganda about a doodleboy's mother.

It was a tool which many took for granted. But ask yourselves this: where would the scene be today if it wasn't for BBSs and CMC? It simply just wouldn't exist, meaning most of us would be leading normal, productive lives instead of spending hours drawing funny little blocks or positioning ascii characters on a screen.

irc windowThe Internet brought new leaps forward to the artscene in terms of CMC. Now one could communicate with someone in Europe to get their art for the next pack via e-mail, or go onto IRC and get the same file off them there. IRC itself was a major development in the scene we have today. For the first time many scene goers could talk in the one "room" to each other, exchanging stories, humour, and abusive comments.

IRC also brought forward collaborative art - where two people or more can produce a piece of artwork. What was special about the art scene though was that these multiple artists could be anywhere on the globe. One artist could be in America, and another in Germany. Space between countries now meant nothing, and that in itself was something special, something for which the underground artscene can take pride in.

mist entryBlender Kombat, a team based art tournament based on the original Blender competitions is a great example of collaborative art. Two teams log on to IRC and compete against each other, being allotted a certain amount of time to draw a single piece of art, as a team. The unique thing is that one member maybe in Sweden, one in Brazil and another in America. The example to right shows this concept, this being an part of entry from a match between the groups Mistigris and Dark (click for a bigger version).

The artscene also embraces new forms of CMC without so much as to asking why they should. People now setup Real Audio servers and broadcast shows, interacting with other scene goers on IRC. Those on IRC can effectively program the show real time (if the show owners listen to them). This form of CMC dualing might be quite unique to the artscene - it wouldn't be surprising if it was.

top of page

Global Communities

The Internet has many global communities within it. A global community is really just like your average community: a collection of people with similar interests interacting and/or living in the same vicinity. Online communities are just the same, with like-minded people sharing the same chat room or usenet group. People become intertwined with each other on the Net, that's what becomes addictive - the people you know, not the medium.

From early on 'online communities' have been a part of the artscene. On the local BBSs you could find like minded people forming there own little communities or groups. Many of the early art groups in America formed this very way, people of similar interests, i.e.. ANSI, from the same area code forming groups in which they could release their art work.

When the Internet became more prominent these communities moved also into the IRC arena, populating #ansi, #ascii, #hirez, and there respective group channels. Area codes even made there own channels, such as #405 or #408.

IRC channels is where most of these communities reside. The artscene hasn't really embraced Usenet groups that much, only with the exception of alt.art.hirez (alt.art.ascii being unrelated to the artscene).

Within each community there always those who have more power or influence than others, say the new family in the town or the 'newbie'. This is certainly true of the artscene. Channel operators are usually thought of as the 'power holders' or councilors of there communities, and of course have the power to kick out those who they feel are disrupting their environment. Those who have been in the artscene for quite some time also have respect shown towards them, and their views on matters are taken seriously - they're the elders of the community after all!

Newbies are not the favourite people of all time within the artscene. Mostly those who try to join the online community, or just one aspect of it, and scrutinized heavily. If one should say the wrong thing or insult someone they shouldn't have, then their chances of producing art within a group or being 'accepted' is greatly diminished. A common default name for newbies within the artscene is 'lamer'.

This dislike or fear (depending on your point of view) of newbies in itself seems quite ridiculous, since new artists is what is going to keep the scene alive. From another stand point, keeping the lamers out is what is going to keep the scene lively and different - unlike other communities such as 'teens' (those who reside in #teenchat or #funfactory).

The Bulletin Board still isn't dead. Many scenesters still operate there own boards. There is still something magic about logging onto a board which as great ANSI or ASCII art, something which the web can emulate given enough time! Attempts at this kind of web/bbs mix of art was tried by diezynik with mixed success.

top of page

In conclusion..

The underground artscene must be seen as a unique entity, an online community which produces art on the digital front, either by one's self or with another artist thousands of miles away. The scene is a community which embraces new ways of CMC and uses them without consequence, even using to forms of CMC in parallel, to communicate and make its community richer and more informed.

The underground artscene is CMC.

top of page

 

sections

 

 

  © copyright 1997-1999 Dangermouse aka Darryl Lyons
Staff | Link to us | Other sites: acheron.org | hirez.org | gamefreaks.com (coming) | jlh