INTERVIEW OF HEATH BUNTING BY KRISTINE FEEKS
Spring, 2001.
Kristine Feeks: To begin, could you tell us how
you first became involved with Net.Art?
Heath
Bunting: the first network in which i was active
artisticly was the street we didn't get involved
in net.art - we invented it
KF:
To me, Own, Be Owned, Or Remain Invisible is
a discussion of registering words (and thoughts)
on the Internet. Everything will remain invisible
(and insignificant) until it (the domain name)
is registered on the Internet. The title seems
very important to the piece. Would you talk
about how you decided on it?
HB: i agree with your interpretation but
i tried to weave another layer it was also considering
my own situation as an evolving commodity and
those around me i could more greatly disseminate
my work by giving up autonomy or i could fall
again back into the shadows i decided the latter
KF:
Concepetual Artists from the Sixties and Seventies
were often criticized by the curatoriat for
"pointing" to art as opposed to actually creating
it. I can imagine someone criticizing Own or
Be Owned for the same reasons because Flint
wrote the article, and the links connect to
others' URLs. How would you explain to them
that the *concept* is your art?
HB: the "is it art ?" is a trap set by fearful
curators net.art was many things but was heavily
into avoiding colonisation by self interested
heirachies it is irrelevant whether it was defined
or defended as art a better questions might
be: was it a thought provoking, accessible and
self aware project ?
KF:
To what art/artists do you connect? Are there
strong elements or artists that influence your
work?
HB: i am interested in all artists/ activists
that work for the benefit of human beings and
the environment i am opposed to all that are
self serving and corrupt
KF: I find it ironic and
amusing that you choose to keep your own name
"invisible." Is this an effort to remove your
touch or influence from the art?
HB: as mentioned above - it was a statement
about removing myself from the market
KF:
Despite the work to make the links, do you consider
it to be a sort of readymade?
HB: the text was an essential component as
it was an artifact of my commodification i think
the term 'readymade' is useless making references
to past market victories is at best vacuous
and at worst counter revolutionary Note: I have
maintained Heath's exact words and sentence
structure in this interview.
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