"its easier to take piss out of a swimming pool than information off the internet"
The next subject index for the site will be on theory with particular reference to virtual museums, online curating and internet art.
Despite the huge amount of available information on the nature of blogging, there are few people out there who fully grasp the concept and implications of blogs in their entirety. I don't claim to be one. I can, however, comment on the nature of the Aviary, and Bellebyrd.
Bellebyrd is not a newspaper or an online magazine; its not a textbook or an encyclopedia.
It is an internet based artwork in diary form.
It is a work of art that collages found data in similar way that a video artist collages found footage. This is not a conventional use of the blog format, it is what makes the Aviary unique. It is an exploration into the possibilities of a new virtual media.
I saw an artwork at Montevideo recently that takes google results for specific search terms, remixes them, and presents them to the viewer in a gallery installation.That project was about both the technology involved and the politics of the search terms used. This is a similar project but on a different scale. This project is live, streamed in realtime, and has an audience the size of the WWW. Its not confined to a realworld gallery space, it has similar properties to a virtual museum but it also has the features of an RSS feed.
The remixed data on Bellebyrd is quoted and linked back to its original source, the images are not copied but called from their home server. Initially, only links were provided but so much net data is transitory and subsequently 404d that the relevent data is quoted intext. The data is open ended and viewer controls access and response to that data.
As an artwork in diary form, Bellebyrd has some features of an online blackbook or artist's journal. The chronological data is well fitted to the blog format and the RSS feed allows for greater audience distribution.
As an internet artwork, Bellebyrd is a work in progress and continues to develop over time in parallel with my understanding of the media and its possibilities.
The Blakkbyrd blog is Bellebyrd's sister project. The above comments also apply to Blakkbyrd. Blakkbyrd has a different data mix, audience and management approach.
The Lyrebyrd site performs the functions of "comments", ie it is the discussion platform for Blakkbyrd and Bellebyrd.
Amsterdam 2007
J Severn
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