The Art World & I Go On Line - As museums, galleries and artists join the rush for cyberspace, is the art environment being irrevocably altered? In a journal--and annotated guide--of his extensive travels through this new electric landscape, the author ponders art's digital future.

Robert Atkins

After the opening of a digital photography exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Technology, I met with classical musical Jeannie Novak and Pete Markiewicz, a former biologist and animator, who are the founders of Kaleidospace. They call it the first commercial gallery on the Internet. (While most such claims are unverifiable, this one rings true simply because no contradictory information has crossed my desk at the Village Voice and because the graphical technology for Web "browsing" is itself so new.)

Fewer than a dozen artists are represented in their virtual gallery; none are names I recognize, and most of their works are modestly prices.... In the case of two-dimensional works on paper, entire prints are shown in imperfect resolution--augmented by sharp details--so perfect copies can't be easily downloaded. Since artists are not represented in the traditional, career-building sense, Kaleidospace most closely resembles the existing retailing model of cable television's shopping channels.

By the end of June 1995, Kaleidospace offered the work of 50 artists. It was joined by other commercial-gallery sites including: Rombus, the virtual counterpart of a gallery in Burlington, Vermont; ArtNet Web, a New York bulletin board and Internet site featuring a registry of works by 15 artists and Plexus, an Internet site showcasing virtual exhibitions....