bitforms gallery

2003

Steve Sacks (US)

Pictures, sculptures or installations—the art market was long confronted solely with works of art whose forms remained static. At galleries, auctions and exhibition openings, this is what has been presented and sold to collectors. So then, how does one go about establishing software art, which initially seems far less tangible than an oil painting or a piece of sculpture, as collectable art?

In an effort to come up with a response to this question, New Yorker Steve Sacks founded bitforms gallery, where software artists can present their works to a wider audience. Sacks differentiates between framed and unframed software art. The former more closely corresponds to a traditional understanding of art and thus has an easier time establishing itself as art in the public perception, whereas this process is far more difficult with the latter.

Works of framed software art are generally one-of-a-kind objects that are set within a frame or a custom-made housing. They are sold as individual pieces or in limited editions, and the buyer receives, in addition to a fixed-term warranty, detailed instructions for care and maintenance.

Unframed software art is considerably more difficult to define. These can be interactive works, parts of a network or stand-alone pieces. They are sold in the form of CDs. bitforms gallery offers individual works in editions of between 10 and 250, whereby each CD is signed and comes in original packaging. In this way, software art becomes a tangible object.

Steve Sacks presents unframed software art on Software Art Stations that make it possible to hang these works of art on the wall like paintings and to interact with them. Software Art Stations consist of a touch-screen with a hidden CPU, wireless network connection, mouse and keyboard. Sacks places very high value on the presentation of software art on dedicated, specially designed systems; in his view, installing software art alongside other programs on a common, everyday computer distracts from the piece as a work of art and detracts from the enjoyment of it.

Other suitable domains for the presentation of unframed software art are network or Internet link-ups, whereby the work is put on display in a virtual space in which multiple users can participate and form the object via their interaction. These pieces, which are set up on a server, are sold in the form of shares.

Steve Sacks on software art:
"Software art is empowering. Engaging. Endless. Whether or not it becomes a valuable collectable, I am convinced that it will be a part of the art nomenclature. Its beauty and possibilities are too alluring. The artists are too talented. And the world deserves a new creative outlet."