Mark Tribe

Rhizome.org

lecture given at the workshop "online-archives: perspectives on networked knowledge spaces"

Mark Tribe

Mark Tribe

netzspannung.org

Media Files

Abstract

Rhizome.org is an online platform for the global new media art community. Our programs support the creation, presentation, discussion and preservation of contemporary art that uses new technologies in significant ways.

When Rhizome.org was founded in February 1996, the nascent new media art community lacked a central resource for the exchange of ideas and information. Artists lacked forums for the exhibition and critical discussion of their work, critics lacked a venue for their writing, and curators lacked a place to discover artists who worked in this new medium. Rhizome.org was among the first organizations to address these needs.

Rhizome takes its name from the botanical term for an underground system that connects plants into living networks, a metaphor for Rhizomes grassroots community and non-hierarchical structure. Our open-access approach is supported by the many-to-many, bottom-up communication system that empowers Rhizome Members to drive the content on our web site and in our email lists/publications while retaining ownership of their original texts and art work.

Our programs include email-bases services (Raw, Rare, Digest and Net Art News), web-based services (ArtBase, Calendar, Community Directory, Opportunity Listings, TextBase) and offline events at various locations aorund the world.

Rhizome.org receives most of its funding from private foundations and government agencies in the United States. Additional support is provided by individual supporters, much of it in the form of online gifts. Because foundation and government grants are not a reliable source of revenue, Rhizome.org must find ways to generate community-based revenue while controlling costs. In addition to recently-launched Web Hosting and Online Education services, Rhizome.org is looking at ways of increasing the rate at which members make contributions, andat developing an institutional membership program. In addition, Rhizome.org is looking for international partners to develoß French, German, Spanish and Japanese versions of Rhizome.org.

Artists / Authors

Date(s)

Organizer

Fraunhofer Institut for Media Communication MARS-Exploratory Media Lab

Contact

redaktion@netzspannung.org

Location

Schloss Birlinghoven, Sankt Augustin, Germany

URL

» http://netzspannung.…shop/online-archives/

Submission

, Apr 23, 2003

Category

Keywords