Research topics of the ARTNET project are the organization and communication models embedded into artist networks and collaborative art practices of the 20th and 21st century.
The project hypothesis is that there is a definite number of those communication and organization models sharing the same characteristics regardless of the geographical location and cultural context in which they appear, If identified, described and explained in terms of analytic patterns, they could be generally applicable on variety of artist networks and collaborative art practices in diverse national, regional, transnational and cross-cultural settings...
Comparing the intensity of cross-cultural and transnational exchange and communication in the 20th and 21st century, and using the history of Croatian modern and contemporary art as its starting point, ARTNET project team intends to prove still another hypothesis - the claim that a diversity of organisation and communication models underlying artist networks and artist collaborative practices operative on a particular art scene at a particular historical moment is directly proportional to the dynamics and volume of that art scene's participation in the international visual culture.
Taking into account a significant variations in intensity of artist networking and collaborative activities throughout the 20th century, project research is focused on local art and architecture phenomena pronouncedly marked by the exchange with other European communities, that is on the Secession, on the inter-war Avant-garde, on the socially engaged art of 1930s, on the inter/post-war avant-garde and modern architecture, on the neo-avant-garde of 1960s and 1970s and on contemporary new media art.
At the core of our research interest regarding artist networking and collaborative art practices in the first half of the 20th century, there are art magazines, almanacs and other printed materials published in Croatia, Southeast and Central Europe, as well as the exhibitions of avant-garde art that are approached as a main locations of transcultural encounters at the time.
Concerning that the strategies of artist networking during the second half of the century were strongly affected by the Cold War cultural politics, the research focus is shifting towards extra-institutional forms of collaborative artistic practices, towards art phenomena generated by the creative utilisation of altrnative communication channels (for ex. mail-art) and towards the forms of direct encounters of the artist from different countries (Fluxus festivals, New Tendencies Exhibitions, Festivals of visual poetry, etc.).
Approach to new media art from 1990s to the present, brings still another change of research focus, that is shifting from the objects and events in the existential reality towards the nature of art production in the virtual space, as well as towards the examination of communication structures in the background of contemporary collaborative art practices and communication structures of virtual social networks.
A complexity of the research topic requires the application of transdisciplinary methodological apparatus whose development is among the most important project objectives. It will bring together insights and analytic procedures of Humanities (art history, history), Social Sciences (Theory and Analysis of Social Networks, Demography, Economy), Network Science, as well as a diverse experiences of Digital Humanities.
Project research results, stored in a publicly accessible information system (CAN_IS), will be presented in different formats and in the series of experimental data visualizations, that will contribute to the inovative character of the project and to the potential use of its technical solutions within other areas of interest for Digital Humanities.