How does one seek to represent the field of multime­ dia, where the multidimensional nature of the medi­ um leads to every experience being singular and uni­ que. Reference to the appearance of a work seems no lon­ ger crucial. Attention needs to be paid to the data-structures (content) of the work and the manner in which these are connected, suggesting an analysis aware of how infor­ mation leads to other information, and how people interact with it. The medium under discussion is the computer - defined by Alan Turing as the machine that can be any machine, a symbolic machine. The multimedia artist becomes an invent­ or of machines and a designer of human/machine inter­ faces. This suggests not a machine art, predicated on a 19th century aesthetic, but a linguistic art, reflecting Turing's vi­ sion of the computer as a linguistic system. This invokes questions about the role of the artist. The Net can be regarded as a social space within which people assume various roles. In society artists also have roles. It is important not to narrow down the argument, looking for definitive statements on what the artist's role is, but rather to recognise the diversity of what those roles might be. With multimedia, and especially the Net and its mapping of social space, this issue is paramount. The idea of a computer hacker having something to say to an audience that would normally constrain Itself to the art gallery, cinema, novel or theatre begins to represent this diversity. Whilst many traditional roles of the artist remain new ones emerge. We are led to question what it is to be an artist, and what can be considered to be art. Is this not a prerequisite for creative practice?
The artist starts to look at the conventions of various art- forms and their social praxis as base material to be manipu­ lated and synthesised together. This Is extending the notion of multimedia to include not only mixing of various media (image, sound, text) but also the creative disciplines involved (visual art, film, music, writing, publishing, theatre, comput­ ing) and the social contexts which function within them and within which they function.
Over the past year the rate of production of CD-ROMs has appeared not to slacken, however there does seem to have been a falling off in inventiveness. The medium is rapidly acquiring conventions, and many artists seem quite happy to either accept them or simply cease such practice. Many artists who were in the first wave of CD-ROM producers have moved their practice over to the Net. Is this because of economic factors (a website is much cheaper to set up and maintain than a CD-ROM edition) or is it due to more signi­ ficant factors revolving around the characteristics of the Net?
Simon Biggs