Web 2.0 And the Future of Art

I have been considering the future of electronic art recently - and how it will be effected by the arrival of what many are calling Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is a second generation of Web-based services and tools — which include social networking sites, wiki's, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users, at both the Data level (content), and in some cases, such as with Flickr.com, the programmatic level.

Probably the most important difference between the traditional web system model and what is being called Web 2.0 is the disassociation of content, and form. Meaning that data, be it text, images, pictures, or any other form of digital information, is not presented in a deterministic fashion. This means that whatever the content, it can be displayed or used in virtually any way or context imaginable. Rather than being strictly defined to the frame of a web page, or other delivery vehicle, the content (data) is made available for whatever use the end user might decide to apply it to. This disassociation of content (information) and content (container, context, use, etc...) lets information become completely cooperative, promiscuous, and plastic.

The question is what effect will this have on Art? Clearly it will affect the delivery and context of some forms of artistic expression; it already has on sites likes Youtube, Flickr, and many others. But will it affect the content of artistic expression? Can there be successful Wikiworks, artworks with content and form that are in some way publicly malleable, or guided? How would something like this work? Will it transcend the screen?

I don't have the answers to these questions. While there is a history of collaborative artworks of varying degrees of success in realization, these radically collaborative works often share an uncomfortable disorganization, and unlike more traditional text based information portals - like Wikipedia, they don't tend to coalesce towards either an aesthetic quality or rational content.

It will be fastinating to watch as artist begin to examine these new technologies and tools.