While the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and New York's Whitney Museum have already added Web-based artwork to their permanent holdings, private collectors have seemed less than eager to respond by buying works in new media.

How practical is it to buy new media artworks - electronic, video, and digital - which are more easily reproducible and, because they are usually based on particular technologies, more ephemeral than painting or sculpture? When Web browsers change unrecognizably, will anyone appreciate Web art built for old versions of Mosaic? Is it too soon to declare works of new media art as "masterpieces" worthy of serious collection?

Such questions, among others were the subject of a rare, public roundtable discussion on Wednesday, 25 March at the San Francisco Art Institute. The conference, "Concept to Practice: A Panel Discussion on Collecting New Media Art" was organized by Gen Art, a national non-profit dedicated to exposing emerging visual artists, fashion designers, and filmmakers to new opportunities.

Featured at Wednesday's panel was Natalie Jeremijenko, digital artist; S. Joy Mountford of Interval Research Corporation; Monica Vasilescu, Media Art Curator at Art-Tech, the Silicon Valley Institute of Art and Technology. Artist Jon Winet is the moderator.

Specific issues to be addressed at the panel included pinpointing whether sales are more effective in galleries or on the Web; exploring the integral role of the commercial and corporate sector in terms of nurturing new media art; examining fair prices for both artist and buyer; discussing the most appropriate means for educating buyers about new media art; and archival and conservation dilemmas.

http://www.genart.org/

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