the independent artspace

the independent artspace was the first version, the prototype, of what would later become the Virtual Gallery. artspace is self-explanatory, but now what does independent actually mean? independent in vibecontrol terms means creation and production with no major financial backing and no primary commercial interest. it means to create something of substantial value in the context of space and time and beyond and is based on creative freedom of expression, experimentation and exploration. therefore it has no initial interest in capitalization and major corporative support unless it benefits the result and improves the overall value of the experience. the result does not have to be a finished product, it can be a sketch, a fragment, an idea, a concept, a prototype, a work in progress or anything the artist wants it to be. it holds value for what it is. now this roughly and barely describes the basic parameters of the original vibecontrol approach. the basic spark came in form of a simple slogan, a campaign, a call, a simple question: "do you want to participate?" needless to to say that the result was overwhelming, due to the nature of the true artist.. people did participate. it did not involve money, it was free, free of obligation, free in form. what do you have to contribute? send us the files, through email, snailmail, burn a cd, upload yourself.. we made it easy. custom solutions for unique situations, immediate response, worldwide exposure through the interweb and appreciation, lots of that. cyberlove. nonjudgemental display on our interactive channels, multimedia in it's purest form brought amazing results and was an inspiration for all participants. playfulness with new media tools, the combination of simplicity and abstract thinking in context of the turn of the century and more than that - the millenium. a new age, a new era, the age of aquarius, new age renaissance. a new generation of artists taking advantage of the chance to grab their 15 minutes of fame.. and andy was with us, in spirit, and represented by two of his close friends, paul morrisey and stephen sprouse, and we are proud of that. this was generation d, generation digital, at the peak of it's infantry. anyhow the artspace turned into the virtual gallery and created many interesting, exiting, inspiring and sometimes mindbending projects. the combination of creativity and technology or more so the creative use of technology lead us deep into cyberspace, virtual reality, the concept of interactivity, yes the inter[.net]activity (a vibecontrol term), can  not exactly be described and may be not be recreated, it had to be experienced. it is hard to describe the excitement to follow the development of an interactive comic made in flash, to wander through worlds in vrml, spin a record on a cyber turntable (a 1210/3dsmax/flash), make a 360 in a VR for the first time or check on the weather in new york through a webcam (with accurate time and temperature). it also created exchange, brought people together, it was a connection, our connection. it was all about connecting, connecting the dots, building bridges between age, race, nationality, gender, geographical location, timezones, crossing gaps from one keyboard, one mouse, one screen to another, needless to say that it created synergies. I guess you can say that the highlight and physical manifestation of this unusual artinstallation so far was the vibecontrol artweek amsterdam in 2002 which still has it's digital imprint on the vibecontrol pages, with logfiles, media, music, lots of artwork, information and etc, but more on that later. vibecontrol works - do you want to participate?