“One of the top prizes in a prestigious electronic-art
competition has been given to a deliberately unusual choice: the
Linux computer operating system.”
“Linux received the highest honor in the “.net” category of the
Prix Ars Electronica, beating out a number of more typical examples
of digital artistry. The results were announced Friday by the
Austrian Broadcasting Company, which organizes the annual
“cyberarts” competition.”
“… jurors explained that their decision was meant to…
intended to spark a discussion about whether a source code itself
can be an artwork.”
“Derrick de Kerckhove, director of the McLuhan Program in
Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto… said the
decision was intended to send a message… that “the real material
of the Web is the code.” He said the selection also emphasized the
Internet’s essential ability to establish online communities “with
endless creative possibilities. Art left to its own devices can be
a crashing bore.”