Reflection of the internet in Art and Theory of the 21st Century

The purpose of this thesis is to show several examples of how the Internet affected art and theory in the 21st century. We can trace the origins of these changes as far as the 1990s when the Internet became a massively used medium. At that time, the art movement of net.art was born and new media studies were established. This so-called digital avantgarde used the unprecedented possibilities of communication and distribution that the Internet offered and pushed further the boundaries of artistic practice. This avantgarde was followed later by new generations of artists who experimented further with the medium and reflected on it critically. The Internet however changed dramatically many times ever since then - its interface and contents were being more and more influenced by the users. Artists connected to the term post-internet started to translate Internet aesthetics and themes to physical space. They were the first to do that in such a big measure. Currently the Internet has become so banal and transparent that it's difficult to recognise how far its influence on art and the art theory reaches. The second part of this thesis concentrates on concrete examples of theorists and artists whose practice is being influenced by the Internet in greater matter. These examples will show that it's no longer..