Collaborative Systems: redefining ‘Public Art’

This paper will discuss Collaborative Systems, works of art which employ and exploit information and communications technologies as new ‘sites’ for ‘public art’ – art which connects individuals and groups and opens dialogue around issues within given contexts. Through Collaborative Systems community groups and individuals are given a framework for building a database from their own experience and then structuring and interpreting that data themselves. Collaborative Systems re-cast networked online environments as public, community and collaborative sites. These works re-invent ‘public art’ and redefine the role of the ‘artist’ by allowing individuals and communities to evolve aesthetically, intellectually, and politically expressive, collaborative environments on-line. This paper will examine a variety of models for the design and implementation of ‘collaborative systems’, which have implications for codes of ethics as well as codes of aesthetics.