The Internet After Failed Utopias The Internet After Failed Utopias

The internet was imagined as a space for freedom, collaboration, and artistic experimentation. Early net.art artists believed the web could function as infrastructure outside institutions, markets, and established distribution systems. They created their own networks through mailing lists such as nettime and positioned themselves as outsiders, including “refugees from the art system.” Vuk Ćosić helped shape net.art in the 1990s and later revisited early ASCII works. Over time, the community shifted from a shared practice into an audience and a career platform. Contemporary debates around AI and crypto are seen as echoing earlier utopian promises, alongside early criticism of those promises. He also emphasizes deliberate writing and skepticism toward automated text generation.

"The early net.art artists believed they did not need curators, institutions, or galleries. They built their own infrastructures through mailing lists such as nettime and saw themselves as outsiders, if not “refugees from the art system,” as Ćosić puts it. “We knew we didn't need to talk to people like you,” he jokes, referring to curators."

"Three decades later, he will be part of the Digital Masterpieces booth at Zero10 by Art Basel in June 2026, presenting his early ASCII works, among the very first works he produced in the late 1990s. Vuk Ćosić looks back at the promises that once surrounded the internet and their afterlives."

"He also reflects on the moment the community he believed in became, in his words, “an audience and a springboard for careers.” Looking at today's debates around AI and crypto, he sees echoes of the promises that once surrounded the early internet. “We believed in some of the utopias because we wanted them to happen,” he says. “But we were also among the first to criticize them.”"

"We can use Gemini to write an abstract and just publish it without even reading it. But I'm old school. I put words in sentences in a particular order on purpose. If you're a surgeon and ask AI about c"

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