Backspace

From Monoskop
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Backspace - Media Lab & Riverside Lounge in London opened in spring 1996 and closed down late December 1999.

"Backspace existed in close proximity to a number of new media companies. Internet bandwidth was then very expensive and only businesses could afford a permanent high-bandwidth connection through a leased dedicated line. James Stevens, founder of Backspace, convinced his former colleagues in commercial website construction to share their 512k connection. Through this shared connection, Backspace enabled young artists to create their own internet-based works and experiment with audio and video live streaming over the internet. Live streaming from home was unthinkable at the time, no one could afford it. Backspace was run as a shared resource. The users were responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of infrastructure. People could go there to learn new programming tricks and share ideas about net art. Backspace also hosted small conferences and presentations of artists’ work. Among the people who used Backspace for work, presentation and collaboration were Rachel Baker, Manu Luksch (later founder of ambientTV.NET), media art curator Ilze Black, Heath Bunting, Gio D'Angelo, Pete Gomes, Lisa Haskel and many more. The vibrancy of the place became well known across the networked scenes of Europe and further afield, while locally it soon became a focal point of the early net art scene." (Armin Medosch, 2003)

Publications
Links