15. Juni |  19:00   |  Catherine Bertho-Lavenir (Paris)

»Collecting on the Net
or the Circumvallation of a Small Virtual Territory«

Inventing and presenting a collection on the net is like circumscribing a small territory into the virtual space. This territory has some interesting characteristics: its circumference is constantly modified and its state is at each moment archived. But this small territory shares also some of its specifications with the “gallery” which was the place where collections were traditionally exhibited. It can be called “collection”, “museum”, “exhibition” and frequently mimics the rules and characteristics of these former institutions, such as the necessity of a pass or a recommendation for “entering” the collection, or the building of barriers protecting the integrity of the works. It can also be the place where new forms of organization and presentation as well as new forms of socialization are invented. In this conference, one will explore some characteristics of the “collections on internet” by making a systematic comparison with some spatial characteristics of the organization of classical collections in the fields of art, history or ethnology.