ze MTT: | aDigital Documenta Tazpetionce he gat farseaching novation of Documenta X, you didn't need fo trek to Kassel. It required only sting down at your PC and dropping in on the dX Web site, This first-ever Documenta presence on the Internet marked an unexpectedly bold artistic ‘advance into the digital frontier. As conceived by curator ‘Simon Lamuniere of SGG, a Geneva visual-ants foun- dation specializing in new media projects, the aX site featured a lively, unpredictable mix of information, art projects, freewheeling discussion groups and links to any other specialized sites, {AS might De expected, there was a clickable map of Kassel that alowed you to explore the various exhibition locations around the cy, as well as a newsletter that ‘served up facts and figures about the show. And there was a "guest book’ wiiere more than 1,200 visitors reg Istered their greetings, rants and raves. More spectacular was the on-demand video archive of the daily lectures presented as part of "100 Days~100 Guests" program. Although the images were somewhat Jey, the audio was perecty clear. If Net traffic wasn't foo heavy, you could even watch a ive Intemet feed of ‘each evening's talk “The dX ste hosted roughly 30 on-line projects by nd vidual artists and groups. These were organized according to rubrics lke “Surfaces and Territories" (ivhich looked atthe ways thatthe real worlds abstract. fed on the computer screen) and “Ciies and Networks” (Which explored how urban space is being used as a ‘metaphor in building digital information networks) ‘The variety of the projects was dizzying. The late Marin Kippenberger's Metro-Net World Connections lets you tour his imaginary global subway system. Heath Bunting’s Visitor's Guide to London led the viewer through a maze of low-resolution black-and- ‘white photos of London street scenes, allowing you to ‘devise your own path according to the pul of ‘psycho geographic" attraction. Among the most formally Adventurous projects was A Desorption of the Equator land Some Other Lands, by a group including artists Philip Pocock and Felix Stephan Huber. Employing short texts and moving-image clips that were E-mailed in by anonymous contributors, they fashioned an evolving, multi-authored narrative. Catherine David called Equator “the most complex and challenging work on the Net” ‘Among the most visually engrossing on-line works was Matt Mulican’s Up fo 625, which caried the viewer a five branching pathways through a total of 625 cifer- ent screens, Begining al the mest abstact eel wih ‘Mullican’s brightly colored graphic icons and pic tographs, you eventually reached high-resolution photographic images taken from the realms of science ‘nd everyday Iie. In the end, you came to share some- thing of the artist's idiosyncratic sense of the visual stucture ofthe word By demonstrating that cutting-edge technolo stimulate, not stile, aristic and intellectual exchange, the dX Web site wil undoubtedly exerose a strong influ: ‘ence on future art-related Internet proects. It went far toward fulfiling Catherine David's promise that Documenta X would be not simply an art exhibtion but vital cultural event. Christopher Philos A number ofthe artists’ projects seen at the dx Web site will continue o be accessible at the site ofthe Saint- (Gervais Genéve foundation (it:/iuwaw sog.ch) © One part ofthe Documenta X Wed site's guide to Rass with ele of the Friderclanum, Museum and at of exbtors there Opening srecn rom Antoni Mundas On Tanaatin am Inter! projec that noe the ‘ota reanstation ofa shor et int 30 dient languages by specialists around the wold boc, eren from Matt Mulan’ Web projet Upto 2, In which clicking on each ‘olor sone fae te lower along @aiferem image path ‘Beta, seren frm Joan Heemsbert and Dik