NEW YORK, NY-Rhizome.org is pleased to announce that five artists/groups have been awarded commissions to assist them in creating original works of net art through its new Commissioning Program.



Christopher Fahey, the Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA)/Hactivist.com, and John Klima were will receive awards of $5,000 each. Commissions of $2,500 will be awarded to Nungu and Lisa Jevbratt. Ten proposals have been awarded Honorable Mention.

A panel of five jurors--Steve Dietz of The Walker Art Center, Alex Galloway of Rhizome.org, Ken Goldberg of U.C. Berkeley, Christiane Paul of The Whitney Museum of American Art, and Mark Tribe of Rhizome.org--selected the winners from a pool of 135 proposals that were received by the February 15, 2002 deadline.



Launched in November 2001, the Rhizome Commissioning Program makes financial support available to artists for the creation of innovative new media art work via panel-awarded commissions. To keep the program relevant and timely, requests for proposals (RFPs) will change from year to year to reflect new developments in technology and the current cultural environment. This program is made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Challenge Program, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support was provided by the Rockefeller Foundation and by members of the Rhizome community.



This year, the RFP was sent out on November 15, 2001. Artists were invited to submit proposals in one of two tracks: alt.interface or Tactical Response. The alt.interface track asked artists to propose "alternative" user interfaces to access Rhizome.org's online archives of text and art. The Tactical Response track called for net art projects that address the present political situation around the globe, particularly events relating to the attacks of September 11.



"Rhizome.org has been supporting the new media art community for years by providing a place where artists and others can exchange information, present new work and engage in critical dialogue," said Mark Tribe, Executive Director of Rhizome.org. "This commissioning program is significant for us because it's the first time we've been able to provide direct financial support for artists. Grants and commissions are particularly important for new media artists because, unlike artists who work with more traditional media such as painting and photography, artists who work with new technologies have a limited ability to sell their work. The market for new media art just isn't there yet."



The chosen projects will be publicly exhibited on the Rhizome.org web site at starting October 2002.