Network-Based Television Program, Net Art
The net art project TV Bot is an Internet news channel which only broadcasts brand-new stories. Never more than an hour old, they are scooped from the Internet’s news flux, reformatted for a browser and given a URL. The process is automated, with no editorial hand behind the content selection which is reproduced in apparently random order as live TV streams, live radio streams, webcam images and text-based headlines. The only criterion that matters is “liveness” in this net art project.
In its graphical representation, TV Bot makes obvious reference to well-known international TV broadcasters like CNN and n-tv. By being more live than these TV channels, Marc Lee interrogates the informativeness of broadcasters that are permanently oriented to up-to-dateness and audience numbers. The Swiss media artist, who also works with installation, largely focuses on the Internet and its structures. Also, active as a software developer, Lee breaks open the mechanisms of the World Wide Web, revealing them to ordinary users and enabling critical reflection. The net art project TV Bot is an ironic challenge to our media society’s “real time” dogma.
Text: Bernhard Serexhe
TV Bot 3.0 (first version 2016)
TV Bot 2.0 (first version 2010)
TV Bot 1.0 (first version 2004)
TV Bot versions in comparison
| TV-Bot 1.0 (2004) | TV-Bot 2.0 (2010) | TV-Bot 3.0 (2016) | |
| Medium | Net Art | Net Art | Net Art |
| Design | Max. parallel sources: 3 Montage tempo: 10-40 sec |
Max. parallel sources: 3 Montage tempo: 6-40 sec |
Max. parallel sources: 5 Montage tempo: 6-25 sec |
| Hardware | TV tube monitor Aspect ratio 1.33:1 |
TV tube monitor Aspect ratio 4:3 |
Smartphone, Tablet, Laptop, Flat screen monitor Aspect ratio: fluid |
| Software | Operating system PC or Mac Browser: Firefox, IE or Safari Plug-in: RealPlayer Script: C++, HTML, SMIL |
Operating system: PC or Mac Browser: Chrome, Firefox, IE,Safari Plug-in: Flashplayer Script: Actionscript, HTML, CSS, JavaScript |
Operating system PC, Mac or Linux Browser: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari Plug-in: none Script: HTML5, CSS, JavaScript |