Furtherfield

Furtherfield.org is an artist-led online community. Its activities take place simultaneously on the Internet, the streets and public venues.

Furtherfield describes itself as "the collaborative work of artists, programmers, writers, activists, musicians and thinkers who explore beyond traditional remits; dedicated to the creation, promotion, and criticism of adventurous digital/networked media art work for public viewing, experience and interaction. Developing imaginative strategies in a range of digital and terrestrial media contexts, Furtherfield develops global, contributory projects that facilitate art activity simultaneously on the Internet, the streets and public venues."

History and Background
Furtherfield was founded in London in 1996 by artist-theorists Ruth Catlow and Marc Garrett. Inspired by the cultural value of collaboratively developed visions as opposed to the supremacy of the vision of the individual artistic genius, Furtherfield has focused on the development of artware - software platforms for creating art - and project that engage users in collaborative creative endeavours.

"Originally conceived in response to the way in which YBAs (Young British Artists) dominated the British art scene and reduced it to an elitist clique, despite a wealth of alternate artistic activities. Through Furtherfield.org, they planned instead to precipitate and promote independent online artistic production and discussion. As a predominantly web-based organisation it is compared with the New York-based Rhizome and UK-based Low-Fi media art portals, but made a distinctly experimental, collaborative and open approach to networked creativity its unique signature." Charlotte Frost.

In 2004, Furtherfield opened HTTP, a physical gallery location for networked media art in North London, and since that time it has received funding from the Arts Council of England to support its activities. In 2007, Furtherfield was ranked in Dazed and Confused’s Digital Top 50.

Projects
As network hub or platform, Furtherfield’s activities include artist presentations, residencies, reviews, theoretical texts the Furtherfield blog, touring exhibitions, online exhibitions and events. All of these activities address the group’s fundamental interests in grass-roots, collaborative, networked and provocative media-art actions.

Specific satellite projects that Furtherfield has developed include:
* VisitorsStudio;
* Rosalind - Upstart New Media Lexicon;
* HTTP ;
* Furthernoise;
* [http://netartfilm.furtherfield.org/ 5+5=5 NetArtFilm];
* Netbehaviour - a networked artists’ community;
* Do-It-With-Others (DIWO.

People
Approximately 600 people are regular contributors and collaborators in Furtherfield activities, with an estimated global readership of 26,000. The organisation is run by a core group of six “current grafters” comprising founders Catlow and Garrett (Co-Directors), Neil Jenkins (Technical Director of Projects), Giles Pender (Technical, Network and Logistics’ guru), Michael Szpakowski (Outreach and Education) and Lauren Wright (Co-producer and Coordinator). A “neighbourhood crew” and “now-sleeping Furtherfielders” are also listed on the organisation’s web site.

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