5.2.1 If we consider the invention of the printing press as the first wave of information overload, we can safely consider ourselves immersed in the second, tsunami wave. The effects of technology on human consciousness to which Marshall McLuhan pointed earlier in this century, we can easily conclude, have amplified tenfold in the face of the new technologies. (1962, pg. 144) Crucially, we must begin to think about the relationship between consciousness and our organisation and dissemination of data. And once again we must reconsider how the organisation of data reflect our collective shifts in perception and our relation to information and knowledge? Knowledge production is undergoing radical re-organisation due to the huge amount of data being systematically digitised and made available on the Internet. This digital reorganisation means that we can anticipate the relatively fast-paced demand for and creation of new systems and establishments. Artists are in a unique position to participate in this process as "Information Architects" using data as raw material.

5.2.2 How one moves through a physical space such as a building or a particular room is very much determined by the way an architect has conceived it. In the context of art, consider movement through the Guggenheim or the Museum of Modern Art in Balboa. The buildings can be understood as sculptures, meta-art pieces in their own right. The work presented within these spaces, in other words, cannot be viewed without some sense of their containers. Similarly, when navigating through various software "containers" and inputting our data, we are very much following the established parameters of information architecture. With some of the more blatant moves to create "standards" that include not only the information architecture but our online identity and the use of agents, the idea of an overarching meta-software that is planned to be commonly used by one and all is alarming. As I will show in this essay, hugely ambitious efforts are underway to digitise print-based libraries, human bodies, and finally, entire genomes. [1] How and where artists play roles in this changing terrain of digital databases cannot be considered without taking a look at these projects.

5.2.3 Marcel Duchamp's establishment of concept over object in art and his eventual decision to give up painting entirely in order to become a freelance librarian at the Bibliothéque Saint Geneveive in Paris not only challenged the museum system and the idea of what can be counted as art, but also drew attention to the intersections of information and aesthetics. The relationship between aesthetics and information continues to develop as the World Wide Web radically redefines libraries and museums, and many clues and opportunities await us in terms of getting familiar with the directions libraries are taking with the vast digitisation taking place. As communication media became more and more integrated into the very fabric of our societies, the creation of the artist's "myth" and media persona is central to their output, no matter what media they may utilise. Artists continue to recognise the rich potential of information to be used as art, envisioning such things as world encyclopaedias, global libraries, and the building of personal media personas. Self documentation that ensures life of the artist's work is expanded into documentation of context and, in some cases, becomes the work itself. Buckminster Fuller's Chronofiles and Andy Warhol's Time Capsules are good examples of this practice. Visions of a World Brain of H.G. Wells, the Memex of Vannevar Bush, and the Xanadu of Ted Nelson are not primarily concerned with content; rather, they shift our attention toward the way we organise and retrieve the stored information. Their work has contributed to what we know now as the World Wide Web, which acts a window to the vast collective effort of digitisation, whether organised or not. I briefly glance at efforts to revive the Library of Alexandria digitally, to make entire human bodies digitally accessible to the medical community, and to digitally map human as well as animal genomes. Finally, I look both at how artists have historically responded to archives and databases and at contemporary work, and I point to issues to consider when moving towards becoming an active participant in the global information architecture. [top]