Even if art in and around computer networks was made from at least 1980 onwards and internet art had a big momentum in the late nineties, it took a quite a while before it became a serious field of research and attention in even some media art institutions. In Amsterdam the Dutch media art institution NiMK (Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst), born from a merger of video art organizations, was also relatively slow in adapting to internet and interactive art. In 2009 this changed, when then NiMK curator Petra Heck and conservator Gaby Wijers approached me for advice on what could be a possible test case for preserving and presenting net art for the NiMK. It was a no-brainer for me: the test case had to be JODI, the Dutch-Belgian net art phenomenon. JODI's work encompasses a rich variety of materials and practices, from websites and computer game hacks to sculptural work and performance. Because of Dutch budget cuts the NiMK unfortunately closed only a few years later, but its important research was picked up by the LIMA, an organization dedicated to the preservation of media art founded by Gaby Wijers. The picture shows one of the skateboards created by JODI for their Sk8monkey performance on Twitter, which happened during their 2009 exhibition webcra.sh in Dordrecht.
