Of Fun and Art

When you play with some of the stuff you might find clicking your way through a site called "Stanza," as much fun as you think you're having, you're actually playing with art. Mousing from one interactive, Shockwavey weirdness to another, you discover that what you're playing with isn't games, and isn't toys, and clearly has no use at all. Sure, you can make it do things. But there's never a purpose. Because it's art.

And Stanza, the person responsible for this site, makes it perfectly clear that what you are playing with is a work of art. Award-winning, even. Stanza explains:

"This main stanza site features lots of work, including the internet art project 'The Central City' as well as lots of soundtoys, interactive movies and the gallery of fine art. The intention is to make an interesting, interactive, multimedia website, with sounds, pictures and artworks. The site also contains multimedia work and electronic music; cd players are built into the site so that you can listen to my music as you browse. You can navigate around from each of the cells on the home page and you can go to to various experimental interactive audio visual pieces. Also online are paintings, photos and conceptual pieces from 1984 when at Goldsmiths', to the present day. Within the site are generative areas, areas where you can mix sounds and interact with images. There is a jukebox on the stanza main site and a karoake machine in the central city area."

Art? I exclaim in a questioning manner. It feels like fun to me!

Which, apparently, is the whole point.