The New York Museum of Modern Art (Dept of Architecture and Design) has announced it’s acquisition of the @ symbol, stating on their blog that
‘physical possession of an object as a requirement for an acquisition is no longer necessary’
and that curators have been set free
‘..to tag the world and acknowledge things that “cannot be had”’
Although here are several theories as to the origin of the humble @, some going as far back as the sixth or seventh century it was American programmer Ray Tomlinson that used the symbol (which had appeared on the American Underwood Typewriter as the “commercial ‘a’” in 1885) to seperate user from server when he sent the first email between users on different hosts connected to ARPANET, the predecessor of today’s Internet.
Obviously, the ‘@’ symbol is not ‘owned’ as such, so MoMA’s aquisition of it is free. Come to think of it, I might aquire it myself. Nah, scrap that, ‘&’ is so much cooler.
So is ‘@’ Art?
On their blog post, MoMA state that the ‘@’ symbol is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art because
Tomlinson performed a powerful act of design that not only forever changed the @ sign’s significance and function, but which also has become an important part of our identity in relationship and communication with others. His (unintended) role as a designer must be acknowledged and celebrated…
So I’m just going to say “Sure!” and walk away from the crazy art people. What do you think? Art, or f@rce?