Neen
Neen is a rare state of mind that we enjoy when we interact with Artificial Nature (computers, cellphones, i-pods etc). Between other things, "Neen" means creating a new type of electronic art that goes beyond the aesthetics of the professional artworld but also challenges the computer imagery. In a World saturated by images, Neen animations stay in your mind and build artistic momentum.
The idea of Neen started by the Greek artist Miltos Manetas in May 2000 when he commissioned the Branding Company Lexicon (known for it's creation of such names as PowerBook, Pentium, Blackberry and many others) a new term for contemporary art. The project was supported by the ArtProduction Fund of New York and it has been presented at the [[Gagosian Gallery. In the panel that introduced the idea of Neen was Harvard cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, writer Peter Lunenfeld, NYTimes journalist and writer JC Herz, David Placek who is the CEO of Lexicon, and in telecommunication from Rome, conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth.
In Jan 2001, [[Manetas together with Mai Ueda, opened the ElectronicOrphanage in Los Angeles. That place, located in Chung King road, become soon a Neen hub and many "Neenstars" (self-proclaimed Stars of Neen) such as Mike Calvert, Andreas Angelidakis, Angelo Plessas, Mai Ueda, Yi Zhou, Rafael Rozendaal, John White C, Joel Fox and Steven Schkolne had exhibitions there. Writers Lev Manovitch, Peter Lunenfeld and Norman Klein were also involved with the ElectronicOrphanage creating a leverage or "serious" theory towards the improvised ideas of Neen.
After the ElectronicOrphanage period, Neen start becoming an international trend although up to-day it stayed a very obscure one as it has never made clear what Neen really stand for apart of the visual coherency of the Neen web animations. The official artworld hasn't yet accepted fully Neen but it host it's artists from time to time in exhibitions such as the AFTERNEEN show( at CASCO, Utrecht, Netherlands in 2002) , the WhitneyBiennial.com in 2002, the "Celebration of a Demon" in 2004. (Fargfarbriken, Stockholm, Sweden), the NEEN TODAY show, at MU in Einhdoven the III Valencia Biennial in Spain and the "NEEN MONTH" at the Art Club Sketch in London. But Neen is often a guest of big festivals and conferences such as Sonar (Neen at [[SONAR, 2005) and the DLD 2007.
A book about the first 5 years of Neen has been published by the Italian publisher Charta.
