Between seductions and banalities: the case of art on the web

The aim of this work consists in trying to understand what effects the use of the Net can produce in the already fragile relationship between art and public. Will art on the Internet increase the demand, on the part of the public, to undertake a process leading to a mature aesthetic evaluation of the world and of the works of mankind? In spite of the new technologies, which allow information to circulate much more easily than in the past, can we affirm that this has determined a consequent rise in critical abilities? Focusing on the case of Italy in particular, this paper also sets out to examine the effects of recent political regarding investment in, and promotion of, the arts. Have policies of substituting the public cultural budget with private money led to considerations being sidelined in favour of vested interests? Finally, we ask: what future can we expect for art and for the art-going public?