Cary Peppermint: CN_ZERO
August 2001
Cary Peppermint: CN_ZERO
CN_ZERO by Cary Peppermint is an entry portal to CONDUCTOR NUMBER ZERO, a series of interactive, real-time performance installations and techno-music lectures initiated in 1997 and concluded in 2004. Each performance incorporated surveillance technology, enabling the audience to simultaneously experience the actual event and its live video approximation. Described by the artist as a “simulation of sincerity,” CN_ZERO functioned as a platform that questioned artistic authenticity and identity in the digital age. The Gate Page allows users to listen to or download three MP3 “techno-lectures” that combine electronic music with spoken word. Peppermint disseminated his work through his website restlessculture.net, which used materials from commercial sites and publications, such as Ebay.com, Artforum, and Mp3.com, and recombined them to function as carriers of his interactive compositions of chance or "restless culture."
Cary Peppermint [also known as Cary Adams] (b. 1970; Rome, Georgia) created some of the first real-time performances realized via the internet. He has earned support for his work from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, among others. His performances, exhibitions, and lectures have taken place at venues such as Postmasters Gallery (1984–2025), New York; New York University; 319 Scholes, New York; Smack Mellon Gallery, Brooklyn; Exit Art, New York (1982–2012); University of California, Los Angeles; MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts; ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Art) 2012; Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canada; European Media Art Festival; Parsons School of Design, New School, New York; and the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York. His work is in the collections of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Rhizome, Turbulence.org (1996–2016), and Cornell University’s Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art.
Gate Pages
Every month from March 2001 to February 2006, the Whitney invited an artist or collective to present their work in the form of a “Gate Page” on artport. Each page was meant to function as a portal to the artist’s own sites and projects. The Gate Pages comprise a range of artistic approaches to the format—while some of them are designed as entry points to the respective artist’s website or promote a recently launched work, others take the form of a more complex stand-alone project.
Wherever necessary and possible, these works are made functional through emulation and reconstructions from the Internet Archive. Not all of them have been restored to their original state and their conservation is ongoing. You can also view the original Gate Pages archive to see how they were presented at the time of their creation.
artport
View more on artport, the Whitney Museum's portal to Internet and new media art.