History

Neen is the brainchild of Miltos Mentas. He was born in Athens and is a painter and multimedia artist.

Miltos was looking for a movement and when no one would create one, he decided to do it himself. He did not want to be classified as a contemporary artist. We was more than that. He did not want to be defined. As so, Neen became the art movement of the 21st Century and Miltos became the first Neenster. It was first shown to the world at a performance at Gagosian Gallery in New York in May of 2000. Manetas along with Mai Ueda, opened ElectronicOrphanage in Los Angeles in 2001. This was a place where for a fee, Neensters could gather, contemplate, and create Neen. In 2002, a group of like minded contemporaries used Neen concepts and interacted in a reality videogame. This was named Neen Art Movement. The first show was Afterneen. An interesting bit of information is a computerized car fell on the gallery in Utrecht and ruined the exhibit the second day after it opened. The ElectronicOrphanage then created an exhibition called Whitneybiennial.com.

One thing to keep in mind about Neen is it is not a collective. It is a response to the feelings of art and life being filtered through a screen. It was art about the situation of life in a given time. Computers were influential on the Neen movement, but it was not intended to be regarded as computer art. Neen should not look, or feel, or be like any other art available. Neen is not about looking at art and knowing it's Neen, but instead, feeling it's Neen. The art should produce a feeling and therefore be Neen.

The beginning of Neen was during a time when websites where informational only and not a means of expressing artistic vision. As a result, Neensters produced artworks that were presented on a website. Many of these sites were not open to the public and required a password to gain entry. Typically, the creator of the art paid for the domain to host their art. This was also during a time when domains were fairly expensive. These artists were committed to their work. Some well known artworks from early Neen were "Togetherness.org" by Mai Ueda, "Jesusswimming.com" by Miltos Manetas, "Oneaftertheother.com" by Angelo Plessas, and "Angleviner" by Joel Fox.

Showing and storing art on the internet worked well with the Neen concept. It allowed the art to be available for everyone, as they were on permanent exhibit. Most Neensters would love to have their art on display in galleries and they like, but they enjoy the freedoms that the internet allows. The sole purpose of Neen art is to create a feeling, preferably of happiness, in the public. The internet allows for self marketing without being subjected to the whims of the media.  Most Neensters are not fueled by the pressure of society to produce; they create from within.

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Neen extends beyond visual art into audio art with music. One type of Neen music is what Neensters like to call machine romantic music. This music awakens a person romantic connection to life and becomes part of the tapestry of their memories. When you hear this music, it reminds you of another time and those memories flood your emotions. Another type of Neen music is videogame style. As in videogame, the music changes based on your position in the game, or what you are doing. This type of music changes as you listen and takes you on a trip of movement. Neensters have even written songs, such as "Young Boys are Midnight" by Tobias Bernstrup and "Don't Call me Elephant, I am Gonna Kill you" by Mai Ueda.