Graphing or mapping networks allows us to visualise the relationship between nodes in the network / points in the graph and how their links are formed. Graphs in art have been around for quite a while, the earliest frequent use I can think of is in the works and lectures of Josef Beuys (image above, Untitled (Sun State), 1974), the works of Conceptual Artists such as Art & Language, Roman Opalka, On Kawara and Minimal Artists such as Sol LeWitt (in subtle ways) although there are probably earlier examples.

An exhibition at The Drawing Center in New York in 2003, which I found the website of as I was following a trail on an unrelated topic, made me aware of Mark Lombardi’s drawings (images below), graphs of political, social or economic structures. These works seem to mark a re-emerging trend within art to use graphs once again (note Jeremy Deller’s, The History of the World which won the Turner Prize in 2004, image above) and are both beautiful enough to rival Edward Tufte’s superb graphing used for communication design and challenging in making us think about how small / closed / inter-connected these structures actually are.

How does this relate back to networked art? Well net.art has been doing this type of graphing / mapping work for years, from conceptual uses such as MTAA’s Simple Net Art Diagram to more complex (technically) works such as Martin Wattenbergs Idea Line and seems highly reminiscent of works such as Josh On and Futurefarmers, They Rule (image below). So perhaps issues and ideas within new media art are now starting to emerge in the more long running contemporary art forms?